Thursday 16 February 2017

15/02/2017 Poole Harbour Cruise and a Visit to Brownsea Island

Wednesday 15 February 2017
East Grinstead RSPB Local Group

Our long-awaited outing to Brownsea Island proved a bit of a disaster. The weather was against us with rain for most of the time. Also, there were long delays on the M27 near Southampton as a result of an earlier accident and this resulted in 7 of our 30 members, including me, arriving too late for the 10.00 sailing and having to settle for the next boat at 11.00.

  • Commentary by a member of the Birds of Poole Harbour group was the highlight of the trip for me.  He provided an authoritative mix of the history of the area whilst calling out the birds as they showed on the water. 
  • There were many good birds seen from the boat including a couple of Great Northern Divers, many Red-breasted Mergansers, several Goldeneye, a couple of Black-necked grebes and 16 Spoonbills at Shipstal Point on Arne.
  • On the island we saw a Firecrest, a couple of Grey Wagtails, a Greenshank, 20+ Avocets, a couple of Snipe, many Bar-tailed Godwits, a couple of Pintail, 20+ Grey Plovers and about the same number of Dunlin.
  • My wife Sue spotted a Red Squirrel as we left the first hide - one of the few sightings of the day.

Disappointing but still worth the effort - I love this area and intend to spend more time here in the future.

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