13 Nov 22

Chesil Cove and Portland Castle

Chesil Cove

First stop this afternoon was Chesil Cove in the hope of seeing the Sabine's Gull, which has been there for the past few days. Sadly it was another one of those occasions, where it had been seen earlier, but had disappeared when I arrived.

I waited a good hour, but gave up and headed to Portland Castle, just in case it was in Portland Harbour.

Birds Recorded:
Black-headed Gull

Herring Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

2 Rock Pipit

Pied Wagtail

Magpie

Carrion Crow

An adult Herring Gull

I can't make up my mind as to whether this is a 1st winter Great Black-backed Gull or a Lesser Black-backed Gull. The brown/orange colour is pretty odd as well. Perhaps oil staining!!

General Shots:

Chesil Cove

An interesting house in Chesil, with this...........

..........sign above the front door.

Ships Today:

This is the British PO9 Fishing Boat "Freya May" in Chesil Cove.

Portland Castle

Having arrived at Portland Castle and then walking to the beach, the first bird of note I came across was a Great Northern Diver about 200 metres out. This was then followed by an immature/female Red-breasted Merganser and then concluded with a tern.

There was no sign of the Sabine's Gull

Birds Recorded:

1 Great Northern Diver

32 Cormorant

8 Shag

2 Grey Heron

1 Red-breasted Merganser

Black-headed Gull

Mediterranean Gull

Herring Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

Common Tern/Sandwich Tern

1 Pied Wagtail

1 Grey Wagtail

Magpie

Carrion Crow

A Great Northern Diver just off Portland Castle Beach and my.......

...........first one this Autumn

Here are a couple of short videos of the.............

............Great Northern Diver. Both videos have been slowed down for viewing.

A Cormorant close in to the beach

All was well on the Portland Marina  Breakwater and then there was a.............

.............mass exodus of Cormorants.

And it wasn't just the Cormorants heading off but also the gulls, as two Grey Herons.........

...........landed on the breakwater.

The Grey Herons didn't stay long and were soon on their way.

A lone Red-breasted Merganser. Possibly an immature or female.

An adult Great Black-backed Gull

The following images are of my mystery tern. flying around the Mulberry's

My money is on a 1st winter Common Tern, but then could it be a 1st winter Sandwich Tern.

General Shots:

Middle left the Portland Marina breakwater and right of centre the Mulberry's.

Ted:

A happy looking Ted.