Going to My Hometown - Rory Gallager Part II

It’s still raining, the wind has dropped away and the overnight temperature still clings to a +10°C but still no Moths. That is not the case further inland with some decent catches, while Wales has seen a first Wheatear and there was a Swallow at Wyke Regis, Weymouth yesterday!

 Crossing the B3073 and along the Airport perimeter fence we find ourselves at the

Gateway to the Eco Recycling Works
and a little further on the

Bridleway Looking North

with at either side and beyond what was at its inception

the largest
Solar Panel Farm in Europe
we do not know its status now but safe to say we are lucky enough to have access to all areas.
Once covered by turf production the

Irrigation Pond
served as the name suggests with this small

Spur-Pond
acting as winter sanctuary for at least a single

WATER RAIL
Again it's in the name as next door stands the now redundant

Gravel Pit
where who knows what might drop in, for example as in the past

GARGANEY
and

GREATER SCAUP
Turning west we soon arrive at

Gibbets Firs
where in days gone by many a convicted prisoner from Winchester Prison spent there last hour, while beyond there stands one of 2

Late Bronze Age Tumuli
(both obscured by Bramble)

More

Solar Panels
before arriving at the northern extremity where

Chiffchaff Alley continues north as part of the

Sewerage Works Fenceline
where in the past have been found such scarcities as

BLACK REDSTART

SIBERIAN CHIFFCHAFF
and

YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER

The Works with a bountiful supply of Insects throughout the year,
is without doubt the most productive part of the whole
Recording Area!
The day ended with a real delight, at the relict section of the Heath, as we met the new

Alaska Digger Driver Mandy

far more pleasing to the eye than her male predecessor!

Going to My Hometown - Rory Gallager Part I

There was but a single species of Bird today worthy of any attention at all as yet another gloomy, windy and wet day set in! From our records we found that the last and ‘only’

COMMON GULL

(distinctive white wing-tips) 

 was recorded on 13^th February 2014, the first year we landed here. 

The bird on the day, appeared as little more than a blurred dot and considered in company with a second as it/they flew at altitude above Slight Return II.

 So poor was the rest of the day, in all directions, that it was decided to concentrate on photographing our patch as an introduction to the 'hundreds' of new readers and maybe a memory jerk for those a little more long-standing. It is of 2 halves, seperated by the B3073, and centred on

PARLEY COURT MANOR
of late Georgian construction and a much later farmhouse,

both within what we refer to as the
Southern Sector were at the westerly extremes are a number of arable fields given over mostly these days to the production of Indian Maze as animal feed. The largest and most westerly of these is

MASH
reliable during the winter months for Snipe, Jack Snipe and Lapwing with the latter breading annualy there. Working east are the

Westerl Horse Paddocks

18-Acre

and a pletora of eye-catching out-buildings given over to various business interests.
As an aside, 2 years ago the tiny

 Dovecot played host to a pair of

TAWNY OWLs

bringing off c2 youngsters but not without wondering just how they squeezed into the tiny balistraria?

the hapless one ended up in the Ringwood Owl Sanctuary, living to tell the tale, while the other reached maturity mostly perched in the nearby Holm Oak Trees.
Among much continuous activity in the Farm Yard there is also a

Fully Acredited Great Britain

Equestrian Centre

including

Stables and Stable Yard

while at the far eastern end stands

Parley Pond

beyond which stands a well appointed Golf Club.

Part II to follow.

Many Thanks for Tuning In and again the 'hits' increase - Pass it On Please.

Hully Gully - Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs Part I

An unavoidable but by no means unpleasant visit to the County Town (Dorchester) during the week was to have had a bonus side to it, as on such occassions we can always fit in some Off-Piste Birding! Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas as fog-logged from Maiden Castle, just south west of the town, to Sandsfoot Castle, overlooking Portland Harbour some miles further south leaving us rather Piste Off!  

However, with overnight temperatures predicted to hold ‘double figures’, for the rest of the week, there was light at the end of the tunnel, but continuing to read on the rest of the picture showed it was also to be accompanied by heavy rain until Saturday! Only calamitous misfortune will see us ‘absent from our place of duty’, as again we reach for the trusty archive and our equally trusty side-kick Dave Foot on a number of Wild Gull Chases! 

The tale has been told before of that fateful day, 17/03/1988, when stood on the estuary of the     River Tamar at Plymouth Devon with our dear friend Hugo Wood Homer watching a juvinile

ROSS'S GULL
(a denizen of the Arctic with this image having been borrowed to show it in full adult plumange)         It was no more than a casulal quip had me telling him that this bird represented my 37th of the family group of 56 in the World with his reply inspiring me for life! "With your travels and determination is there any reason that one day you might conquer them all"? That particular fete was accomplished from this

Ferry at Incheon / Seoul, capital of South Korea on the 23/02/2012 as

RELECT GULL
finally made up the full pack without photographic evidence which also applied to Ivory Gull and Ross's Gull at that time.

It was accompanied by 'hundreds' of

BLACK-TAILED GULLs

but we digress.
Along with Dave we venture about as far north as it is possible in 2020 where on the east coast

we viewed a

CASPIAN GULL

the lower of the 2 above.

We have also seen a number of the American residents such as

RING-BILLED GULL
(this adult at Gosport in Hampshire)

and even took my Yorky Shipmate
Jim the Medic who was a little disappointed as thought we had said

"We;re going to see some Girls"

at just 'half price + fuel, to see this more juvenile bird at

Poole Park in Dorset.
As far as another Yank is concerned we enjoyed  both juvenile

BONAPARTE:S GULL

at Longham Lakes, not a 10 minutes drive from home, while a couple of years later

a most obliging adult

adult turned up at the

same location. 

A Part II will follow should we have another dull day!