30 Nov 17

Church Ope Cove

With the daytime temperature dropping to around 4°C and snow falling there appeared to be very little bird activity inland, so it was off to Church Ope Cove to see if the beach could provide anything.

Snowing at Penn's Weare

Last Saturday there were a lot of small black flies on the seaweed, which didn't go unnoticed by 16 Rock Pipits and 5 Wrens. Well the pipits may have moved on bar one, but the flies were still attracting a lot of Wrens with 9 now flitting around the rocks and pebbles on the beach. Also here was the resident Robin and a lone Black Redstart, which I believe is a female. Happy to be corrected on this one!!

Just off the beach a Shag catching fish close in and on the rocks were 2 Oystercatchers. Further out to sea and impossible to ID were lots of auks flying south, possibly Guillemots or Razorbills.

The area behind the beach huts is still providing the tits and crests with a long-staying Firecrest.

Here are a few images from this afternoon:

Our local Kestrel on the telegraph pole overlooking the horse field along Bumpers Lane as I was heading off to Church Ope Cove.

Looking south along Church Ope Cove

Looking north. The cliff and beach here are "home" to 9 Wrens, a Robin and a Black Redstart.

This Black Redstart is not very popular with......

.......the "resident" Robin, which was seen on more than one occasion chasing it around the beach

It seems happy now that the Robin is feeding elsewhere.

I'm pretty sure this is a female Black Redstart. The light conditions were absolutely perfect for taking photographs. To good as this bird looks really brown.......

.......however when the sun went in, the Black Redstart is very grey. Male or female I'm still not sure!

Black Redstart

The Isle of Wight, with the Needles Lighthouse in the centre. I'm guessing but I reckon the distance is around 40 miles from Portland as the crow flies.

All the ships out to sea this afternoon were on the horizon, making them very difficult to photograph. I think this is RFA Tidespring.

This one I have no idea. A frigate maybe!!

This one is a bit easier, it's the FMT Bergama an Oil/Chemical Tanker flying the flag of Malta on its way to Falmouth from Fawley in the Solent. More on this vessel here.

Birds Recorded today were: 1 Gannet, 1 Shag, 2 Sparrowhawk, 1 Kestrel, 2 Oystercatcher, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, 10+ Razorbill/Guillemot, Wood Pigeon, 1 Rock Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Dunnock, Robin, 1 Black Redstart, Blackbird, 1 Song Thrush, Goldcrest, 1 Firecrest, 10 Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, 12 Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, House Sparrow, Chaffinch and 12 Goldfinch.

Also 2 White-tailed Bumblebees (Bombus lucorum)