19 Mar 23

Pennsylvania Castle Woods, St Andrew's Church, Church Ope Cove, Penn's Weare, Grove Cliffs, The Cuttings, Bumpers Lane, Broadcroft Quarry Lane, Broadcroft Butterfly Reserve, Higher Horse Paddock and Lower Horse Paddock

It was another sunny day, so it was off to Penn's Weare via Penns Wood and Church Ope Cove, to see if there were any Wheatears about. Sadly not, but I did find a female Black Redstart.

The best birding was actually in the butterfly reserve and Higher Horse paddock, where there were 3 Meadow Pipits, a pair of Stonechats, 4 Chiffchaffs and a male Kestrel with a vole I watched him catch.

Despite the warm sunshine, I could only find one butterfly, a Peacock along Penns Weare.

Mammals Recorded:
Vole (deceased)

Birds Recorded:
2 Gannet
1 Peregrine Falcon
2 Kestrel
1 Oystercatcher
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
3 Meadow Pipit
2 Pied Wagtail
Dunnock
Robin
2 Stonechat
1 Black Redstart
Blackbird
Song Thrush
4 Chiffchaff
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Goldfinch
Greenfinch

Two Gannets heading down Portland's east coast

This male Kestrel has just caught this.........

.............Vole......

.........in the butterfly reserve.

An Oystercatcher rock "hopping"

An adult Herring Gull with a formidable beak.

One of the three Meadow Pipits in the temporary Horse Paddock.

A female Pied Wagtail.

A male Stonechat in the butterfly reserve

A female Black Redstart along Penns Weare

One of the four Chiffchaffs around the Higher Horse paddock and butterfly reserve

Reptiles Recorded:
12+ Wall Lizard


Butterflies Recorded:
1 Peacock


Bees Recorded:
Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)


Hoverflies Recorded:
Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
Hairy-eyed Flower Fly (Syrphus torvus)


Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Kelp Fly (Coelopa frigida)
Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)

A Yellow Dung Fly on an Alexanders

General Shots:

Looking south from Penns Weare

Ted:

All was well and Ted was enjoying his walk and then...........................

..........for the first time that I can ever recall, Ted's tail dropped and he became very distressed about something. So much so, that he tried running back along the path we had just come down. Fortunately I managed to grab him and put his lead on, but he was really pulling to get away. We were a good 200 metres or so away from the spot where he ran 1.4 miles to get home the other day and whatever he heard that day was, I suspect, still audible to him today. The Peregrines were probably the reason, as they were very vocal today, or was there another high frequency sound that scared him!!

Ships Today:

This is the British Pleasure Craft "Ceto" on its way from Portland Harbour to an unknown destination. More on this vessel Here.

This is the Maltese Ro-Ro Cargo Ship "Sixtine" on its way from Rozenburg (Holland) to Dublin. More on this vessel Here.

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

This is the British Fishing Boat "Daisy TII" on its way back to Weymouth Harbour. More on this vessel Here.