There were four Spoonbills on the lagoon on my regular DWT Brownsea volunteering visit on 25 June. They had been seen earlier in the Summer in other locations around Poole Harbour, but it was the first time I had seen them on the lagoon. I could see they all looked like First Summer individuals with dull pinky-grey bills and black markings in the wing tips. One was colour-ringed, but it was too far away to read the ring number. They were still present on the next visit at the start of July and they were actively feeding on the lagoon. I saw one walk between the Tern hide and the Sandwich Tern islands. So, it would have been really close, if I hadn't had been in the Avocet hide. Naturally, it was well out into the lagoon, by the time I reached the Tern hide.
Unfortunately, this wasn't the colour-ringed individual. However, that Spoonbill was close enough to read its ring number: NHB9. This looked like a Dutch colour-ringed scheme to me.
Local Birder, Garry Hayman had already seen and reported this individual from Middlebere and received confirmation that it was from the Dutch ringing scheme. It was ringed on Schiermonnikoog Island, very close to the Dutch - German border:
- 20 Jun 24 - Schiermonnikoog Island, Holland - Ringed as a chick
- 25 Oct 24 - Brownsea, Poole Harbour
- 1 Nov 24 - Brownsea, Poole Harbour
- 9 Nov 24 - Holes Bay, Poole Harbour
- 24 Dec 24 - Arne, Poole Harbour
- 18 Jan 25 - Poole Harbour
- 20 Jun 25 - Middlebere, Poole Harbour.
Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell the origin of the other three Spoonbills. Some of the autumnal and wintering individuals may be from the Norfolk colony. However, most of these aren't colour-ringed and so that is pure speculation. What we can prove if most of the colour-ringed individuals are Dutch.