In the last Post, I looked at the record 49 strong flock of Spoonbills on Brownsea that have been present in recent days. There were 5 colour ringed Spoonbills seen & I included their photos & details as far as we have been able to confirm so far. I did spend most of my time focusing on the Spoonbills. But there was still time to look at the other Birds seen on the Brownsea lagoon. After the hectic breeding season, nearly all the Common & Sandwich Terns have departed, although one Sandwich Tern briefly dropped in. That wasn't too surprising as we get a few Sandwich Terns that now seem to overwinter in Poole Harbour, due to the generally milder Winters we have had in recent years. Overall, there was still plenty of Bird activity as the Waders are back in numbers.
Brownsea lagoon: It is always worth a quick look at the lagoon from the NT centre area as there are parts of the lagoon at this end which aren't easy to see from the DWT hides
Brownsea lagoon: This was a fairly quiet day as there were only a handful of Black-tailed Godwits today: sometimes there can be several hundred on the lagoon with even more Avocets. The Blackwits were probably over at Middlebere, as it wasn't a particularly high tide today
I quickly carried onto the DWT hides as they give much better views of the Birds.
Great White Egret: The second GWE from Studland has been feeding over here for the last few days, but it returns to Studland every evening. It looks even taller than the Spoonbills
Shoveler: Male
Moorhen: 1st Winter. Note, the dark bill which would be red with a yellow tip in an Adult
Avocet: Poole Harbour plays home to over 1000 Avocets which feed on Brownsea. Sometimes they prefer to roost in good numbers in the Arne/Middlebere area, but smaller numbers can be encountered in any of the good Birding sites within the Harbour
Avocet: They are really happy to get into deep water if there is good food to be found
Redshank: There were only about 15 Redshanks on the lagoon today. Again a sign that the high tide wasn't that high in the harbour & many of the Waders were roosting closer to feeding areas
As a reminder, Brownsea will close for the Winter after the half term, so you only have a final few days to visit it. After that it will be occasional visits organised by the Dorset Wildlife Trust etc which are popular, but need booking up in advance with the hope that the weather will be good on the day. So it's worth trying to squeeze in the final visit in the next few days.