Black Redstart
As far as I'm concerned yesterday can only go down as a 'bad evening at the office' starting with my typo which described the Mediterranean Gull on the post at Radipole as 2nd winter, when it is clearly a 1st year Gull. Next, with no photograph of the Black Redstart at Portland Castle the intent had been to show an archive shot (now shown above) if only to give 'non-birders' some idea of how this smart little bird looks.
Nowhere near as small, except as depicted in the photo of 4 Greylag Geese flying past the Bill, this photo was also meant to be included again for illustration purposes. That said, on to today where early morning weather condition were similar to yesterday except for some increase in the wind speed.
A total 'blank' in the cemetery (where the trees are centre of picture) sent me scurrying to Radipole where Gull numbers had increased dramatically from the previous day, the main additions being several 10's of
Common Gull with many more Great Black-backed and Mediterranean Gulls. There were a few Common Snipe hugging the muddy margins, otherwise all that closed to camera distance was
this male Teal and
2 sleeping Great Crested Grebes. Only a couple of days ago, Bowie, Sheila and I were discussing the scarcity of Fungi this autumn with them having been on a few excursions in search. That was rectified when I reached the Bill Common to find it almost awash with Mushrooms and Toadstools. Unfortunately, I cannot name them and there may be some that are of the same species, but here they are anyway.
It should be pointed out that this specimen was in fact at Radipole just before someone announces it's a 'first for Portland' or some such thing!
Plenty of Gannets feeding in the 'Race' apart from which there was just a single Guillemot flying by. Among the huts, where in the lee things felt a good deal milder, there were a number of
Pied Wagtails, but looking for another glimpse of the Little Owls in the Obs quarry a
What was later discovered as being 'horse dung'
was its target, which it pounced upon several times
but there was no feeding action. However, after several sorties it finally gave up
and flew off towards the sea.
At the Bird Observatory, there had been little in the way of birds observed except this Chiffchaff
which had found its way into a mist net.
Before leaving, there were 4 Common Eider, seen at great distance, flying to the east but the photo is only to show what they would have looked like had they been a 'lot' closer. In passing, Ferry Bridge once again held several hundred Brent Geese, and just in time I reached home before the predicted rain started to fall. Here's to tomorrow!
