Away Day Part III

 A bit of a boon to have the compossition of the Triogy in the making as the rain on Sunday was sporadic to say the least and so to Ferrybridge but not for long! Having paid the £2.00 for the single hour in car park and placing the ticket in the window we reached for the camera and tripod only to find the former 

Absent From Place of Duty

The drive to and from the Bird Observatory took a full 50 minutes to recover it not to mention another 2 quid out of the purse, but leaning heavily on my favourite adage "if that is all that befalls me today I will be happy" we got on with the show" as we had timed the tide prefectly. with the

GULL FLOCK
mostly

BLACK-HEADED GULLs
with a sprinkling of

MEDITERRANEAN GULLs
and still in hope of the reported c2 minor 'goodies'?

while the few

TURNSTONE

were performing something of a ballet

of their own while continuing the Wader theme with

just a single

BAR-TAILED GODWIT

feeding voraciously flying from one location to another.
Heading across the sand-flats to Small-Mouth where the tidal flow runs under the main-road to and from Portland Harbour, we spotted a likely candidate for one of the so called 'Goodies' and found it to be just that

 a male

GOOSEANDER

plodding its way up the Fleet!

Taking time to watch the

Sails of the Kite-Surfers and another 'pass' by the Orange Chopper
then walking 'under' the very same road we fistly came across a few seemingly angry Cormorants and this

LITTLE EGRET
before locking onto the second goodie and object of our desire

the also previously reported

EIDER

not at any great distance but

evasive as frequently

choosing to hide behind the breakwater and will look like

this, from the archive, when reaching maturity!
and just moments before turning to retrace our tracks this

STONECHAT
took up perch on the boatyard fence.
Most unusual, given the time of year, it dawned on us that as yet we had seen no signs of a

BRENT GOOSE

at a location where there are often

HUNDREDS
but at that moment just c5 but maybe this

was the begining of the influx, but we didn't wait to find out!

Away Day - Part II

 Reaching the brow of the shallow incline

PORTLAND BILL
with 2 of its 3 lighthouses opened before us but it was decided to scan the sea from the

furthest point at the

TRINITY HOUSE OBALISK
before paying a visit with still a fresh breeze piping.

Small Boat Hoist

driving the Rollers in

and otherwise the clear blue sky contrasting with the
Active Lighthouse with first on parade unsurprisingly

a couple or 3

CORMORANTs

with just a single
KITTIWAKE

To emphasis Sea State the

CRABBER - PORTLAND ISLE

was making heavy weather of rounding the Bill and entering West Bay.
Not wishing to "over-egg the custard", which we are going to do anyway,

out of the corner of the eye

our much hoped for

Target Bird

PURPLE SANDPIPER

recently returned from their
Summer Quarters in Iceland

landed on the shelfing rock ledges directly below us - c9 in all!
Scanning again to seaward a short parade of common seabirds such as this lone

FULMAR
and equally singular

SHAG
were watched over from above by a few

GUILLEMOT
on the high ledges and also gazing down on a

small flotilla of

GANNETs

Through the light mist a distant and large
CONTAINER VESSEL

along with a couple of

RAZORBILLs

COASTGUARD STATION
on our way to the

LOWER LIGHT
which is the
PORTLAND BIRD OBSEVATORY
which by then we had given up on

ROCK PIPIT

but "the game ain't over 'til the fat lady sings"!
Before even entering the Lighthouse we met John Down and immediately within Ricky Lambert firm birding friends of many years standing who had not been seen for 5 years or more. Also there was
now well established Deputy Warden Jodie Mae Henderson firmly taking the helm while Warden Martin Cade was about his annual pilgimage to Kenya assisting with Bird Ringing there. Great to see you all and pleased you liked the

DECEMBER MOTH
which was something of a surprise to find is not caught on the Island.

Short and Not That Sweet

 at home that is as given that we are now reduced to just c2 active

Moth Traps 

and with the inclement weather trying its best to displace the others, still the Show Goes On with a total catch of on the day of Large Yellow Underwing x 1,

DECEMBER MOTH x 4
with some attempting to make sure next years catch is as healthy!

Yellow-line Quaker x 2 with other singles amounting to Black Rustic,

MALLOW

and

CYPRESS CARPET
During the process one of the escaped Cattle the

ABERDEEN ANGUS
snook-up puting the wind up us momentarily, but then an Away Day took our attention. 

You could not have choreographed it as to commence activities we stopped briefly at Charborough Park to watch the aireal antics of not

one but two

RED KITE
before pressing on to

BERE REGIS

but more particularly

Lane End

for the now seemingly reduced colony of

YELLOWHAMMER's
Pressing on to my last home town, if you can call Portland that, priority was to enjoy the views from a vantage-point not visited since our departure reached via Verne Common Road which brings you to

VERNE PRISON GATE
with ample parking and views to savour.

To the West the converted Royal Navy Heliport

and further left the world famous Chesil Beach forming an 18 mile barrier to West Bay and where the pebbles are self sorting, with boulders at this end reducing to pea-size in the far distance.

In the foreground the once Senior Rates mess (Chief and Petty Officers) and further on the
OLYMPIC SAILING CENTRE
Once my own place of 'work' (we use the word loosely) which was branded Sleepy Valley by local residents who had little or no idea of what lay withing!

QUEEN's PIER
(that'll have to be changed?)
and the

COALING PIER
still looking pretty active while above stands the
Royal Navy Cemetery below the Verne Citadel.
 One of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels known as the

SIR BOATS of the ROYAL FLEET AUXILIARY
named after the Knights of the Round Table such a Sir Galahad sunk in the needless Falklands conflict, we could see no nameplate, just an Old Lady of the Sea!

On our leaving this magic vantage point  we found more businesses favouring the site as this

brightly liveried Helicopter flew past our possition and found to be part of the newley formed

Flight / Search and Rescue Training Facility
The plan is to address the Wildlife found on this visit in subsequent Posts and this is felt best to be reported by area starting with Portland Bill.