1 Nov 19

Wakeham Wood, Wakeham Railway Cuttings, Penns Wood, St Andrew's Church, Church Ope Cove, Penns Weare, Penns Copse, Rufus Castle, Bumpers Lane and Mermaid Track

Looking out the window this morning it was a real "pea souper", fortunately by 8:30am the thick fog had lifted and in fact for at least an hour or so the sun came out, only to be replaced by grey clouds and drizzle later on.

Another excellent days birding again with 2 Yellow-browed Warblers, 3 Black Redstarts, 2 Firecrest and several Chiffchaff and Goldcrests. I even managed a record shot of the Great Spotted Woodpecker in Penns Wood.

Here is a breakdown of the birds I recorded today.

Wakeham Wood: 4 Chiffchaff, 1 Yellow-browed Warbler, 1 Firecrest, 4 Goldcrest and 12+ Long-tailed Tits. Overhead 1 Grey Wagtail and 3 Redwing

Bottom Combe Quarry: 7 Greenfinch

Wakeham Railway Cuttings: 2 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff, 9 Long-tailed Tits and 2 Redwing. 1 Sparrowhawk over.

Penns Wood: 3 Chiffchaff, 6 Goldcrest and 8 Long-tailed Tits. Also 3 Redwing overhead.

Pennsylvania Castle Grounds: 1 Yellow-browed Warbler and 1 Firecrest

St Andrew's Church: 5 Long-tailed Tits

Church Ope Cove: 21 Rock Pipits and 3 Black Redstarts. Also 2 Robins 1 "Rock" Robin and a "Hut" Robin

Penns Weare: 1 Peregrine Falcon and 2 Song Thrushes

Mermaid Track: 3 Chiffchaff, 3 Goldcrest, 5 Long-tailed Tits and 2 Redwing

The sun was just warm enough for 3 Red Admirals and a few Ivy Bees to be out and about. Though a couple of Ivy Bees looked to be in poor shape. Sadly their life is pretty short; appearing in September until Mid-November, so it looks like the couple I saw on the Ivy probably won't see the day out.

A Peacock butterfly larvae was on a nettle at the end of the Mermaid Track, no doubt it will be looking for a safe place to pupate over the winter months.

Here are a few images from today

A Yellow-browed Warbler and not the easiest of warblers to photograph especially..........

.........in the foliage and.........

........lowlight. Taken this morning in Wakeham Wood Here.

Apologies for the poor quality video. This Yellow-browed Warbler was definitely on a mission to find food. I think my biggest mistake though was trying to zoom in every-time I caught up with it. A point to remember if I'm lucky enough to find another one.

Not the Yellow-browed but one of the several Chiffchaffs still in Wakeham

Along the Railway Cuttings one of the two Blackcaps. This one is a female with the brown cap.

Am acrobatic Goldcrest.

The north-east corner of Church Ope Cove, where......

......today there was this Black Redstart, plus another two that dropped in briefly before being chased by this bird. Maybe this individual is an overwintering bird. We will see!!

If you approach quietly (not easy on the loose pebbles underfoot) you can sometimes get fairly close to the Rock Pipits. They are quite confiding birds and seem to tolerate us humans unless your'e running up and down the beach. Today there were 21 up and down the beach.

Another difficult bird to photograph - a Long-tailed Tit. As soon as you focus on them they're gone, or hiding behind a leaf.

I could hear it, but see it was so difficult. And then bingo this Great Spotted Woodpecker popped out onto a bare branch in Penns Wood, albeit obscured by the branches and leaves between me and it.

The grounds of St Andrew's Church. In the background Pennsylvanian Castle grounds where I was lucky to see and hear my second Yellow-browed Warbler of the day.

The Common Wasp nest is still very busy behind the huts at the cove.

One of the Ivy Bees still busy collecting pollen from the ever diminishing Ivy flowers.

The caterpillar of a Peacock butterfly

Mammals Recorded: Grey Squirrel

Birds Recorded: 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Peregrine Falcon, Herring Gull, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, 21 Rock Pipit, Pied Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, Dunnock, Robin, 3 Black Redstart, Blackbird, 10 Redwing, 2 Song Thrush, 2 Blackcap, 12 Chiffchaff, 2 Yellow-browed Warbler, 13 Goldcrest, 2 Firecrest, 30+ Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Goldfinch and 7 Greenfinch

Butterflies Recorded: 3 Red Admiral

Bees Recorded: 3 Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae)

Wasps Recorded: German Wasp (Vespula germanica) and Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)

Flies Recorded: Kelp Fly (Coelopa frigida)

Slugs and Snails Recorded: Large Red Slug (Arion ater) and Black Slug (Arion ater)

Caterpillars Recorded: 1 Peacock!!

Ships Today

This is the Belgium Frigate "Leopold I (F930)" on its way out of Weymouth Bay to an unknown destination. More on this vessel Here.

This is the Dutch Frigate "HNLMS Van Speijk (F828)" on its way into Weymouth Bay. Unfortunately its route is not showing on Marine Traffic.com. More on this vessel Here.

This is the Cargo Ship "BBC Pacific" flying the flag of Antigua Barbuda. It is on its way from Kiel (Denmark) to Haifa (Israel). More on this vessel Here.

Church Ope Cove and on the horizon the Japanese Container Ship "One Grus".....................

..............on its way to Southampton having left there early this morning!!! More on this vessel Here

This is the British Trawler "Osprey"............ 

........Its is on its way from Boulogne-Sur-Mer (France) to Douglas (Isle of Man). More on this vessel Here.

This is the British Yacht "Bella Nove" on its way from Plymouth to an unknown destination. More on this vessel Here.

Here the Trawler "Osprey" and "Bella Nove" pass each other just off Portland

Aircraft Today

This is the Dassault Falcon 20 aircraft "G-FRAJ", doing circuits over Portland.

 More on this aircraft Here, Here..............

.................and Here.

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On this day..........

2018
Today's Sightings Here.

2017
Today's Sightings Here.