On 17 Aug, the Global Flyway twitter account announced that a Storm had hit Poole Harbour: something that the local weather teams overlooked. But it was understandable as it was Storm the female Spoonbill, AKA colour ring NH45. Storm was ringed as an adult female Spoonbill on Schiermonnikoog Island in early Jun 2024 and she was also given a satellite-tag. She left the Wadden Sea early, on 31 Jul and spent twelve days in Oostvaardersplassen. The next stop was Hellevoetsluis, south of Rotterdam, where she spent five days. She left at dusk, flying overnight to Lymington after passing over Dungeness, before continuing onto Poole Harbour to arrive on the evening of 17 Aug.
Since her arrival, a number of local Birders have been looking for her. I'm sure we saw her on Brownsea on 20 Aug from the Birds of Poole Harbour Bird Boat, when we saw a CR Spoonbill with a large white ring and a red ring above that. This is the first Spoonbill I've seen with a red ring above the white ring. I have seen at least three CR Spoonbills on Brownsea this Autumn with large white rings which is the 'normal' Dutch Spoonbills we see. Paul Morton & Shaun Robson were also on the boat and didn't recognise this ring combination either. But nobody could read the letters on the white ring from the boat and the toggers didn't fare any better either.
Fortunately, I could see a CR Spoonbill with a large white ring and a red ring on the following morning from the Tern Hide on Brownsea on my regular volunteering day. My photo isn't good enough to see the ring number, but I could clearly see it was NH45 with my scope. It was good to see Storm in Poole Harbour, albeit the Dutch team will have known her movements over the last few days.
