Brownsea Island - 11th November

A sunny and mild day. Highlights were Spoonbills, Avocets, Water Rail, Spotted Redshank, Knot and Red Squirrels.

The ferry picked us up at Sandbanks and after 10 minutes we were on Brownsea Island and were greeted by the Dorset Wildlife Trust warden, Chris Thain. Chris explained a bit about the island and then we were off. From the first hide we got quite good views of 12 Spoonbills all sitting in front of some trees with some Herons. Added excitement was provided by a Red Squirrel outside the hide, which posed wonderfully on a fallen tree for ages. We also got distant views of Avocets from this hide. 3 rare species within the first 10 minutes is pretty good. Lyz also saw a few Greenshank from this hide.
We walked along to the second hide. All the hides overlook a large shallow lagoon and this was packed with thousands of birds. In front of the hide were several hundred Black-tailed Godwit, behind them in slightly deeper water was a line of over 1000 Avocets, mostly asleep, but some were feeding with swooping bill actions. Further out were hundreds of Dunlin, some Grey Plover and Redshank, loads of Oystercatcher and swimming around were plenty of Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler and Brent Geese. The hide here has a video scope so I was able to point the telescope at birds on the lagoon and the image was shown o a screen. Someone picked out a Turnstone or two with the Black-tailed Godwit and Dennis found a Spotted Redshank to one side of the hide. The Spoonbills were then seen at the far end of the lagoon and some were feeding. A group of Knot flew to the closest island and started feeding. A few Dunlin were with them and it gave us a brilliant opportunity to compare these two species. Before we left the hide we picked out a few Bar-tailed Godwit with a large group of Grey Plover and Black-tailed Godwits.
We left the hide and walked to the Villa, an old building tat houses the Dorset Wildlife Trust on the island. Here we stopped for lunch and coffee. They have a live video link to a feeding platform where Red Squirrels often come to eat peanuts etc. We were not disappointed and had quite good views of them here. After lunch we went back to the lagoon and had a look at a different hide. We could still see just as many birds and there were a few additions. A Kingfisher zoomed past, but was only seen by a few people. At least 1 Snipe was seen on the edges of some reeds and then Dennis picked out a Water Rail creeping along the front edge of the reeds. After many minutes of waiting and watching most of us managed to glimpse it. We also got really good views of some Avocets feeding in front of the hide.
We left the hide, walked back past the Villa, stopping briefly to look at a Red Squirrel on the feeding platform and walked on to the woodland lakes. A Grey Wagtail flew over the lake and there was a Coot, a pair of Tufted Duck, a pair of Teal and a pair of Gadwall on the lake. We walked to the second lake and then walked between the two and to the woods beyond. On the second lake all we saw was a single Shoveler. As we got to the woods a Sika Deer ran off up the path and then stopped and we got quite good views of it. We walked up through the woods and to a small area of heathland. It was very quiet up here, just 1 Buzzard and a group of Long-tailed Tits. We walked back through the woods to the quayside to get the ferry home. As we approached the quayside a Curlew flew over, surprisingly the first one we had recorded today. From the quayside we got good views of a Shag sitting on one of the buoys and a Cormorant on the water.
Simon Curson