7 Feb 23

Bumpers Lane, The Cuttings, Broadcroft Quarry Lane, Broadcroft Butterfly Reserve, Higher Horse Paddock and Lower Horse Paddock

It was a very late afternoon walk, with the sun just touching the horizon. No Ted today, he was with David in Weymouth and from what I can gather had a great time on the beach there.

So the highlights on my local patch were:

Stock Dove - a male in Bumpers Lane Quarry
Little Owl - one calling from below The Cuttings (I also heard one in the early hours of this morning, from the back of the cottage).
Stonechat - a female in the higher horse paddock
Greenfinch - at least one calling from within the Gorse bushes in the butterfly reserve.

Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
1 Stock Dove
Wood Pigeon
1 Little Owl
Dunnock
Robin
1 Stonechat
Blackbird
Long-tailed Tit
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Goldfinch
1 Greenfinch

An adult Great Black-backed Gull making its way up the island

A male Stock Dove. There was no sign of the female. Nesting perhaps!!

And the opposite here. There was no male Stonechat today, just the female in the upper horse paddock

Ships Today:

On the left is the Liberian Vehicles Carrier "Galaxy Ace" on its way from Ijmuiden (Holland) to Bristol. On the right is the British Destroyer D33 "HMS Dauntless" on its way from Portsmouth to an unknown destination. More "Galaxy Ace" Here and "HMS Dauntless" Here.

This is the French Ro-Ro Cargo Ship "MN Pelican" on its way from Bilbao (Spain) to Poole. More on this vessel Here.

This is very similar looking to the French Ro-Ro Cargo Ship "MN Pelican" above. But I have no idea of its name, where it's from, where it's going and the flag it's flying. This vessel had already passed The Bill, well before "MN Pelican" sailed by. And checking the track of "MN Pelican" it didn't double back and was on a direct route from Bilbao to Poole. Most odd!!!

This is the British Fishing Boat WH425 "Quarter Bell" on its way back from its fishing grounds to Weymouth. More on this vessel Here.