A Baker's Dozen - 'Yanks' Seen in GB

These 2 images are reproduced from our last post after receipt of this Comment from Steve Grove at the Abbotsbury Swannery. I believe Steve has been associated with Chesil Beach since birth (and definitely since I have known him) so is best placed to provide such interesting information. My Thanks go to him.

Hi Paul,
The congealed oil or tar is actually peat from the bed of Lyme Bay when it was once swampland. Beaver bones have been found in these lumps!
Friday 7th February 2014 - was a day of continuous heavy rain, accompanied by high winds, on which I remained 'secured alongside the jetty' in Naval parlance!
Saturday 8th February 2014 appeared to be heading in the same direction at dawn, but while the wind prevailed (and increased to a full gale) the rain soon petered out but by that time I was fully engrossed in these, and other, images.

All photographs shown were captured in The Americas, by myself, with the exception of * as stated and " from Wiki. The dates refer to my first record in Great Britain with ^ indicating only a single sighting of this species, thus far, in the UK.

 AMERICAN WIGEON
 26/10/1992 a male bird at Lodmoor, Weymouth, Dorset.

 AMERICAN ROBIN^
16/10/2006 Tresco, Isles of Scilly.

 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT^
24/02/1989 Billingham, County Durham.

 LESSER SCAUP
11/11/2001 Swineham, Wareham, Dorset.

 PECTORAL SANDPIPER*
 14/09/1980 Lodmoor, Weymouth, Dorset.
The photograph, taken 09/09/2010, is of a most obliging individual
that favoured a small grassy area in Fancy's Close, Easton, Portland
(a densely populated area) around that time.

 DARK-EYED JUNCO
03/12/1989 Weston, Portland, Dorset.

 SNOWY EGRET^
03/01/2002 Stevenson, North Ayrshire, Scotland. 

 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER*
28/09/1977 Lodmoor, Weymouth, Dorset.
The photograph, taken 11/02/2011 in Poole Park, Dorset, was the
same 'long staying' individual from Lodmoor, Weymouth around that period.

 BUFFLEHEAD
20/03/1994 Colliton, Nottinghamshire.
A memorable day as, along with my friend Hugo Wood-Homer,
we both added Black-faced Bunting to our GB List.

NORTHERN PARULA
09/10/1985 Hengistbury Head, Dorset.
Coincidentally, this was the day only the 'second record' for Dorset
was 'trapped' and 'ringed'.

FORSTER'S TERN (adult with juvenile).

11/02/1987 Hinkley Point, Somerset and subsequently

Portland Harbour 13/01/1996.

SAVANNAH SPARROW^
12/04/1982 - Portland Bill.

PIED-BILLED GREBE"^
27/01/1980 - Radipole Lake, Weymouth.
It is not known if any images exist of that bird, but back then
'birders' were thin on the ground and cameras even thinner!

Apart from the Stats, we end today's Post with a little nostalgia sent to me by one of our Ardent Readers. This is the year I joined the Royal Navy but as this seems to come from the summer of that year I would have been working (as a 'dishwasher/dogsbody') in the Fortes Restaurant which features therein. While there was no idea of what was going on around me, two things are quite certain. The spot where the 'mugging' takes place is Albert Terrace on Portland, from where my (detective) informant tells me that the wall, used for cover, still stands 53 years on! Second to that, a few years later during the filming of Far From the Madding Crowd, my dear friend Lorne (Bowie) Edwards was befriended by its star Alan Bates and later introduced to Oliver Reed on the set of Women In Love. What a TRIO, all as notorious (if not as famous) as each other and I having been privy to so many of the stories which also included Jenny Agutter while filming Walkabout in Australia and Omar Sharif elsewhere!

Thinking of you Bowie (and Shiela - sic) hope to see you soon!

Weymouth 1961 Link

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