Portland Bill
Today was sunny but pretty chilly, so I decided on another trip down to the Bill. Main highlights were 1000's of sea birds in a feeding frenzy along The Races. The sky above The Races was absolutely teeming with birds, with 1000's of Gannets, Common Gulls, Herring Gulls, Great Black-backed Gulls, Kittiwakes, whilst on the surface were Guillemots & Razorbills, with many flying back and forth to the West Cliffs.
As I headed off towards The Pulpit from the Obelisk I asked another birder heading towards me, whether he had seen any Purple Sandpipers at the Pulpit. "No" he replied, "too many people there". So imagine my surprise then when I got there and I came across 9 Purple Sandpipers, 7 Turnstones and 2 Rock Pipits feeding on the ledges close to the sea. Not sure how he missed them.
Today was sunny but pretty chilly, so I decided on another trip down to the Bill. Main highlights were 1000's of sea birds in a feeding frenzy along The Races. The sky above The Races was absolutely teeming with birds, with 1000's of Gannets, Common Gulls, Herring Gulls, Great Black-backed Gulls, Kittiwakes, whilst on the surface were Guillemots & Razorbills, with many flying back and forth to the West Cliffs.
As I headed off towards The Pulpit from the Obelisk I asked another birder heading towards me, whether he had seen any Purple Sandpipers at the Pulpit. "No" he replied, "too many people there". So imagine my surprise then when I got there and I came across 9 Purple Sandpipers, 7 Turnstones and 2 Rock Pipits feeding on the ledges close to the sea. Not sure how he missed them.
Here are a few images and videos from today:
Today there 9 Purple Sandpipers.
This one is keeping an eye on me
Five Purple Sandpipers
Two Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
These 3 Turnstones have found a safe haven..........
..........unlike these 2.........
...........they just managed to get off the rock before a wave came crashing over it.
This Turnstone has a morsel of food. Possibly a Common Periwinkle!!
Turnstone
Three Turnstone
Three Turnstone
Looking east from the Pulpit to the Obelisk. In the foreground are the Purple Sandpipers and Turnstones.
2 Purple Sandpipers and 5 Turnstone
A feeding frenzy out in the Portland Races with Gannets, gulls and auks.
Another video slightly zoomed in.
And if the two videos above were too quick well here is a Slo-mo
A Rock Pipit. There were 2 on the ledges and 2 by the Lighthouse
Is there nothing this dog can't do............
...........Ted flying through the air.
And a mini Bichon Buzz.
Ships Today
This is the British fishing boat "Boy Lynham", just off Portland Bill.