Blinded By the Light - Manfred Mann's Earth Band

From very early morning a weather front as black as the Ace of Spades hung high over Weymouth, but to the south there was a broad band of clear sky letting through a bright bolt of sunshine. On my walk through both the cemetery and Radipole Nature Reserve a 'white stick' would have come in very handy as, despite wearing sunglasses I could hardly see where I was going. At the later, Siskins were still migrating through, 2 Kingfishers were bombing too and fro along the reed edges as 21 Mediterranean Gulls bathed and preened close to the Visitor's Centre. Also there, the heightened water level had seen off the last remaining Black-tailed Godwits while a little further along

in a dark corner by the Gurkha Restaurant 2 Grey Wagtails were feeding until my approached flushed them.

Some of these images are outstanding from the past couple of days.

A chance to visit the St Mary Church, along the Weymouth thoroughfare of the same name, not for religious reasons but to visit the

to which I have only recently been alerted.

There, my old school mate Terry Why has some of his artwork for sale.

Although he has only been producing these Ship Silhouettes for a couple of years,

Terry tells me there has been quite a high demand for them. Get there before it's too late!

This lone Purple Sandpiper was foraging close to the Pulpit Rock at Portland Bill yesterday,

while it has recently been discovered that there are now 2 (and possibly 3) Little Owls in the obs quarry. This crevice in the rocks is a favourite perching place for these birds, but on this occasion one had been ousted by a Rabbit, leaving the Owl out on a limb (or rock whichever you prefer). Not too keen on that perch, it did fly back to the crevice where the Rabbit gave way and sort sanctuary at the back of the hole.

The second Little Owl was perched some distance away.

At the Portland Bird Observatory (PBO) there was the strange sight of at least 2 dozen Angle Shades Moths all clinging to an egg tray recently removed from one of the Moth Traps.

Shortly after this PBO Warden Martin Cade recovered this 'first winter' male Sparrowhawk from one of the Mist Nets.

This was my first experience of this species 'in the hand' so took full advantage taking a series of shots.

There is one person in particular who I know will be delighted to see this picture of Bessie the Obs resident cat (don't I Deborah?), so this one's for you.

and finally a couple of species that graced the National Sailing Academy this week

Oystercatcher

and Little Egret