8 Dec 19

Wakeham Railway Cuttings, Penns Wood, St Andrew's Church, Church Ope Cove, Church Ope Cove Wood, Rufus Castle and Portland Museum

A very windy start to the day as Storm Atiyah began its build up. In fact the expectation as I type this, is for gusts to reach around 70mph this evening and overnight. The wind speed this morning wasn't quite that strength, but it was windy enough to make birding pretty difficult. Fortunately the "Eastern" Lesser Whitethroat and a Firecrest along the old railway cutting, plus another Firecrest at the back of the cove saved the day for birds of interest and were fairly easy to find.

Also along the railway track was a Chiffchaff with another in Penns Wood.

Here are a few of my sightings from this morning.

Wakeham Railway Cuttings: "Eastern" Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Chiffchaff, 3 Goldcrest, 1 Firecrest and 8 Long-tailed Tit

Penns Wood: 1 Chiffchaff, 2 Goldcrest and 3 Long-tailed Tit

Church Ope Cove: 2 Rock Pipits

Church Ope Cove Wood: 1 Firecrest and 4 Long-tailed Tit

Also seen today a Common Drone Fly and the hardy German Wasps.

Here are a few images from today:

Along the Railway Cuttings was this.........

.............Chiffchaff, which was a bit camera shy.

The hardy German Wasps are still active.

And the sun was warm enough............

.........for this Common Drone Fly to show itself by Rufus Castle.

And here are a few images and a video of the "Eastern" Lesser Whitethroat. (Apologies for so many).








The over-wintering "Eastern" Lesser Whitethroat has now moved from Pennsylvania Castle Woods to its new location along the old railway cuttings in Wakeham

Birds Recorded: Herring Gull, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, 2 Rock Pipit, Blackbird, "Eastern" Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Chiffchaff, 5 Goldcrest, 2 Firecrest, 15 Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Raven, Chaffinch and Goldfinch

Wasps Recorded: German Wasp (Vespula germanica)

Hoverflies Recorded: Common Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax)

Ships Today

This is the Cargo ship "Linnau" flying the flag of Antigua Barbuda. It is on its way from Aberdeen to Bayonne (France). More on this vessel Here.

This is the RNLI Lifeboat 17 32 just off Church Ope Cove. More on this vessel Here.

The RNLI were practicing recovery of a body from the sea. Not a real person but a dummy. Not that I knew that at the time.

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On this day..........
2018
Today's Sightings Here.

2017
Today's Sightings Here.