Port and Wey: February 2018

28 Feb 18

Church Ope Cove

In between the snow showers this afternoon I found time to walk down to Church Ope Cove. I wasn't that surprised to find only a handful of birds on my walk, with the main highlight being 5 Rock Pipits running about on the sea weed looking for insects.

In the surf 12 Herring Gulls were picking off "food" from the surface, a Shag landed about 50 metres off the beach and behind the beach huts 2 male Blackbirds were having a dispute about something.

Other than that the only other birds I found were Carrion Crow, Wood Pigeon and 2 Great Tits.

A very cold day here at Church Ope Cove with snow showers over the Channel.

The changing light on Church Ope Cove looking south

The gulls were enjoying it though........

....with Herring Gulls.......

.....feeding in the surf.

On the beach a Rock Pipit along with 4 others catching insects in the sea weed.

This is one of the five Rock Pipits on the beach running about on the sea weed looking for insects. (Apologies for the sound quality as my video camera was struggling to focus.)

The pooches enjoyed their walk. Nice to see Benji joining Ted for a change. Most days when I get the leads out, he jumps in his bed and stays at home. After today's freezing temperatures that will probably be the case again!!

The view of Weymouth Bay from the ruins of St Andrew's Church on a very windy and freezing day.

Ships Today

A British warship far out to sea. Sadly no info on this vessel.

Easton

Late morning a Firecrest in Easton Square.
Wakeham

As a snow shower passed over Portland early this morning the female Blackcap, 1 Blue Tit and 2 Great Tits were on the feeders in the back garden.

The snow might be falling.......

.....but it hasn't put the birds off from visiting the feeders. Here a Blue Tit is on the suet pellets....

....and a Great Tit on the sunflower seeds.

A few snow flakes on Portland

27 Feb 18

Wakeham

Late afternoon the female Blackcap visited the feeders briefly in the back garden.
Radipole RSPB Reserve

What a great afternoon at Radipole with Ross's Gull, Bearded Tit, Marsh Harrier and a Bittern. Not bad for an hours bird watching.

Here are a few photos and videos from today:

I'm getting closer. Last week I managed long range views of this Ross's Gull.......

......today it flew into Radipole just as I arrived. Its just sticking its head out left in the centre of the frame.

Then a few seconds later it was asleep.

A Bearded Tit, not the easiest of birds to photograph, but I did, just!!

Bottoms up, a familiar sight with Shelduck.....

....and a rare view of it above the surface.

A drake Gadwall. The Reserve has many of these lovely ducks in the canal running alongside Radipole Road.

A trio of Tufted Duck.

Here we have a pair of Teal. One of our smallest British ducks.

A selection of Cormorants adults, breeding adult and 1st winter.

And why not a shot of a Robin. Lots along the paths on the Reserve and fairly tame as well.

A Wood Pigeon braces itself in the wind.

A 2nd Winter Herring Gull. There is an excellent website I use for ID'ing Gulls. Click Here for the link.

A notice board about the North Screen

This is the view from the screen looking northeast, where the Bittern rose above the reed beds before dropping down a few metres further along.

My first ever video of a Bearded Tit. Hopefully many more to come.

A not so good video of the Ross's Gull which was a good 200 metres away from the Radipole Centre.

A Shelduck

A drake Shoveler

Birds Recorded today: Little Grebe, Cormorant, Bittern, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Shelduck, Mallard, Gadwall, Teal, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Pochard, 1 male Marsh Harrier, Water Rail, Moorhen, Coot, Mediterranean Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Common Gull, Ross's Gull, Wood Pigeon, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Cetti's Warbler, Goldcrest, Bearded Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Reed Bunting. 41 species.

26 Feb 18

Lodmoor and Radipole

Spent an hour at Lodmoor then onto Radipole in the hope of seeing the Ross's Gull close-up, but no joy again. At both venues it was a case of "it's just left". I'm sure I'll get to see it close-up before long.

At Lodmoor there were 2 Spoonbills with one sporting an array of coloured plastic leg rings, whilst the other was ring free. I believe the ringed bird is from Holland. Also here were lots of Black-tailed Godwits, still in winter plumage and also Little Grebe, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Shelduck, Mallard, Teal, Water Rail, Moorhen, Coot, Lapwing, Snipe, 3 Turnstone, Black-headed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Cetti's Warbler, Great Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Starling, Chaffinch and Goldfinch.

Here are a few images:

The dutch Spoonbill at Lodmoor today.

And here it is in flight.

3 Black-tailed Godwit huddle together from that biting easterly wind.

And a Snipe probes away in the mud.

A Grey Heron braves the freezing conditions.

And a Lapwing displaying to its mate.

Three Mediterranean Gulls in Summer Plumage, well almost.

I love gulls and though I'm not that brilliant at the plumage of different age birds, I don't mind having a go. To me this is a 2nd Winter Herring Gull. If I've got it wrong I'm sure someone will let me know.

At Radipole main highlights here were a Kingfisher and Marsh Harrier. Other birds recorded were: Little Grebe, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Shelduck, Mallard, Gadwall, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Water Rail, Moorhen, Coot, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Common Gull, Wood Pigeon, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Cetti's Warbler, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Starling, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, and Reed Bunting.

Here are a few images:

A Grey Heron at Radipole has the right idea and uses the reed bed for shelter.

A drake Shoveler and his "shovel-shaped" bill.

A nice posture from this Mute Swan.

A headless Cormorant and t=one in breeding plumage.

A not so brilliant photo of a Kingfisher. Try as I could there was no where to stand to get a clear shot of it.

A Kingfisher sat on a branch over the River Wey. Unfortunately this was the only viewing point I had.

A distant view of a Marsh Harrier circling over the reed beds.

Slo-mo of a Marsh Harrier coming into land in the reed beds at Radipole

A common Gull comes into land.

Now I hope I have this right as there weren't any other gulls around to make a comparison. To me it didn't look as big as I would have expected for a Great Black-backed Gull, so I'm going with a 1st winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. This was sat in the middle of the Swannery car park at Radipole.

Wakeham

A bitterly cold morning here on Portland with the thermometer reading 0.7°C and feeling a lot colder than that with that absolutely freezing easterly wind. For the first time in awhile the female Blackcap was here first thing this morning. In recent days she's not appeared until late morning early afternoon.

She wasn't alone as a Dunnock and Blue Tit were also up early and feeding on the suet pellets.

Poor quality image I know, but a shot of the female Blackcap on the suet pellets early this morning.

I think she will be here in the back garden for awhile yet. The weather forecast for this week is heavy snow on Thursday, so watch this space.

25 Feb 18

Wakeham

Apologies more of the same again. The female Blackcap on the feeders this afternoon along with 2 Great Tits, 2 Blue Tits and a Dunnock.

There was no sign of her this morning, but the feeders were pretty busy with Goldfinches, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Dunnock and a Robin. Also in the garden a Collared Dove.