Penns Wood, St Andrew's Church, Church Ope Cove, Penn's Weare, Grove Cliffs, The Cuttings, Bumpers Lane, Broadcroft Quarry Lane, Broadcroft Butterfly Reserve and Lower Horse PaddockIt was a slightly extended walk today to see if there were any early
Wheatears along Penn's Weare. Unsurprisingly there weren't any, but I did come across a pair of
Stonechats close to the WWII Pill Box. Other highlights were a
Goldcrest in Penns Wood, a single
Rock Pipit along Penn's Weare (there were none at the cove) and several
Fulmars along Grove Cliffs.
The sun might have been out and there was wall to wall skies, but the wind from the south-east was pretty raw. In a few sheltered spots I came across a few
Wall Lizards,
Common Droneflies and a
Marmalade Hoverfly.
Mammals Recorded:
Bunny
Birds Recorded:
8 Fulmar
Gannet
2 Buzzard
1 Kestrel
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
1 Rock Pipit
Dunnock
Robin
2 Stonechat
Blackbird
Song Thrush (singing)
1 Goldcrest
Long-tailed Tit
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
3 Raven
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
10+ Linnet
Goldfinch
6 Greenfinch
One of the many Fulmars which are nesting............
..............on the ledges of Grove Cliffs.
A Common Buzzard flying over the butterfly reserve.
A second Buzzard is close behind, with a Carrion Crow helping it on its way.
Just the one Rock Pipit seen and heard today along Penn's Weare
By the WWII Pill Box was this...........
.............male Stonechat.
The female was.............
............close-by.
A Raven comes into land by the Pill Box.
Its mate comes into land and........
.........then looks on as its other half gets stuck into something on the ground.
With eyes firmly on its mate who is........
.............still feeding, it finally flies down from the bush........
..........and grabs the remains of a bunny and then........
.................flies of with it.
Reptiles Recorded:
2 Wall Lizard
Bees Recorded:
1 Buff-tailed Bumblebee (
Bombus terrestris)
A Buff-tailed Bumblebee on a Hebe flower.
Hoverflies Recorded:
1 Marmalade Hoverfly (
Episyrphus balteatus)
3 Common Dronefly (
Eristalis tenax)
A Marmalade Hoverfly.
A Common Dronefly on a flowering Hebe.
And another on an Alexanders
Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Kelp Fly (
Coelopa frigida)
Yellow Dung Fly (
Scathophaga stercoraria)
Plants:
Russian Comfrey (
Symphytum x Uplandicum)
The
Russian Comfrey is still filling up the wood. But as yet still no flowers. It is actually a cross or hybrid of Common Comfrey (
Symphytum officinale) and Rough Comfrey (
Symphytum asperum)
General Shots:
Rufus Castle from Penn's Weare
To the right of the castle the archway.
Looking south towards Church Cove
Ted:
Spot the Dog
Yep Ted doing a bit of mountaineering again.
Ships Today:
This is the Liberian Reefer "Costa Rican Star" on its way from Dakar (Senegal) to Portsmouth. More on this vessel Here.
This is the
Panamanian Vehicles Carrier "
Elegant Ace" on its way from Tanger Med (Morocco) to Le Havre (France). More on this vessel
Here.
This is the British Sailing Ship "Tenacious" in Weymouth Bay. More on this vessel Here.
