15 Sep 21

Portland Bird Observatory, Obs Quarry, The Slopes, Higher Lighthouse, Top Fields and Crown Estate Fields

Summer is back and what a lovely sunny day it was. There was a bit of a westerly breeze, but the temperature was well into the high teens.

There was a noticeable difference in the number of Chiffchaffs around today and it seemed that every bush I passed had a few birds in them.

Other birds of note were a female Common Redstart and a Common Whitethroat in an Elderberry Tree.

Birds Recorded:
1 Buzzard
4 Kestrel
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Stock Dove
Wood Pigeon
1 Little Owl
Swallow
Meadow Pipit
4 Stonechat
1 Common Redstart
1 Wheatear
1 Common Whitethroat
20+ Chiffchaff
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Rook
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Raven
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Goldfinch

I saw at least 4 Kestrels on my walk. The backdrop is Chesil Beach

These two weren't getting on very well with each other.

And time for a break.

And here is another Kestrel........

..........hovering over the Crown Estate Fields

And yep one of the Little Owls was out on its favourite ledge in the Obs Quarry.

One of many Meadow Pipits moving through the island.

A juvenile Stonechat. Mum, Dad and 2 other juveniles were close by on the Slopes.

A solitary Elder Tree along the coast path. But in it was...........

..........this female Common Redstart.

She stayed within the Elder for awhile before.......

.........coming out into the open a couple of times.

You can see exactly how Redstarts get their name, as "start" was an old Anglo-Saxon name for tail. More on the origins of bird names here.

On the same branch where the Common Redstart was earlier, this Common Whitethroat suddenly appeared. At the back of the Elder there were also 2 Chiffchaff. Just one isolated tree and a magnet to birds passing through.

And here is a quartet of corvids. This is a Rook and actually not that common on the island. 

A Carrion Crow. There are certainly a lot of these about, along with.........

..........its smaller cousin the Jackdaw.

And the last of the quartet a Raven, our largest corvid.

Dragonflies and Damselflies Recorded:
Emperor Dragonfly
Common Darter

There were a good number of Common Darters about. This is a male.

Butterflies Recorded:
Large White
Small White
20+ Small Heath
Red Admiral


Bees Recorded:
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum)


Hoverflies Recorded:
Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)


Ted:

A hot dog. But all was well as I had a bottle of water for Ted, plus a couple of treats to keep him going.

Ships Today:

This is the Weymouth Lifeboat "Ernest and Mabel" just off Portland's west coast. From what I could gather it was on exercise with the local Coast Guard, Search & Rescue teams and Paramedics. More on this vessel Here.