Young Birders Blog - Winter Birds and Conservation Cruise

  • 31 January 2025
  • Sam Ryde

Trip Summary

We set off from Poole Quay on a typically grey, chilly January day, but we didn't let that dampen our spirits one bit! This was our first of two fully funded 3-hour Young Birders boat trips in 2025 to explore Poole Harbour to see and learn about the amazing birds that live and visit here. The BoPH Team of Sam, Mya and Katie were leading the event, providing spotting, commentary and answering questions. Not far from leaving the urban side of the harbour and we were already treated to some great birds and opportunity for bird identification. European Shags and Great Cormorants were showing nicely, giving a great opportunity to distinguish between them when they weren't constantly diving under!

We carried on into the Wareham Channel, a prime spot for seeing birds of prey, a key target for our day trip. Sightings were elusive at first but a nice appearance of a Marsh Harrier coursing over the reeds was a pleasant sight. We left the harbour for a short while, heading up the River Frome, seeing lots of different habitats and enjoying the sights and sounds of the Swineham area. We were treated to the sight of a Barnacle Goose, an unusual visitor to the harbour, although it was a bit camera-shy, ducking in and out of the rushes. 

This was a fantastic location to discuss the Arne Moors Sea Wall realignment project, one of the most exciting things happening locally. This is a fantastic wetland creation project by the RSPB, Environment Agency and Natural England, looking to push the sea wall back to create some really exciting intertidal and lagoon habitat. In the years to come this will hopefully have huge benefits in terms of biodiversity (breeding and overwintering wetland birds), flood mitigation, carbon storage and public engagement with footpaths and viewing screens. We were able to have terrific views of the work going on, looking at the flooded fields and diggers out on the Moors. It's still a couple more years in development but it will be amazing to watch how it changes. You can find out more about the Arne Moors Project here.

We carried on our way back out of the Wareham Channel hoping for a view of the resident pair of White-tailed Eagles, although we weren't lucky enough to see them (yet!). The White-tailed Eagles have been reintroduced onto the Isle of Wight since 2019 by the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and Forestry England, using a translocation project to try and restore this native bird back as a breeding species on the south coast of England. You can find out more about the Eagle Project here. They haven't bred here for over 240 years but are now in the process of establishing back as a population. A pair of now 5-year old birds, male G463 and G466, have been holding a territory in the Wareham Channel since March 2023 and we thought our luck was out today as there was no sign of them in the Wareham Channel...

We carried on our merry way for phase two of the trip when we headed round the back of the islands to hopefully catch up with some more open-water species. We weren't disappointed with close sightings of at least 5 Great Northern Diver spread throughout the harbour. These winter visitors don't breed in the UK and so have come from Iceland, Greenland or even as far as North America! We also had nice views of Red-breasted Merganser, Great Crested Grebe, Dark-bellied Brent Goose and a stunning male Goldeneye!

Best of all, one of our Young Birders spotted 2 Spoonbills flying over the boat! This is not a view we have of them that often so it was great to see their outstretched wings and ridiculous spoon-shaped bills! We also had the opportunity here to talk about careers and volunteering in wildlife and conservation. Mya and Katie talked about their courses in Ecology and Conservation that they are currently studying at Bournemouth University while supporting on BoPH Events and Projects. This was hopefully an inspiring section for all the Young Birders eagerly listening.

We carried on our way into Brands Bay and finally found what we were searching for. The pair of White-tailed Eagles G463 and G466 were sat up in a dead tree surveying the bay for any tasty snacks of a duck, goose or fish! They were quite a way off but it was so special to show a group of young people these sensational birds, 'Flying Barn Doors' with 2.4m (8ft) wingspans! It's incredible to think that people can now grow up on the south coast of England, close to the busy urban area of Poole and Bournemouth, and see wild White-tailed Eagles, fitting in so well to the landscape.

For the grand finale of our trip we headed to the Dorset Wildlife Trust Brownsea Lagoon to look over the sea wall at a high tide for all the thousands of wetland birds that roost here. We were not disappointed with everyone excited to see 1000+ Dunlin, c100 Black-tailed Godwit, c70 Bar-tailed Godwit, c100 Avocet, 4 Turnstone, 1 Greenshank and c30 Grey Plover.

We returned back to Poole Quay, ready to go and warm ourselves up! We finished on a mammoth bird list of 50 species which you can view here. Thank you so much to everyone who joined us, it was a terrific event and we hope to see you all again soon at another Poole Harbour Young Birders Event.

P.S. - a couple of very lucky Young Birders managed to spot a female Black Redstart back on Poole Quay - feeding in a palm tree! These more typical southern European birds sometimes overwinter in urban areas locally and was amazing to see! It only stayed for a couple of days and has since moved on.

Spoonbill photos by Harry McBride

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