2 Jun 16 - The Final Finnish Ticks

I was half way through the second Finnature trip on my Owl trip to Finland with Mark Edgeller, Andy Rhodes & Simon Ingram. It was only 06:30 in the morning, but we had met the guide Olli at 03:00 & been at a hard Birding pace since we started. In the previous Blog Post, I had covered some of the crazy species seen including a Willow Grouse sitting on a lamp post & very close views of a male Capercaillie. But we had come to Finland for its Owls & so far we had seen only three of the five key species: Pygmy Owl, Ural Owl & Great Grey Owl on the first Finnature trip in the Oulu area. We had also seen a Short-eared Owl, but that didn't count as they aren't hard to see in the UK. Our final two target Owls were Tengmalm's Owl & Hawk Owl. I had seen Hawk Owl before after twitching one in the centre of the small town of Zwolle, Holland in Nov 13, but it was a Tick for Simon. As Hawk Owls are such cracking Owls, I was keen to see another. Fortunately, Olli said the right words when we met, that he knew a site where we can see a Tengmalm's Owl & we will start by looking for that first. Both of the small Owl species are happy to nest in nest boxes & by the start of June, they are bringing food to the chicks. There is little chance of upsetting their breeding cycle by brief visits to the nest box at this time of the year. The only drawback is the light was very poor & I was trying to hand hold an unstablised 400mm lens on ISO 10,000.

Tengmalm's Owl: This nest box was near to a quiet road where we waited. Olli walked over & scratched the tree, which was the cue for his friend to appear

Tengmalm's Owl: This is the nominate funereus subspecies which occurs from Scandinavia to the Pyrenees & the Urals. The overall range of Tengmalm's Owl is huge as it is occurs in all the conifer forests across Northern Europe to China & Alaska, Canada & the Northern US (where it is called Boreal Owl)

After looking for the Willow Grouse, Black Grouse & Capercaillie (see the previous Post), it was time to head off to look for Siberian Tit. This was another nest box stakeout.

Siberian Tit: This pair were actively feeding the youngsters in this nest box

Siberian Tit: It quickly popped out again

Siberian Tit: This is the lapponicus subspecies which occurs in Scandinavia & European Russia

Siberian Tit: They occur from Scandinavia to Alaska & NW Canada

Siberian Tit

Northern White-faced Darter: Female

Grey-headed Wagtail: Male

Next on the itinerary was Hawk Owl. The numbers of breeding Owls fluctuate annually, depending on fluctuations in Vole & Lemming numbers. This year, the numbers of breeding Hawk Owls weren't high, but Olli had a site a few miles before the Russian border. It was a bit of a drive, but worth it. It was such a remote site, we could have spent a month trying to find this pair without local information.

Hawk Owl habitat: There was a lot of similar habitat

Hawk Owl: Olli said the youngsters of this pair has recently fledged. We decided to stick with the parents, rather than cause them concern by looking for the youngsters

Hawk Owl

White-tailed Sea-eagle: Adult

By late morning, we were back in Kuusamo. We had enough time for a leisurely drive back to Oulu to catch the plane home to the UK. Our short four day trip was over, but it had been a good trip & four days was long enough. If you are planning a trip to Finland at this time of year, I can thoroughly recommend booking the guided trips at Oulu & Kuusumo with the Finnature guides. They seem expensive for an eight hour long morning, however, they will have most if not all of the speciality species staked out. But book early to ensure you can get onto a trip as spaces are limited. Finland is such a vast area & it would be very time consuming to try finding these species without very good local information. However, as a cost-effective compromise, you can hire cars at a reasonable price & driving in Finland is easy. There is plenty of self-catering accommodation available online. Therefore, it is reasonable to book the two Finnature trips & have a few days Birding on your own seeing the easier species. There were a few other Scandinavian goodies I didn't see, but they occur several hundred miles further North. They were Pine Grosbeak, Brunnich's Guillemot, King Eider & Steller's Eider. However, these are best seen by a trip to Varanger Fjord in Norway. I've seen all of these species as vagrants in the UK over the years, but I am still tempted to go to Varanger Fjord for a few days at some point in the future. One final thought, I wish I had bought one of the mozzie head nets before the trip. Olli lent us some for the final morning & having one for the rest of the trip would have been good.

31 Jan 15 - Deciding To Do A Studland/Ballard Patch Year List

In a spur of the minute decision at the end of 2014, I decided I have neglected the Studland/Ballard patch in recent years and I would do a 2015 patch year list. I had some intensive years of patch birding in 2008, 2009 & 2011 and since then I needed a bit of time Birding other sites as well as the Studland/Ballard patch. So there was a bit more UK & some foreign Birding. But I also spent time looking at other groups of wildlife & some time focusing more on photography. Having said that most of the UK Birding since 2011 has still been within Poole Harbour. It is ironic in some ways that having decided I had neglected the patch in recent years, that I had found more on the patch in 2014 than in any previous year. Especially when I hadn't been there that much, compared to the more intensive years. The 2014 goodies I found were:-

Hoopoe: Greenlands Farm. Amazingly I found this Hoopoe as I was going to twitch a Richard's Pipit found by Graham Armstrong. Two patch ticks added in less than an hour (24 Apr 14)

Grey-headed Wagtail: Female. First for Poole Harbour & seventh for Dorset of this race of Yellow Wagtail (31 May 14)

Yellow-browed Warbler: One of three different individuals found: one was North of Knoll Beach car park, one between Knoll & Middle Beach & one at South Beach (10 Oct 14)

I also found my first Studland Grey Phalarope at South Haven and a refind of a Black Guillemot off Old Harry (over a week after it was seen at the harbour mouth): but the photos of both species were too crap to keep.

Green-winged Teal: finding this Male in Brands Bay on New Years Eve was a great way to end the year

At this point, I should probably display a map of the area & draw a border on it. The easy option would have been to copy a map & draw a border on it. But that would have broken somebodies copyright (I strongly disapprove of those bloggers who put anybody else's material on their dreary Blogs to make them look better, especially when they don't even acknowledge the owner). So I've had to hand draw a map & add a few labels myself. This is best compared with an OS map to see the missing detail.

The Studland/Ballard Down patch boundaries

The patch is about 3 miles from top to bottom and about 3 miles from East to West at the bottom, but it tapers to a narrow point at the Northern end at South Haven, which is the Southern side of the Poole Harbour mouth. The Eastern side is Studland Bay which is the sea side of the patch. The North Western side from South Haven to Brands Bay is a tidal area with varying amounts of mud depending on the tidal strength. There is a freshwater lake known as Littlesea surrounded by heathland, dunes, woodland & wet marshy areas. Greenlands Farm is mainly grassy fields which through grazing has been changed to grassland from the surrounding Godlingston Heath (heathland). Ballard Down is a mixture of chalk grassland & farmland. An overall view of the patch from Ballard Down forms the banner photo for the Blog. Crucially, I count species seen within the boundaries, but also seen from inside these boundaries. Thus, Birds seen in Poole Harbour or Studland Bay are acceptable. Here are a few more photos of the patch.

South Haven: Looking towards Pilots Point (6 Oct 14)

Brands Bay: Low tide (21 April 14)

Brands Bay: The inner bay is partially enclosed by Redhorn Quay (21 April 14)

Brands Bay: Looking left from the hide (21 April 14)

Greenlands Farm: With Godlingston Heath in the background (25 May 14)

Studland Bay from Middle Beach: Looking towards Pilots Point on a stormy day (10 Feb 13)

South Beach: The sheltered Southerly end of South Beach with Old Harry in the background (7 Oct 14)

Old Harry: (1 June 14)

My Studland/Ballard patch list is 215 species, plus Nightingale heard. I've seen, but do not, count Crap (Feral) Pigeon. The varied habitats all help to ensure there is a wide range of species on the list. A full copy of my Studland/Ballard list can be found on Bubo.

There are plenty more great views of the patch, but I will have to photograph them & add them to the Blog over the next year. Anyway, in the next Post, I will provide a summary of my first month of the Patch Year List. It has been a great start to the patch Year List.

24 Oct 14 - Happy First Birthday

Happy Birthday to the Blog - 1 year old today & the 225th Blog Post. It's been an amazing year with a great selection of Birds seen, both in the UK, but also on the trips abroad. I have also seen & photographed an amazing amount of other wildlife over the last year. Too many great species to cram into a single post, so I will focus on 13 of my favourite stories or photos, one from each of the last 13 full or partial calendar months to hopefully wet your appetite to go back & explore some of the posts. It is traditional for many bloggers to do a round up of the year. I'm going to do that on the Blog's anniversary instead.

Oct 13 - Cape May Warbler: The highlight of October was the day twitch to Unst for the Cape May Warbler, just for the whole craic of the day, as well as seeing such a massive UK rarity. I wasn't that impressed when I saw the first photos of the Cape May when it first turned up, but it was a more subtle & great looking Warbler than I was expecting. Unst, Shetlands (29 Oct 13)

November's Bird has to be the stunning Hawk Owl in Zwolle, Hollard. This was an opportunity for me take the car over to Europe for the first time & it was a great 2 day trip with a good mate, Dave Gibbs. The Hawk Owl was amazing as it sat completely unfazed only 30 metres away from the assembled crowd of admirers.

Nov 13 - Hawk Owl: A great Owl & a World Tick. Zwolle, Holland (27 Nov 13)

December saw me heading off to the Andamans & mainland India for a 7 week trip, the first 3 weeks of which were with old mate, Brian Field. Choosing the best Birds for the 400+ species seen (about 75% photographed) is very difficult, so I am going for this Andaman Flowerpecker. A small, subtle endemic species. Anybody who have travelled in SE Asia will be used to Flowerpeckers being small, active Birds high up in the rainforest canopy & rarely giving good views. So it was great to see this Andaman Flowerpecker only a few metres away for an extended period. Initially, I had to step back as it was closer than the 3.5 metre minimum focus on the 400mm lens.

Dec 13 - Andaman Flowerpecker: Ghandi Park, Port Blair (22 Dec 13)

The Indian trip carried on to the end of January & I travelled through the Western Ghats, Gujarat & Rajasthan before finishing in Delhi. India is a great country for wildlife, although there are often long, slow journeys to the good sites. The other good thing is there are plenty of great mammals to see out there. It would be well worth looking at the Indian posts for anybody thinking on visiting any of these parts of India.

Jan 14 - Wild Ass: This was my favourite mammal of the year & it's a real shame as these 4 Wild Asses had walked for a mile or two across the bare dried up lake bed for a mile or two & then crossed a 1/4 mile salt bed, only to find Bill, myself, the guide & the jeep parked up by the only vegetation for miles. After sniffing the air for a few minutes, they turned & headed back to where they had just come from. Desert Coursers, Gujarat, India (17 Jan 14)

Within a week of being back from India I was off again to the Western Sahara & Southern Morocco for 10 days. This was a great trip to an infrequently visited part of the Western Palearctic. Not a huge number of Birds & Mammals, but some good species seen in this interesting area. It was interesting, but worrying, to talk to Trevor Charlton, the finder of the putative Moltoni's Subalpine Warbler recently, about one of the main Birding areas, Oued Jenna. This is the Cricket Warbler site and conventional information is, this area wasn't mined in the recent civil war. From what Trevor was told, it may well have been mined & cleared and mine clearance isn't 100% certain. This was an area we visited twice as we had to return after hearing about two Sudan Golden Sparrows which weren't on our expected list: we found them along with an additional two.

Feb 14 - Sudan Golden Sparrow: An excellent bonus Western Palearctic & World Tick. Oued Jenna (11 Feb 14)

I didn't managed to get out much in March as I was spending most of my time wading through the thousands of photos from the Indian & Western Saharan trips. But my interest picked up following the news that a Pond Heron at Hythe, Kent had been confirmed as being a Chinese Pond Heron. I teamed up with local Birder, Marcus Lawson, who has only recently moved from Kent for the trip. Our timing was perfect as it was located when we were about 10 minutes away, but flew just before we arrived. Fortunately, Dave Gibbs saved the day with a phone call to say it had been relocated, allowing views sitting in a garden tree before it dropped out of sight. We later found out we were even more lucky when it transpired this was the last time it was seen well. A brief flight view that evening was its last sighting. Sadly, its long dead corpse was found a few weeks later, allowing confirmation of its identify by DNA. The next question is will the BOU allow this onto the UK List? Having seen the target Bird, we went onto Dungeness & saw Great White Egret, Glossy Ibis, Glaucous Gull, Hume's Yellow-browed Warbler & a number of good, but commoner, species. A great day out to one of my old pre-university stomping grounds.

Mar 14 - Chinese Pond Heron: Dropping down to a concealed garden pond after its last prolonged view (8 Mar 14)

There is no problem trying to work out the best bird for April. It clearly goes to this obliging Scops Owl seen during the 10 day Spring Israel trip. Owls & Nightjars have long been a favourite group of families for me. I have spent many happy evenings abroad out looking for them & trying to sound record them. In this case, I didn't even need to worry about using a recording, as there were a number of different males all winding each other up throughout the evening. So all I had to do for the 2 nights I stayed at the Kfar Ruppin kibbutz was to try & get some good photographs. This particular bird sat a few metres from the camera & wasn't unset by my presence or the flash as it continued to call.

Apr 14 - Scops Owl: Kfar Ruppin, Israel (13 Apr 14)

May was a difficult month to work out the best story, given the successful trip to look for Rock Partridge in Croatia: which we saw by 06:00 on the first morning of the trip. However, the story has to go to the end of May Bird. The camera has also been invaluable for getting a documentary record of many of the species seen. Like many of the other local Birders, I tend to cover my patches on my own, so it's good to have the ability to get some record shots to support a description, in case the Bird disappears before others arrive. This was one of the reasons why I bought the camera, having seen how other Birders have documented rarities they have found on the Northern Isles. Additionally, there is always that risk that having found something good, you fail to note one of the key details needed to clinch the record. The camera proven its worth when I heard a Yellow Wagtail calling behind me at Old Harry at the end of May. Turning round, I was surprised to find it wasn't a Yellow Wagtail & it had a grey head. I grabbed some photos as a record shot, so I could work it out later. Later didn't happen in the end until late that evening as within 5 minutes I was hearing the news of a probably Short-toed Eagle at the nearby Morden Bog. The rest of that story is well known. This really upstaged my Grey-headed Wagtail, which if accepted, will be a 7th for Dorset & 1st for Poole Harbour.

May 14 - Grey-headed Wagtail: Female. Getting good photos were essential to help confirm the identification of this rare race in Dorset. Old Harry (31 May 14)

It has also been a good opportunity to look closely at Dragonflies & Damselflies this year. Dragonflies are a group, I've been getting into in recent years, but having the camera has certainly made it a lot easier to figure out the different species. Having a camera is a great way to see those small subtle details that separate some of the similar species.

Jun 14 - Brilliant Emerald: This Brilliant Emerald was one of five Dragonfly Ticks for me this year & I was really pleased to get this flight shot, especially as it captured the yellow U shape on the face, which separates it from the more widespread Downy Emerald. Esher Common (13 Jun 14)

Another piece of fun with the camera has been the ability to compare photos to pick out different individual Butterflies. I assume this must have been tried before for Butterflies, I know it has been tried for Birds. So it was interesting to try this out on the Swallowtails at St Aldhelms Head. These were found at the end of June 14, by walkers on the coastal footpath close to the Coastguards lookout at St Aldhelms Head. One was pointed out to local Dorset Birder, George Green, along with the news the finders had seen two earlier that day. I finally connected with one on 2 July and made a couple of extra return trips to photograph them. The result was from looking at the photos I had taken & photos kindly forwarded from other photographers, I was able to show there were five different Swallowtails involved. Since that time, I've shown the photos to Neil Hulme, who confirmed that all five Swallowtails were males. Therefore, it begs the question as to whether any females hatched out. If so, they are likely to have quickly mated & presumably dispersed. I did return at the end of August to see if I could find any second brood Swallowtails, but I had no joy. There is the risk of collectors having been there looking for caterpillars to collect, but then it's also possible that if a female hatched out, She might have mated & dispersed to start a new colony. So something to look out for elsewhere in Dorset in 2015.

Jul 14 - Swallowtail: Individual D. The full set of mugshots & how I was able to separate the different individuals can be found in the Swallowtail mug shots post. St Aldhelms Head (6 July 14)

August 14 is clearly an easy decision as to the species for the month, but trying to work out the best photo was more difficult. It has to go to the Map Butterflies which dominated the month. This was a totally unexpected find and for a couple of weeks it was looking like not only had I found a very rare Butterfly, but also there was a fledgling colony with 20 proven individuals photographed. As a result, news had to be shutdown down on the site to try & provide some protection for the colony, whilst starting to work with the local landowners & Butterfly Conservation to see what could be provided for longer term protection. Sadly, the news did get out & the site was visited by both a commercial & a private collector. It was a really frustrating & unexpected bombshell to then find that somebody had come forward via a reliable conservation body, to admit to a release at the site. This individual's story that it was an accidental release, is blatantly a lie. But it's more than likely a cover story to try to avoid potential prosecution, given it is illegal to deliberately release an alien species in the UK. We have never got the real story of how the release occurred & it is unlikely this will ever happen. But it is a really shame as it would have been my best UK find ever had it been untainted. I still need to return to this story at some time with the evidence as to why it had to be a deliberate release and not an accidental release. In the mean time, you can enjoy the story as it develops about the initial discovery of a Map, the realisation there was a Map colony present & the news of the release in the 3 posts.

Aug 14 - Map: Individual B. This was the second individual found at the site & the first female. Therefore, it was the individual which changed the story from a lone male to multiple individuals. Swanage (7 Aug 14)

The last year has also been a lot of fun looking at the Birds seen from another & more detailed angle. Up to when I bought the camera, I tended to look at something until I had identified it. Sometimes I would then carry on watching the Bird, but often my eyes would start wandering to look for something else. With the camera, I have found that while I might even pick up the camera & stop watching my subject quicker than I would have done without the camera, I am spending a lot more time looking closer at the subsequent photos. Consequently, I am noticing a lot more than I would have probably seen in the field e.g. the ability to freeze a wing & then look at the individual feather markings is rarely possible in the field on a moving subject, but with a good photo it is often possible. This has lead to me becoming far more interested in trying to age or sex some of the Birds I've seen & in turn, this has helped broaden my knowledge. I am now using this new knowledge to start looking at ageing & sexing of Birds in the field.

Sep 14 - Adult Green Sandpiper: A fairly common Wader in Poole Harbour, but great to look at a Green Sandpiper closely to age it as a 1st Winter. Even better, when I returned the next week & found this Adult Green Sandpiper for comparison. Middlebere (26 Sep 14)

Back to the subject of using the camera for helping to identify tricky species. The choice for Oct 14 was difficult as there were 2 very interesting Sylvia Warblers seen and photographed. First was the putative Blyth's Lesser Whitethroat at Portland Bill & this was followed mid month by the putative Moltoni's Subalpine Warbler at Porthgwarra, Cornwall. Fortunately, the first Bird was caught and DNA has been send off. The Moltoni's was only seen in the field, but reaction to playback & its partial moult are good supporting evidence, to go along with the more subtle plumage details. Whether that will be sufficient to get it accepted, given the only call that was heard is given by both Moltoni's and Western Subalpine Warblers and the other distinctive call of Moltoni's was not heard, is probably a decision we will be waiting for over the next few years.

Oct 14 - Putative Blyth's Lesser Whitethroat: Portland Bill (1 Oct 14)

Hopefully the coming year will be as exciting as this first year has been. One final thing that has also been exciting is how much I've enjoyed the blogging & how popular the blog has been been. Yesterday, the blog passed 51,000 hits. I had no idea when I started how much interest there would have been in the blog, but I certainly wouldn't have predicted it to be that popular. What has also been exciting is how well viewed the blog is, as since I added the flag counter in May (which counts internet countries so Jersey, Guernsey & the Isle of Man were bonus countries), the blog had been read from 96 different countries, with the 96th, Seychelles, being added today. I wonder which will be the 100th country. Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed the blog as much as I have & you continue to follow it. In the meantime, there are links back to each of the stories behind the monthly photo to look in more detail at those that interest you.

31 May 14 - A First For Poole Harbour Out-trumped By A First For Dorset

I decided to head out to Old Harry this morning. The forecast was for sunny at times conditions & light winds. The forecast was similar to the previous few days, which had produced several Bee-eater sightings at Portland & closer to home at Durlston, as well as Red-breasted Flycatcher (Portland), Serin (Portland & Durlston) & Greenish Warbler (Durlston). Therefore, if I had any sense I should be walking around Durlston or going further afield to Portland. But being loyal to my patch, I decided on Old Harry. At least I should get the chance to photograph some Fulmars, which would be a Family photo tick as they breed in small numbers of the cliff here. As expected it was a quiet walk out: the path goes through a few Whitethroat, Blackcap & Chiffchaff territories, but that was about all. Getting to the end there is a small spur of the chalk cliffs which I really enjoy visiting. Most of the grockles (local name for holidaymakers & tourists) miss the small path so it's always worth a look for a bit of peace & quiet. I've never know the name of this small spur, but it's always been Seat Point to me (as there is a stone seat there).

The view of the Old Harry outcrop from Seat Point 

It was still quiet when I got to Old Harry & the Rock Pipits had a family of youngsters feeding on the grassy cliff tops.

Rock Pipit: Adult. This is the nominate petrosus subspecies which occurs throughout the UK, except for the Faeroes, Shelands & Orkneys where it is replaced by kleinschmidti

Rock Pipit: Adult 

Rock Pipit: Juvenile

The chalky outcrops next to Old Harry have always has a few pairs of Great Black-backed Gulls & Herring Gulls breeding on them.

Great Black-backed Gull: Adult

Herring Gull: This is the nominate argenteus subspecies

Rabbit: There are normally some feeding on the grass before the grockles arrive

So far all very much as expected. But looking down at the sea below there were a couple of immature Eiders: this is usually a winter & passage species & they are the first Eiders I've seen in the Summer. Steve Morrison who has birded the Studland area for many years, but now lives in France, has commented that Eiders used to Summer regularly in the 70's & 80's, with up to about 20 birds involved. But the last birds which he is aware of in the Summer were in 1996. They look pretty settled at the moment & are clearly in advanced wing moult, so I'm hoping they will hang around.

Eider: Immature male

Eider: Female

Eider: I can't see them going anywhere quickly with this wing moult

Eider: Here are the wings of the male

While I was photographing the Eider, I was surprised to hear a Yellow Wagtail call. This wouldn't be that unusual in April when the majority of Spring birds move through Dorset, but it was the end of May. Turning round to look at it I realised it wasn't the normal British subspecies of Yellow Wagtail (flavissima) & assumed it was a Blue-headed Wagtail (flava) or perhaps a 'Channel Wagtail' which is an intermediate population between the flavissima & flava. I am still trying to learn all the features of Yellow Wagtail races, but couldn't remember the Blue-headed features off the top of my head (but I will be able to do so in the future now). So I grabbed a few quick photos in case it flew off. Photos taken, it then flew another 20 metres away, before landing to feed again. At this point, I pulled out the phone to ring local birder, Paul Morton. I wanted to check he had seen Eider this year as he is doing a Poole Harbour Year List & while it's unlikely to miss Eider during the year in the harbour, it's better to see one early on to avoid any stress about dipping towards the end of the year. He had, but then the conversation went in a more interesting way. He said he was out on Morden Bog, leading a Birds of Poole Harbour guided walk & was watching an interesting Raptor perched up & couldn't see why this pale bird wasn't a Short-toed Eagle. He had photos & was going to send me some to look at given this would be the third UK record before the news was released. Obviously before putting the news out he wanted a second opinion as this would likely to start a major twitch. At this point, I lost all interest in the Wagtail & decided that I had better start heading back to the car as it was only 20 minutes drive away (but over 30 minutes walk to the car). If it was a Short-toed Eagle it would be one of the birds of the year for the UK. Whilst not a UK tick, it would be a First for Dorset. But first it needed confirming, but I felt confident in Paul's thoughts on the bird, to call a few locals & provisionally warn them.

Looking back to Studland from Seat Point: It was 5 minutes back to Seat Point, but another 30 minutes walk to my car parked by the church, in the village just visible above the right end end of the chalk promontory. I tend to park here, not for religious or free parking, but because it's always worth checking the churchyard for migrants

Anyway, back to the Wagtail story. I didn't get the chance to look at the photos till about 22:00 that evening. A quick check revealed it wasn't a Blue-headed Wagtail as the head colouration would have been paler ashy grey & it would have also had a stronger white supercilium. Channel Wagtails have a paler, more lavender-coloured head still with a strong white supercilium, broadening behind the eye. So this is a lot more interesting & rarer race. Frustratingly, it's also a female bird as indicated by the extend of white on the throat & breast & these Yellow Wagtail races are tricky enough as Summer plumage males. I circulated one of the photos to some of the local birders & had responses back from Shaun Robson & Marcus Lawson, who also backing my private thoughts (at that stage) of Grey-headed Wagtail (thanks guys) & an email was posted that evening to the Dorset birders. Note, all photos have been cropped & sharpened, but no other changes have been made to the photos.

Grey-headed Wagtail: Female. Note the dark crown & darker ear coverts

Grey-headed Wagtail: Female

Grey-headed Wagtail: Female. A thin supercilium is visible in this photo

Grey-headed Wagtail: Female. A better view of the broken gorget, Unfortunately, it never turned its body towards me

Grey-headed Wagtail: Female. A clearer view of the white throat and the gorget 

Grey-headed Wagtail: Female

Grey-headed Wagtail: Male. This is what a male looks like & I would have worked this out immediately, having seen a couple of birds in a Yellow Wagtail flock in India at Desert Coursers, Gujurat, India (18 Jan 14). Males have a medium grey upper head, darker ear coverts, generally little or no pale supercilium behind the eye, a white moustachial & a yellow throat

Looking at photos on the internet, the biggest problem for females seems to be ruling out an Ashy-headed Wagtails from a Grey-headed Wagtail. So here goes with why I think it's a Grey-headed Wagtail. Being a female it's more tricky than for males. Starting with the call. I wasn't listening to it in a very analytical way, but it sounded like a normal Yellow Wagtail to my ears. But I don't think the call is going to help, except to rule out Black-headed Wagtail race of Yellow Wagtail (which it isn't anyway). The best information I've managed to find on the identification of Yellow Wagtail races so far is the Handbook of Bird Identification for Europe and the Western Palearctic by Madge & Beaman. The main problem seems to be ruling out a vagrant Ashy-headed Wagtail, cinereocapilla, as the other potential problem subspecies (Blue-headed Wagtail flava) has already been eliminated by the darkness of the face and ear-coverts & the lack of an obvious supercilium:-
Grey-headed Wagtail (thunbergi)
Typical adult females in Summer resembles those of flava, but the supercilium is weaker or absent, the head is darker & it has a dusky partial breast band. Grey-headed Wagtails breed from Scandinavia to Western Siberia & Winter in Sub-Saharan Africa & South & SE Asia.
Ashy-headed Wagtail (cinereocapilla) 
Typical adult females in Summer have dark crown and ear-coverts, sometimes a weak supercilium behind the eye resembling thunbergi, but the throat whiter and breast band less defined or absent. Ashy-headed Wagtails breed in italy, Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and Slovenia & Winter in West Central Africa.

Grey-headed Wagtail: Female. A final photo of the First for Poole Harbour

It looks like Grey-headed Wagtail, thunbergi, is the best fit for this bird based upon the darker grey on the face, the weak supercilium & the partial breast band. If accepted, it will be the 7th record for Dorset & the first for Poole Harbour. I'm now circulating the pictures more widely & if anybody has any useful comments, please add them to the blog. The previous records are:-
Portland Bill: 24 September 1977
Lodmoor: 28 August 1978
Lodmoor: 25 May - 16 August 1990
Stanpit: 8 - 11 September 1996
Stanpit: 23 May 2001
Reap Lane, Portland: 20 May 2011

I really wish I had worked out it's significance of the Wagtail when I saw it. However, the only consolation was few birders were going to worry about a rare Yellow Wagtail subspecies, with a potential Short-toed Eagle about 12 miles away. But the news from Paul wasn't sounding good: the bird had flown off & been lost from sight. Given it had gone I carried on walking back to the car fairly fast, but was now stopping for interesting things again, while I was awaiting some photos to be sent. It turns out Paul was on his way with the photos to Shaun's house (as he was unable to send the photos out by phone).

Blackbird: Female

Blackbird: Successful local breeding confirmed

Green-veined White: Easily overlooked in flight for one of the commoner Whites, but distinctive when seen feeding

Now back at the car, I received an update from Paul & a perched photo of a Short-toed Eagle. Bloody hell. A great find for a good mate & a hard local Poole Harbour watcher. Paul's write up of the day & his better photos are on the Birds of Poole Harbour website. Congrats again Paul. The update to the news when it flew East it appeared to be going in the direction of Poole Harbour. But this was an hour old news. Still there was a very slim chance it won't be entering New Forest airspace by this stage. So I quickly headed to a prominent viewpoint on Hartland Heath & started looking. But after 2 hours & with no news from any of the other locals, then it was clear it had left the area. Back home for some very late lunch. I had just finished when the pager mega alerted again to say it had been seen flying East over Morden Bog again, but again an hour old news. There was no indication of who the observer was, as nothing on the local email or grape vine, but time to head out again. Luckily for my mate Peter Moore, he had been looking at Puffins at Dancing Ledge near my village with family & friends, & had just returned to the cars when the mega alert went. He checked with the boss if it was OK to go with me, but I suspect he was long out of ear-shot by the time Claire has answered. Soon we were racing North again to Morden Bog & decided on a viewpoint along with my mate Andy Mears from Bristol & Nick Hopper & his Claire, at the Southern end, so the light would be behind us. No joy in the 20 minutes we were there, until my phone rang from George Green at the Northern end of Morden Bog to say he was watching the bird. We were the first to arrive being so close & fortunately it was still sitting in the tree a couple of hundred metres away.

Short-toed Eagle: There are better photos on Peter Moore's blog when he returned the following day on the excuse of going out for some exercise on his bicycle

The crowd shot about 90 minutes after we arrived

Whilst getting some crap record shots, I started ringing everybody I knew to get the news out & get people to our viewpoint. The last thing anybody wanted was people going all over the heath as that might flush the bird. In the end about 200 or so birders got to see it by the time I left about 21:00 & all were well behaved & kept well back: except for one selfish rogue local photographer who felt it necessary to get really close. It's clearly more important for him to get good photos (despite a good flight shot from the morning), than it is to behave & consider other birders, so everybody coming for the bird can see it. In the end, the bird didn't flush, despite what must have been a very close approach, but it's only possible for him to be cocky in hindsight. This isn't the first time he has got too close to Raptors, as can clearly be seen from photos he has posted in the past. Note, I've removed the links to his blog as I'm not prepared to give him any passing traffic from my blog. I hope other local birders will do the same on their blogs.