RECORD breaking numbers of spoonbills have been spotted in Poole Harbour, making it the largest gathering of the species ever recorded in the UK.

A survey carried out by charity Birds of Poole Harbour recorded 75 of the white water birds, which are closely related to herons.

Eurasian spoonbills were once rare visitors to Dorset but, in recent years, numbers have been rising due to population increases on the continent. Each August, spoonbill begin to arrive in Poole Harbour having left their breeding grounds and gather at favoured sites within the harbour. Presently, the birds only over-winter in Poole Harbour, but local conservationists hope that, over time, they will stay and become a breeding species by setting up a small colony within the harbour.

Birds of Poole Harbour’s Paul Morton said: “Discovering this new record number of 75 spoonbill within Poole Harbour is great news. Not only does it show how important the area is as an over-wintering site for this species, it also increases the chances of some deciding to stay and breed in future years.

“They’re a real asset to the harbour and are great fun to watch”

The charity conducted a survey for the species as part of an 18-month study. The spoonbill ‘mega flock’ was spit over two areas with 40 on Shipstal Point at RSPB Arne nature reserve and 35 on Dorset Wildlife Trust’s Brownsea Island lagoon.

It is thought that some of these birds will carry on moving south-west into Devon and Cornwall over the coming weeks with the main bulk of the flock hoped to remain in Poole Harbour during the winter.

Spoonbills are an extremely rare breeding bird in the UK with only a handful of nests each year, most regularly at a site in north Norfolk. However, this summer a pair pioneered a new site at RSPB Fairburn Ings in Yorkshire, proving that the population is looking to expand.

Mr Morton said: “We’re lucky here in Poole Harbour to have some of the best nature reserves in the country, and visitors will be able to visit places like RSPB Arne this winter to try and see the spoonbill. I remember growing up in Poole Harbour through the late eighties and you’d be lucky to see one spoonbill, let alone 75.”

Spoonbill behaviour in Poole Harbour is predictable, with the whole flock roosting on Shipstal Point, Arne or the Brownsea lagoon on a high tide, and then heading out to feed in shallow channels in the Wareham or Middlebere Channel on a low tide.

During the colder months, they can even be found feeding close to the cycle path in the urban setting of the Holes Bay nature park, normally in the north-eastern area of the bay. This annual increase of over-wintering spoonbill in Poole Harbour is likely to continue as the record has been broken every year since 2013.