31 Oct 21

Penns Wood, St Andrew's Church, Church Ope Cove, Church Ope Cove Wood, Penn's Weare, Penn's Copse, Rufus Castle and the Museum

Well I don't know whether it can get any windier, but at around 8:00am this morning there was a horrendous roar as the wind really picked up through Wakeham. One of my neighbours, who I met later, was told that the wind speed had actually reached 90mph. Looking out through the window at that time, I could well believe it.

The wind speed never got up that far again during the day, but the mean wind speed for the rest of the day was good 40mph plus.

There was no point being up high, so I gave Quarry Lane, The Meadows and the the Windmills a miss, and just walked down through the woods to the cove and then back up the steps to Rufus Castle and home via Portland Museum. With slightly less of the howling south-westerly on this side of the island, there was a bit of shelter, but not much.

In Penns Wood there was no sign of the Treecreeper from yesterday. However it was difficult to tell, especially when the leaves were continually falling off the trees and every leaf was a potential Treecreeper dropping down to "earth", before starting its upward ascent again. As I didn't see any leaves "ascending", I gave up looking.

At least it wasn't all gloom and doom in the wood, as I did record 3 Firecrests and a Chiffchaff here.

The beach was taking a right hammering from the waves and way out to sea there was a good mixture of sea birds with 2 Fulmar, 20+ Gannet, Cormorants, Shags, Mediterranean Gulls, Herring Gulls,
Great Black-backed Gulls and at least 3 Kittiwakes

On the beach, and despite the wind and spray, there were 33 Rock Pipits and a female/juvenile Black Redstart. Sadly the redstart didn't stay long, which wasn't surprising!!!


Birds Recorded:
2 Fulmar
20+ Gannet
Cormorant
Shag
2 Kestrel
Mediterranean Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
3 Kittiwake
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
33 Rock Pipit
1 Pied Wagtail
Dunnock
Robin

1 Black Redstart
Blackbird
1 Chiffchaff
3 Firecrest
Long-tailed Tit
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Goldfinch

You've got to be a real "pro" at holding yourself steady in a gale force wind. This Kestrel is a real master at it

Despite the wind and surf battering the beach.......

.........there were 33 Rock Pipits here today.

This one is on lookout, whilst the others were busy feeding on the thousands of Sandhoppers jumping about all over the shoreline.

Here are two of the thirty-three Rock Pipits which were at the cove today

Butterflies Recorded:
Red Admiral (In Penns Wood)


Wasps Recorded:
Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)

Apart from one German Wasp I came across a few days ago all the ones......

............I keep finding are Common Wasps.

Spiders Recorded:
Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus)

This bright orange spider is a Garden Spider on a nettle. More on this species here.

Sandhoppers Recorded:
1000's Talitrus saltator sandhoppers


General Shots:

One of the many squally showers to pass Portland. And for once I didn't get caught out in one.

All seems calm on the beach and then.......

...........the surf really got up, as you can........

........see on this video.

I wasn't surprised to find this Cuttlefish bone, I just thought there would be more washed up. I say bone, in fact it's the internal cartilaginous shell. More on Cuttlefish Here

Ted

Ted really enjoyed his walk today.

As you can tell.

And of course, Ted wouldn't be Ted if he didn't have a buzz every now and then.

30 Oct 21

Wakeham, Old Quarry Lane, Wakeham Meadow, The Windmills, Wakeham Railway Cuttings and Penns Wood

What a great start to the day when a Snow Bunting flew over the garden and was also heard by a friend of mine in Easton. Not a flight call I'm familiar with, but quite unmistakeable, once you know what one sounds like.

Here is an example of a Snow Bunting flight call.

The Snow Bunting was then followed up by several Redwings and a couple of Bramblings in my neighbours garden. So it was a pretty good morning so far.

I then took Ted for a walk in the afternoon and came across a Goldcrest and Chiffchaff close to the Railway Cuttings. However the best was to come when I got as far as the bottom of Pennsylvania Castle Woods and having found the 2 Firecrests again (), a small brown and white bird flew up into the tree in front of me and began searching for food. A Treecreeper and a huge surprise, as I know that Portland don't get that many.

Having alerted Portland Bird Observatory, the warden and several other birders arrived and as I type this, there is some thought that it might be a Short-toed Treecreeper.

However it didn't call whilst we were looking at it, and there was quite a discussion as to the colouration, pattern, length of the bill and hind-claws.  I'm still non the wiser, but just happy I got to find an unusual bird on the island.

Mammals Recorded:
Grey Squirrel


Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull

Wood Pigeon

Collared Dove

Grey Wagtail

Dunnock

Robin

Blackbird

7+ Redwing

2 Chiffchaff

1 Goldcrest

2 Firecrest

Long-tailed Tit

Great Tit

Blue Tit

1 Treecreeper

Wren

Magpie

Carrion Crow

Jackdaw

House Sparrow

2 Brambling

Chaffinch

4 Siskin

Goldfinch

1 Snow Bunting

Here are a few Treecreeper photos and videos

Video slightly slowed down.

A slightly longer video of the Treecreeper in Penns Wood.

Wasps Recorded:
Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)

A Common Wasp

Gall Wasps Recorded:
Dipoloepis rosaea

A "Robin's Pincushion" on a Dog Rose. It is a gall caused by the larvae of a tiny gall wasp, Dipoloepis rosaea.

Hoverflies Recorded:
Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
Dead Head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)
Syrphus sp.

Dead Head Hoverfly

Syrphus sp.

Bugs and Beetles Recorded:
Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)

Harlequin Ladybird form - succinea

29 Oct 21

Wakeham

Well that was a waste of a day. I was expecting a builder to arrive this morning for a quote on a new window and he pitched up around 5:30pm. So it was it was a bit of a garden watch today, with the main highlight being 4 Redwing flying over the cottage.

Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
4 Redwing
Great Tit
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Goldfinch

No photos today but here are a selection of thrushes which can be seen in the UK.

A male Blackbird

Mistle Thrush

Mistle Thrush

Song Thrush

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Fieldfares

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

A Redwing and Blackbird

Redwing

Redwing

Redwing

Ring Ouzel

28 Oct 21

Old Quarry Lane, Wakeham Meadow, The Windmills, Wakeham Railway Cuttings, Penns Wood, St Andrew's Church, Church Ope Cove, Church Ope Cove Wood, Penn's Weare, Penn's Copse, Rufus Castle and Portland Museum

A typical Autumn day, cloudy, grey with the occasional glimpse of the sun. Main highlights, on another mid-afternoon walk, were my first "visible" Redwings with 6 along Old Quarry Lane, 2 Firecrests in Penns Wood, a Lesser Redpoll over the Railway Cuttings, 4 Chiffchaff at various locations along my walk and 5 Rock Pipits on the beach.

Yet again no butterflies recorded, just the one bee seen a White-tailed Bumblebee, a few Common Wasps, 2 Marmalade Hoverflies and 2 Chrysolina banksii beetles.

Birds Recorded:
Gannet
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
5 Rock Pipit
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
6 Redwing
4 Chiffchaff
2 Firecrest
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
2 Raven
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
1 Lesser Redpoll
2 Siskin
Goldfinch

A few Rock Pipits are starting to appear at the cove now.

Bees Recorded:
White-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lucorum)

Just the one bee seen today, this White-tailed Bumblebee

Wasps Recorded:
Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)

A Common Wasp in flight.

Hoverflies Recorded:
2 Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

And a Marmalade Hoverfly, which I just managed to photograph as it hovered in front of me.

Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Kelp Fly (Coelopa frigida)


Bugs and Beetles Recorded:
Leaf Beetle (Chrysolina banksii)

This pair of beetles are................

.......................Leaf Beetles, Chrysolina banksii. More on this beetle Here.

Plants:

Japanese Spindle Tree (Euonymus japonicus)
Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum)
Hart's-tongue Fern (Asplenium scolopendrium)

This flowering Honeysuckle was in amongst the Japanese Spindle in Penns Wood.

This is Hart's-tongue Fern and this is..............

...........what it looks like on the underside.

General Shots:
Church Ope Cove

The wind was coming straight into the cove this afternoon.

And there was a fair bit of surf as you can see............

..................from this short video

Ted:

No waterproofs for Ted today, thank goodness. But it's certainly woolly jumper time. It was pretty nippy out there today.

Ships Today:

This is the Cargo Ship "Spanaco Fidelity" flying the flag of Antigua Barbuda. It is on its way from Teignmouth to Riga (Latvia). More on this vessel Here.

This is the Maltese Ro-Ro/Passenger Ship "Visby" on its way from Dunkirk to Rosslare. More on this vessel Here.