Poole Harbour

30 Nov - A fine sunny day for the "Birds of Poole Harbour" trip to Brands Bay area - the highlight being close scope views of the juvenile Surf Scoter (4) that has been present now for several weeks. Also around the harbour mouth - a Black-throated and 3 Great Northern Divers, numerous Great crested Grebes, 50+ Red-breasted Mergansers and a female Eider. Brands Bay held a good selection of dabbling duck, Wigeon and Teal being the most numerous, and a female Marsh Harrier made several hunting forays along the reed edge, flushing flocks of birds - waders included Curlew, Redshank, Dunlin, Bar- and Black-tailed Godwits and Grey Plover. Up to 10 Little Egrets were seen during the morning. A pair of Dartford Warblers gave good views in the low heather behind the hide. Nearby, Holes Bay at low tide was impressive - 5 Spoonbills (6-9) were feeding in the channels, most if not all being immatures with pinkish bills and black primaries (there are at least 26 birds in the harbour at present) together with c55 Avocet, also good numbers of Black-tailed Godwits (5), Redshank, Dunlin and Curlew. My camera (7D) is in for repairs so the photos were taken with my old 50D - the difference in sharpness is noticeable.