The Bagsy Blog

Sunday, 29 September 2013

Loving Every Minute - Lighthouse Family

A couple of 'catch-up' identifications from yesterday's Post with thanks to Martin Cade, Janet Read and John Gifford, both Insects are from Parley Court Farm and welcome additions to the Property List.

PEARLY UNDERWING*

Best Bet at this time is
WESTERN CONIFER SEED BUG

A recent addition to the Great Britain Fauna List first found at
Weymouth Collage by our friend and local Wildlifer
Bob Ford - Photo Library

GUELDER ROSE
not Field Maple as suggested.

A stiff sou'-easterly overnight breeze heralded my arrival which brought in a fair amount of heavy rain for the morning and backed into the east later in the day, Setting the Moth Trap in Secret's Garden at Sweethill allows for the best of both worlds, my own first then the 6 run each night at the

The Old Lower Light

aka Portland Bird Observatory
another 'first for me as I have never slept in a Lighthouse before.

The best from mine were

FEATHERED BRINDLE

and

FEATHERED RANUNCULUS

and at the Obs

BEAUTIFUL GOTHIC

From the traps it was straight on to the birds and just for once I

seem to have made the right call. With only a single medium-size

Wader (at great distance) at Ferry Bridge the area was by-passed

until later. Continuing on to the Caravan Camp at Littlesea all that

was added to the list were

c114 BRENT GEESE

so back to the BRIDGE.

At a distance this

PIED WAGTAIL

made for a nice picture if nothing else. Given the tide, the water

not pushing right up to the Visitors Centre, gave great opportunity

to view all the Waders present at fairly close quarters.

TURNSTONE

totalled 23

while there were

c6 BAR-TAILED GODWIT
as shown on
Portland Bird Obs - Latest News

in excess of 50 DUNLIN

and RINGED PLOVER

SANDERLING totalled c3

as did GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL

Otherwise there were just singles of

MEDITERRANEAN GULL

and

RED KNOT
which was the most obliging bird of all.

Others added during the day included Collared Dove, Starling, Oystercatcher, House Sparrow and Lesser Black-backed Gull. I may have missed a couple out but the Trip List now stands at 59. It should be pointed out we are one day in arrears, so today is yesterday!

Entry	Pageviews
United Kingdom	782
United States	274
Russia	45
Germany	33
Indonesia	33
Canada	27
India	24
France	21
China	11
Ukraine	11

Saturday, 28 September 2013

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding

Recuperate is too strong a word, but if you have sit around doing nothing for a couple of days then where better than the Portland Bird Observatory. It was pure coincidence that a 'group' booked to stay there had cancelled at short notice and seeing this on the Warden's web site Portland Bird Observatory I struck while the iron was hot! Time for a leisurely coffee while tending the Moth Trap, which contained

DUSKY THORN

a new addition to the Property List in the shape of

SMALL WAINSCOT*

and another

All else amounted to what might be a SHIELDBUG

then time for the steady drive to Portland.

While I doubt much ground will be covered on foot, the intent will be to keep an ongoing list for the week back up by as many images as possible. In addition the trap will run at Sweethill, just a mile or so to the north of the Obs, in the hope of catching things a little different to here. Luckily, and with a little 'local knowledge', one can still park at various places at the northern edge of Poole Harbour so without leaving the comfort of the car get reasonable views of the bird life there. First to show and in the same bush were

BLUE TIT and

GREAT TIT

while on the water was found

BLACK-HEADED GULL,

CANADA GOOSE,

GREYLAG GOOSE,

HERRING GULL,

MUTE SWAN

and COOT.

FIELD MAPLE Sp??

The Tits continued and were represented by

LONG-TAILED

then back to the sea where a good number of both

BLACK-TAILED GODWIT

and WIGEON

which now seem to have established themselves.

LITTLE EGRET

were, as usual, numerous and all that was seen of

DUNLIN

was this small flock heading at speed away from the observer.

Finally on the photo front this

COMMON BUZZARD

put in a brief appearance, disappeared then returned

being mobbed by a couple of

CARRION CROW.

During this period Jay, Magpie, Moorhen, Feral and Wood Pigeon, Nuthatch, Chiffchaff, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Shoveler, Redshank, Teal, Curlew, Meadow Pipit, Greenshank, Jackdaw, Blackbird, Great Black-backed Gull, Pied Wagtail and c2 Kingfisher were recorded but escaped the lens. The continuation to Portland was punctuated by a visit to my ol' shipmate and mentor John (Ginger) Prince and his wife Val which turned into lunch and a session of 'swinging the lantern' - "oh for a life on the rolling sea"!

So, the List kicks off with a modest 36 - Watch This Space!

Entry	Pageviews
United Kingdom	776
United States	261
Russia	46
Germany	27
Canada	25
India	25
Estonia	16
China	12
France	12
Australia	10

Friday, 27 September 2013

Another Baker's Dozen - Australia

An ideal day, overcast, warm and still, for a wander but again find myself 'confined to barracks', the rest will do me good. So, once again a delve into the archive and a mix of images from 3 visits (one duration 2 months) to Australia, you could confine yourself to a 10 miles radius of Sydney for a year and not get bored.