On the evening before New Years Eve, news broke about a local Snow Bunting on the beach at Hamworthy in Poole: a great local record. The next day it was showing amazingly well to everybody, down to two or three metres from the footpath next to the beach. Lots of local interest, but also worries as some of the dog owners thought it was important for their dogs to run freely on the same patch of beach. Despite its local scarcity, I didn't head over there, as it is outside of the Isle of Purbeck & I still had one more day of searching to try to improve on my disappointing 197 total for the Isle of Purbeck Year List. I didn't see anything else on the final look around Studland on New Years Eve. It's a real shame the Snow Bunting had turned up at Hamworthy, as Studland's beaches are their most preferred locations within Poole Harbour. But that's been typical my 2024 Isle of Purbeck Year list, with goodies frequently turning up & showing well in the parts of Poole Harbour, that are outside of the Isle of Purbeck boundary.
I decided to delay my visit to Hamworthy until I was due to head over to Poole on the Saturday. I had an invite from Mark & Mo Constantine to join their private Bird Boat around Poole Harbour. This is a chance to catch up with lots of the local Birders & to have a good look around the Harbour as well. The boat didn't leave till 13:00, so there was time to pop into Hamworthy on the way. I arrived to be greeted with the news it had just flown off thanks to more dogs on the only little bit of beach on the high tide. I suspected it hadn't gone far & within a few minutes it was perching on top of the nearest thing to a Scandinavian crag: a local beach hut roof.
After five minutes of preening to ensure it was ready for the next photoshoot, it few back down to the scrap of beach that wasn't covered in water.
Despite being annual as a Vis Mig species, I'm yet to bump into a flyover record. Perhaps it's because they are generally flying West & my South Haven Vis Mig site only works on Northerly winds when species are moving East.
This is only my fourth Poole Harbour record of Snow Bunting in twenty-eight years of watching the area. I've also seen them on another three occasions in South Purbeck, with two records at Durlston & one near Acton. They aren't a regular species locally, but generally one will turn up every few years. They are always a joy when they stick around.
