Urban Birding

1st January 2019

I kicked of the year with some urban birding for my Poole Harbour Year list.

Started off at Baiter were I saw.

Sandwich Tern x 1

Great Northern Diver x 1

Goldeneye x 3

Great Crested Grebes x 4

Brent Geese

Oystercatchers

Redshanks

Dunlin

Turnstones

these were the highlights

Great Northern Diver

Great Northern Diver diving

Then I moved on to Poole Park for the Mandarin which I found on the small pond by the station and cafe.

Also here

Little Egret

Little Grebe

Tufted Duck

Greylag Geese

Drake Mandarin

I followed this up with a trip to Holes Bay/Upton CP one of the best parts of the morning with stacks of Wigeon I would of thought there was about C300

Wigeon

and C200 Dunlin and C100 Redshank and it was wonderful to watch these wheeling about over the bay, watching from the cycle path.

Also here I found 8 Avocet, Shelducks, more Oystercatchers at least four Pintail, Teal and Shoveler and by the stone bench a large group of Black-tailed Godwits and Curlew.

Sleeping Wigeon

Holes Bay looking towards the twin Sails bridge

Looking toward Poole Town

More Wigeon

The Twin Sails Bridge

I then moved on to Hatch Pond but there was not much here a part from 17 Snipe on the cut reed bed.

One of 17 Snipe

By this time the call of Longham Lakes was to great to resist and I head over to my local patch

were I saw the Great Egret still in resident on the large island along with a few Gadwall, Wigeon, Tufted Ducks and a group of 50 Pochard on South lake and a group of 30 Pochard on North Lake.

Then I found what I thought was a Red-crested Pochard by the large island in South Lake, but with only ever seeing on male Red-crested Pochard before in full male Plumage this one through me of a bit. It looked like a RC Pochard expect the breast area was not the glossy black and the back was a greyish flat brown and the flanks  a mix of greyish brown and white, like when a tufted duck is in eclipse type plumage. The head was large and orange colour with a black hind neck, the bill was a croal redish colour and the eye was red.

A 1st winter male Red-crested Pochard? Attached a couple of picture of the bird asleep.

Possible Red-crested Pochard

another of the possible Red-crested Pochard