A quick walk around Tout Quarry this afternoon revealed just 1 Wheatear and both Blackcap & Chiffchaff singing.
In the Crown Estate Fields a Hoopoe was feeding along the bramble hedgeline. Very distant and only visible using bins or a scope. Not sure if it was yesterdays bird or another! Also here a Small White butterfly. And apparently the Green Woodpecker I heard around Bumpers Lane, turned up at the Obs 30 minutes or so after I'd heard it. What a mobile bird.
Way out on the horizon, I thought I was looking at a boat. And then I realised they were huge rollers heading into Weymouth Bay. I've no idea of the size but they were big!!
Birds Recorded: 5 Fulmar, Kestrel, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Swallow, 4 Meadow Pipit, 4 Rock Pipit, Dunnock, Robin, Stonechat/Whinchat, Blackbird, 5 Chiffchaff, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, 1 Raven, 1 Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet and Goldfinch.
Also seen a bumblebee sp. (Possibly Red-tailed Bumblebee), Black Slugs (Arion ater) and Garden Snails (Cornu aspersum)
Broadcroft Quarry Lane, Coastal Path, Rufus Castle, Church Ope Cove and Pennsylvania Castle Wood.
An early morning walk started off dry and sunny at 7:00am, but then a couple of showers rolled in, before the sun came back out again. A bit disappointing bird-wise, I had hoped to have seen a few migrants, but the best i could was 5 Chiffchaffs (with one singing), a single Swallow and a chat. as to whether the latter was a Stonechat or Whinchat I couldn't say as the brief view I had of it was to quick to ID properly.
The best of the morning was a Green Woodpecker "yaffling" from Bumpers Lane. The first time I heard it, it appeared to be about here. About 5 minutes later and it called again from around this area, but try as I could I couldn't locate it. It was probably in someones back garden feeding on a lawn.
Here are few images from this morning:
And according to the following website here "Are particularly striking on the eastern cliffs and quarries on the Isle of Portland, Dorset"
.............apparently they are most likely to be Russian Comfrey (Symphytum x Uplandicum), which is a cross or hybrid of Common Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) and Rough Comfrey (Symphytum asperum).
An early morning walk started off dry and sunny at 7:00am, but then a couple of showers rolled in, before the sun came back out again. A bit disappointing bird-wise, I had hoped to have seen a few migrants, but the best i could was 5 Chiffchaffs (with one singing), a single Swallow and a chat. as to whether the latter was a Stonechat or Whinchat I couldn't say as the brief view I had of it was to quick to ID properly.
The best of the morning was a Green Woodpecker "yaffling" from Bumpers Lane. The first time I heard it, it appeared to be about here. About 5 minutes later and it called again from around this area, but try as I could I couldn't locate it. It was probably in someones back garden feeding on a lawn.
Here are few images from this morning:
This Herring Gull is not to happy with this Raven..........
.......and eventually drives it off.
A Jackdaw up by The Grove......
......where there were several Herring Gulls in the horses paddock.
A few finches about including this Goldfinch at Church Ope Cove.
And in the grounds of St Andrew's Church this Robin is still collecting nesting material.
He didn't seem to bothered by my presence and just waited until I left.
Black Slugs, Arion ater. on the coastal path. More on this slug here.
Also along the path Garden Snails, Cornu aspersum
A Red-tailed Bumblebee maybe!!
It appears that this plant could well be Erysimum cheiri..........
.........which is a Wallflower.
Masses of these flowers in Pennsylvania Castle Wood...........
This I believe is Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens)
More on Green Alkanet Here
The sun rising from the east as a rain cloud passes overhead.
The waves crashing into Church Ope Cove.
Birds Recorded: 5 Fulmar, Kestrel, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Swallow, 4 Meadow Pipit, 4 Rock Pipit, Dunnock, Robin, Stonechat/Whinchat, Blackbird, 5 Chiffchaff, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, 1 Raven, 1 Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet and Goldfinch.
Also seen a bumblebee sp. (Possibly Red-tailed Bumblebee), Black Slugs (Arion ater) and Garden Snails (Cornu aspersum)