It was right mixture of sunshine and cloud today. I left the cottage in the sun, came back home because it looked like rain was imminent and as I arrived back home the sun came out again. We still managed to get a good walk in, despite walking a bit faster on the final leg.
Still not a lot about with the best of the birding at the cove where there were 31 Rock Pipits, 2 Pied Wagtails and 2 Wrens feeding on the millions of Kelp Flies.
The sea is still pretty rough and as per yesterday there were quite a few gulls beyond the first breaker, with 30+ Herring Gulls, 5 Common Gulls and a Black-headed Gull. Also seen today a Cormorant heading down the coast.
When the sun was out, so were a few flies, with dozens of small black "flies" on the Alexanders, plus a couple of Yellow Dung Flies. And if its warm enough, there is always a chance of coming across a Wall Lizard. Which is exactly what I did in the grounds of St Andrew's Church, with a juvenile sunning itself on the stone wall, well at least until the sun disappeared behind the thick cloud moving up the island.
Here are a few images and videos from today:
At the top of Penns Wood were these 3 Yellow Dung Flies on the Alexanders.
And a close up of one of the Yellow Dung Flies.
Also in Penns Wood was this Goldfinch which has a lichen for Lichen. Sorry couldn't resist!!
Another Goldfinch. This time feeding on Ash Keys.
A juvenile Wall Lizard sunning itself in the grounds of St Andrew's Church
Unfortunately the clouds arrived and it returned to its shelter in Church Wall.
At the back of the cove the Alexanders were covered in Kelp Flies, whilst...........
...............on the beach there were another million flies being picked off by the Rock Pipits.
Nice pose
The sea was still pretty rough today. The birds flying about are Rock Pipits and then a Pied Wagtail.
Four Common Gulls at the cove. I had to slow the video down as they were really bobbing about in the choppy sea.
One of the Common Gulls off the cove. This one is a first winter. A good guide to ageing gulls can be found Here.
And the lone Black-headed Gull again.
There's got to be a caption here Ted.
Birds Recorded: 1 Black-headed Gull, 30+ Herring Gull, 5 Common Gull, Wood Pigeon, 31 Rock Pipit, 2 Pied Wagtail, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, 2 Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow, Chaffinch and Goldfinch
Reptiles Recorded: 1 Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis)
Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded: Kelp Fly (Coelopa frigida), 2 Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria) and 30+ fly sps.
Ships Today
