THE jewel of Poole Harbour has been chosen to feature in a new UK guide to spectacular bird watching sites.
Brownsea Island , which has internationally important numbers of waders visiting its Dorset Wildlife Trust nature reserve, has been picked for the online guide Great Places to See Thousands of Birds.
One of the UK’s most awe-inspiring sights, thousands of flocking birds, begins in August after the breeding season as numbers start to build up on Brownsea’s lagoon.
Later in the year up to 10,000 birds find sanctuary there. The water level can be controlled using a wind-powered pump, allowing the birds to feed and rest when the tide covers the rest of Poole Harbour.
Brownsea Island holds the record for the largest single avocet flock in the UK of 1,331 birds, and during the autumn up to 2,500 black-tailed godwits gather as well as spoonbills, curlew, grey plover and oystercatcher, seen from the reserve’s bird hides.
The guideis available free at widlifetrusts.org/megaflocks The reserve is open daily until November 4.
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