25 Feb 25

Old Quarry Lane, Wakeham Meadows, Penns Wood and St Andrew's Church.

The ban on walking along the coast path, at Church Ope Cove because of the rockfalls, is still in force, so my walk stopped in the grounds of St Andrews Church where I did an about turn and headed home via the woods again.

Main highlights were a Firecrest, Chiffchaff and a Great Spotted Woodpecker in Penns Wood. Another Chiffchaff was just below the church grounds behind the beach huts.

Birds Recorded:
1 Kestrel
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker
3 Pied Wagtail
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
1 Song Thrush
2 Chiffchaff
1 Firecrest
Long-tailed Tit
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Goldfinch

A male Kestrel looking for a meal at the cove.

There were a lot of Robins about..........

............with several singing, like............

.............this one in Penns Wood.

I just caught this Chiffchaff in flight in Penns Wood.

Escapees, Ferals, Possibles Etc.
Feral pigeon


Reptiles Recorded:
1 Wall Lizard

A juvenile Wall Lizard minus a bit of its tail, soaking up the afternoon sun in the grounds of St Andrews Church.

Bees Recorded:

1 bee sp.
2 Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

A bee sp. top and a Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax) below on Common Hawkweed (Hieracium vulgatum)

A Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) on a Hebe

Hoverflies Recorded:
6 Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)

There were at least.............

..............six Common Droneflies (Eristalis tenax) on the flowering Common Hawkweed (Hieracium vulgatum)

Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Many unidentified flies
Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)

There were a lot of flies about............

..............especially these female...........

........................Yellow Dung Flies (Scathophaga stercoraria)

Plants:
Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum)
Common Daisy (Bellis perennis)
Common Hawkweed (Hieracium vulgatum)

Mediterranean Spurge (Euphorbia characias ssp. wulfenii)
Russian Comfrey (Symphytum x uplandicum)
Snowflakes (Leucojum Vernum)

There were quite a few Common Hawkweeds (Hieracium vulgatum) in flower.......

........close to Wakeham Meadows.

This Mediterranean Spurge (Euphorbia characias ssp. wulfenii)..........

................is also known as Albanian Spurge. More on this plant here and here.

Russian Comfrey (Symphytum x uplandicum) in Penns Wood. No flowers yet.

And these..........

.............are Snowflakes (Leucojum Vernum) in the grounds of St Andrew Church

General Shots:

Church Ope Cove and calmer seas.

Pennsylvania Castle Woods

Ted:

If you go down to the woods today you'll see a Ted at the bottom of the path.

Here he is in amongst the comfrey.

Ships Today:

The fishing boat PO1 "Pearl May" heading Portland's east coast.

NOTE

The past 3 days I have been visiting Portland Bill, in the hope of seeing an early Wheatear. Today I decided to have a walk around my local patch. Yep, you've guessed it a Wheatear pitched up at the Bill today. The second ever earliest Wheatear to have arrived on Portland according to the Portland Bird Observatory.