Perfect Day - Lou Reed

After a night of almost continuous rain, the prognosis for the day looked a little grim but as the daylight broke much of the cloud disappeared leaving the morning dry. On the grass verges close to the main road

Black-headed Gulls both adult

and juvenile were finding plenty to slake their hunger, while over at Radipole every bird on the reserve seemed to be stretching their vocal chords. Of those, there were at least 5 separate and distinctive Cetti's Warbler while this

male Blackbird was certainly doing his share.

It was around this time a Peregrine appeared overhead

but soon disappeared to the west. All else notable was a single Black-tailed Godwit and the fact that the water level at dropped (despite the overnight rain) giving hope of a few more Waders in the coming week.

As far as this Cormorant was concerned it seemed to be an 'OPEN'

and 'SHUT' case, and after that dire joke it was off to the sea front. There I spent over an hour telescoping Weymouth Bay where there were seen to be c3 Great Crested Grebe, a Common Scoter and the 160th addition to the Year List, a lone Great Northern Diver. Apart from a few Gannets feeding in the tidal race off the Bill there was nothing else to report, except to say the rain started again as I walked the East Cliff - time to go home,

while others were happy to speed past the Bill in the dry!

So, returning to Peregrines, it was only yesterday long standing friend Ricky Lambert reminded me of the one I recorded on the Oil Rig Buchan Alpha in the North Sea some years ago. This juvenile bird was first seen to take an adult Great Black-backed Gull, with both ending up in the sea the falcon loosing its prey to both Gull weight and surface tension.

The next day it took another seabird, this time making it to the helicopter deck netting, but this was when one of our memories started to fade. Ricky maintained that I had told him it was a Gannet (which with my track-record could well be the case) but I remembered it as a Herring Gull.

Here the same image is enlarged for the readership to make up their own minds - answers on a post card please!

The finale to all of this occurred on the third day when once again it caught a Great Black-backed Gull and during the tussle in the moon-pool was caught by our Deck Foreman Ricky (The Hammer) Grant.

With that, a cage was quickly constructed and the Falcon flown to Aberdeen, for release, the next day.

It'll be difficult for our 'merry band' of readers to believe, but some 'sad mother' somewhere has taken precious time out of their life to calculate (yes, calculate) that today is the most miserable day of the year! I'd love to be able to spare the time to have a gloomy day - what while there are things such as these in the world to see:-

Dedicated to Alexander James York (see yesterday;s Blog), as these too are all Australian.

Black-fronted Plover

Blue-billed Duck

Brown Honeyeater

Carnaby's Black Cockatoo

Common Bronzewing

Elegant Parrot

Emu

Sacred Kingfisher

and finally, with new born babies to the fore I was inspired this afternoon to play the recording I made when my first daughter Julie uttered her first sounds - brilliant. The disc also contains many snippets of baby learning, good job she was there to teach me!

"Can You Tell Me Where My Country Lies?"

said the unifaun to his true love's eyes. "It lies with me!" cried the Queen of Maybe - for her merchandise, he traded in his prize.

Yet another country, again on my short list of places to visit in the near future, joined our readership yesterday by way of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg bringing the total of participating countries/regions to 120. This leaves just Andorra, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Monaco and Gibraltar absent from the European section of the readership list matching, with the exception of the latter, the countries I still have to visit on the continent. Welcome, and we hope you enjoy the read!

Grey and blustery just about summed up the weather picture this morning, but with more than a likelihood of rain it was a case of getting down to business sooner rather than later. Leaving the half dozen or so Redwing to feed in what has become a favoured tree in the cemetery, it was onward to Radipole with this photograph of

Canada Geese sufficient to tell the whole story, very little to report. However, plans were afoot to concentrate more on Portland Harbour, in the hope of the less common Grebes and maybe just the chance of a Diver. Alighting the early bus at Ferrybridge , I felt the full force of the 25+ knot wind, entered the thickening gloom and felt the first spots of rain, but up ahead there were at least some waterfowl on the sea. Mostly Red-breasted Merganser, there were also c5 Little Grebe and a few Cormorant feeding in the shallows but the RBM's were much closer to the bridge than usual. A chance to get a few shots of this timid species started as this

fine male flew in to

settle among his mates

(including these 2 females) and one of a number of Black-headed Gulls. Ever attendant when these Ducks are feeding, the hope is they can be hassled

out of their catch even if only seaweed.

On this occasion the Gull went hungry,

but there were plenty more targets to pursue. Crossing the Beach Road there was little to see along the western edge of Portland Harbour, so moved on the Rodwell Trail where I met up with Bob Ford. He had some encouraging news as he had seen both Black-necked and Slavonian Grebe between the Castle Cove Sailing Club and Sandsfoot Castle, which is where I met John Slee a.k.a. 'The Dorset Dipper'. Having not met for many a day there was time to catch up with the news, but he had kept abreast of mine via this Blog. Good to see you John!

Still some distance from the Sailing Club, there was already a sighting of a couple of small Grebes not too far off-shore, and reaching the redundant railway bridge felt pleased to have brought a telescope. I toyed with the idea of entering the club to seek permission to walk their pier as the most interesting of the birds was close to its outer end, but seen to be padlocked scrubbed round the idea. 'Scoping from the bridge it was possible to confirm both single Slav and a couple of Black-necked Grebes, but seeking closer views it was time to descend the steps onto the beach. c4 more small Grebes were seen, all thought to be Black-necked,

along with c26 Great Crested Grebes, a few of which are shown here.

Oystercatcher also were being obliging, but leaving the harbour side there was a small drama unfolding just down the road. Weymouth is at present undergoing a 2 year traffic improvement scheme, including resurfacing most of the roads, so what the town needs least of all are unplanned traffic hold ups! Already the mechanical gearing on the Town Bridge has jammed twice in the open position and there have been a number of minor prangs that have brought most of the borough to a standstill. Today was the turn of one of the contractor lorries, perched at the top of the steep incline of Boot Hill waiting to tip its load of asphalt.

All of this combined with a

shift in the center of gravity, caused by the moving load, caused the lorry to

tip too far back lifting all 8 wheels

well clear of the road

plonking it firmly on its back-side. All 3 of the emergency services were called to attend, but the good news is no one was injured in the incident.

By coincidence, I had 2 short discussions last week about the wonderful 'boxed set'

Genesis Archive1967 -75

which inspired me to play the whole thing in total. A must for the journeyman Prog Rocker this masterpiece of the bands earlier work would serve as an excellent sampler for those wishing to discover the genre. A 4 disc offering, complete with some of the most comprehensive sleeve note ever to accompany an album, the first 2 are dedicated to a complete 'Live' recording of what I consider the bands finest hour, 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'. A complex concept album revolves around the central character, Rael, (and his brother/alter ego John) a New York street Punk who's hobbies include graffiti spraying, borstal and setting tramps on fire. This suite is not only the very best 'rock concert' I ever attended but also the best expression of Rock Theatre and included, on that day, meeting Peter Gabriel (vocals & flute). Dressed in a white suit, as Brother John wears in the story, and with the "silent tear of blood" painted below my eye, Mr Gabriel said "I love the get-up", I simply replied "compliment indeed considering who wrote the lyric" (him).

Disc 3 contains among others, the full 'Live' working of Supper's Ready, Firth of Fifth (Hackett's finest hour for me) and the highlight of the whole gig, Twilight Alehouse! The finale is a book ends of BBC Tapes and Live covers from various venues of much of their first album 'Genesis to Revelation' (also title 'In The Beginning'). I've started, but you'll be pleased to know won't continue as I could talk about this forever - spend £15 and make up your own mind.

and finally, before the day is out there is an extremely good chance that I could be blessed with another GRANDSON - my third. All my thoughts are with Lisa and of course Bernard & Frederick III - Lots of Love.

PS - The ink isn't even dry yet and it's happened. Alexander James York was welcomed into the world at 02-45 Australian Time on 17/01/2011 (17-45 GMT 16/01/2011) by Cesarean section. Mum, Dad and both Grandsons doing fine.
'Long Live Alexander the Great'

Great To Be Out The Bill Again

Little change in the weather again today, still mild but gloomy while at Radipole things also remained the same with high water levels and low bird counts. On the way a few Redwing were recorded but there was little else of significance on the circuit, except maybe c3 Lapwing and a Cetti's Warbler, until reaching the car park where I fell into conversation with Luke Phillips the reserve Information Officer. He was showing me a female Tufted Duck which had now gained enough confidence to be fed by hand, when he suddenly called "Bittern" allowing me time to turn and watch this majestic bird flying just above the reeds. Having already seen c2 of these exquisitely marked Herons this year there was no addition to that list, but this was the first record in Dorset which is added to that separate list.

With little else in prospect that side of the Beach Road, it was straight to Portland and an immediate search around the housing estates at Top Hill. In the area of Easton there were c3 Goldcrests sighted but no sign of the semi-resident Black Redstart or for that matter the Siberian Chiffchaff, so onward to the Bill.

Along the West Cliff a lone Fulmar appeared to be prospecting for a nest site, but maybe this is too early and it was just enjoying the turbulence?

This record was an addition to the Year List and inspired me to look out this not to good photograph of a 'Blue Phase' individual, taken from the Buchan Alpha Oil Rig some years ago. It may be noticeable that this bird is slightly darker, especially on the neck and head, which give an overall appearance of a blue sheen. This 'morph' change is mostly confined to birds in northern waters, but occasionally stray to our southern climes.

and while we're at it I'll take advantage and show this photograph of the Southern Hemisphere cousin, the Southern or Antarctic Fulmar. Slightly larger, its appearance, to me at least, looks more sleek and is one of the birds I enjoyed the most while in the Southern Oceans.

Arriving at the crest of the hill above Culverwell all 3 lighthouses come into view, and despite being a little on the gloomy side little can detract from this splendid vista. The active tower at the Point of the Bill and attendant Coast Guard cottages,

and the Portland Bird Observatory, gleaming in its new livery, at what is known as the Old Lower Light. Once there Martin Cade the Warden was quick to point my attention to

this female Blackcap

overwintering in the Obs garden and

taking full advantage of a free meal by way of apples, fat and nuts. From this vantage point a good number of Auks could be seen passing just off-shore, but armed with only binoculars it wasn't possible to say if they were Guillemot or

Razorbill as in the picture. The short walk to the East Cliff soon sorted that out with both in evidence, the latter being another addition to the list as was

Kittiwake. These photographs were also taken on the Buchan Alpha, the first showing an adult,

then head detail,

a juvenile in splendid plumage and

finally another juvenile having a go at its Dad or Mum?

You Never Get Them All!

An update of the distribution map of our readership, we continue to gather readers from all over the world and are very glad to welcome them ALL aboard. There is still plenty of room to accommodate more, so please be sure to pass the link (The Bagsy Blog) on to all of your E-mail addressees - Thank You!

The only thing we really didn't want to see at 04-00 this morning was 'fog', but before we reached the end of Dorchester Road visibility was down to 500 yards. Joy is off on a late winter break to Tenerife and what sort of neighbour would not drive her to Bristol Airport? There was however a small incentive, a couple or three bird species to add to the Year List on the way home.

The deed was completed before 06-00, so with Joy safely tucked up in the Airport coffee bar, I was off to Broadsands, Devon. Historically the car park there has been an almost guaranteed site for seeing them but numbers do seem to have dwindled over the years. On arrival the bait (seeds) was laid and there was already some feeding action from a

Robin, then

a male and

female Reed Bunting, however what

Cirl Buntings there were stayed pretty much concealed in the bushes. These photos are from a past visit of a female and

a male. Today's findings, after an hour, were of just a single male and c2 females, it is hoped I overlooked the others?

Over the last 2 days, Waxwings have been reported from behind the Cloakham Lawns Sports Hall in Axminster no more than a couple of miles detour on my way home. Another hour was spent looking for these but without result so I made for Maiden Castle in hope of a Corn Bunting. All I got was 'a hope' but there were several hundred (maybe thousands) of Starling, a few Golden Plover and good numbers of Lapwing still which are always good to see.

During the day I received a couple of messages alerting me to a Slaty-backed Gull that had been found in Kent earlier today. I have seen this excellent medium size Gull in both Japan and South Korea, but to see one in Great Britain would be a trophy indeed, and have included a few photographs of these here.

Slaty-backed Gull

all images taken in northern Japan in 2007.

Here seen, top right, with Glaucous Gull left and Glaucous-winged Gull lower.

and finally a head detail.

The GB Year List now stands at - 152