Come Fly With Me - Frank Sinatra

With the dark, thundery clouds of the past few days now cleared through and replaced by bright sunshine, it was considered a good day to re-visit Lyme Regis, for the forth time this year, in search of the elusive Spotted Sandpiper. With a full 90 minutes in hand, there was time to follow my usual daily track through the cemetery, where the ghostly apparition of Sunday's Grey Heron was replaced by those of

2 Mute Swans and

this very high flying Peregrine. Between here and Radipole, all else seen were common fare in the shape of

Tufted Duck,

female Gadwall,

a 1st winter Mute Swan (one of 7 still present on the reserve),

Cormorant and a

Little Grebe.

The squawking of this little chap drew my attention to the parapet beneath the Radipole road bridge, and looking up

found 2 not yet fledged Feral Pigeons or Squabs as they are often known. Despite their recent emergence from the egg, it seemed as if they were already enjoying some 'billing & cooing'?

Time then to think about the bus to Lyme and a walk up to the sea-front, and a swift change of plan. The fresh easterly breeze, screened until now by the conurbation, continued to pipe in as yesterday as the waves pounded Weymouth Beach. Given the wind direction there is a little relief offered by the Purbeck Peninsula, but at Lyme the extended 'fetch' would contribute to waves being half as high again - once bitten twice shy!

Plan B was to return to Portland where the situation remain much as in previous days, with good numbers of Guillemot, Razorbill and Gannet and the ever present Rock Pipit along the coastal fringe. Best birds of the day by far were 3 Redwing that flew across the Common on my way to the Observatory, where things were equally lean. The conversation, in part, was directed at the techniques for uploading video footage to Websites and Blogs which has inspired me to dig a couple of items out of the archive. Published at the foot of the page, each was taken aboard the Floating Oil Production Platform 'Buchan Alpha' stationed some 120 miles north east of Aberdeen, Scotland.

Full of coffee and Christmas cake, I hightailed it across the fields in an unsuccessful search for Short-eared Owl, but did find

this nicely marked Skylark

which took to the wing at my approach.

Long-tailed Ducks


Pink-footed Geese followed by

quiet a novel piece of footage of a Black-headed Gull (of all things) capturing a 'live' Brambling and shaking it to death. You might think that this would be wasted, but as the following 2 stills show

the hapless Finch was swallowed whole!

By the time you read this I hope to be airborne towards the next adventure, a clue as to destination is contained in today's narrative. While it would be foolhardy to make any predictions (promised fish are never caught) it is hoped that the next week or so will bring a few additions to the Year List which at present stands at 169.

The Sea - Morcheeba

Link to The Sea - Morcheeba - from the album 'Big Calm'

With the early morning weather an exact match to yesterday, it was decided to take a chance and try, once again, for the Spotted Sandpiper at Lyme Regis, as the day after the visit with Lesley it was back on the Bird Alert sites. The main concern with the wind still in the eastern quarter would be the sea conditions, but as I set out the elements were improving by the minute.

It is no more than a 5 minute walk from my house to the bus stop, and as a 'bus pass' holder the fare is 'free' so not a lot of effort required to see what for Dorset is a classic rarity. I can tell you right away that it wasn't seen, so fortuitous some scenic shots were taken along the way of the

Link to Jurassic Coast

Just a couple of miles from home, looking north to the small hamlet of Shilvinghampton & Coryeates, we soon make the downhill approach to

Portisham, a little spoilt by modern development

but still with most ancient buildings left in tact.

One of the main highlights en-route is the village of

Abbotsbury, complete with its Swannery, Sub-tropical Gardens, St Catherine's Chapel and Tithe Barn, to name but a few of the delights.

The narrow lanes are something of a nightmare to drivers, especially the 90 degree 'hairpin' at the end of this section.

The whole village and much of the surrounding lands fall under the stewardship of the family Strangways, with Lady Charlotte at the helm. The Old School, now a Community Hall, bares the family name.

The road west out of the village.

The Highways and Byways of Dorset continue down into the village of

Burton Bradstock and its

favoured 'local' The Three Horseshoes public house.

The tiny port of West Bay comes next,

followed by the market Town of Bridport.

I would use the words throwback and quaint, in the nicest sense, to describe the town as little seems to change here. As far as shops are concerned there is even a Hatter surviving along with Family Butchers, Fishmongers and Bakers. Long may it continue!

There are good views of Golden Cap as we approach the village of

Chideock which also boasts a fine pub, the George Inn and an equally

fine Church of St Giles.

We are now nearing Lyme Regis and feel sure that regular readers will have seen enough photographs of this lovely place to fill an album of their own?

So, we will restrict ourselves to just 3 to show the sea conditions today.

Appart from smashing against the sea-wall and making much of the promenade impassible,

it was also hitting the Cob sending spume and spindrift flying high above the 2 story buildings on the harbour side. No self respecting small Wader would be out in this. A small set back, but in such things you should always have a 'trump card' up your sleeve, which I have!

Best you watch this space and all will be revealed.

A Day In The Life - The Beatles

Plenty more black clouds to start the day, along with a frost, change in wind direction to the east and a definite drop in temperature. In the cemetery the Goldcrest continued to be in full voice, but all else only amounted to the ghostly form of an over-flying

Grey Heron. Not a lot to add to that at Radipole except for the same Bullfinch at the old kissing gate, a male Marsh Harrier at the North Hide, surveying his hunting patch, 17 Black-tailed Godwit today along with a few Common Snipe plus a single Lapwing. Gull numbers had declined to just a handful, so little to delay matters so I headed for

Newton's Cove which overlooks Portland (distant right) and the walls surrounding Portland Harbour. There the full force of the chill wind could be felt so it wasn't surprising the Black Redstart of recent days was absent. There were however 6 Great Crested Grebe but that was not enough to keep me there any longer, especially as there was a plan 'B'. A brief stop at Ferry Bridge added a few Red-breasted Merganser to the day list before catching the bus to the Bill.

The sea-bird feeding frenzy was still underway in the Shambles tidal race, but Auks seemed a lot less than 2 days ago while Gannet numbers had certainly increased.

In fairly quick time a distant Fulmar* was added to the Year List, but further on towards the Observatory once again the Little Owls were out of sight. At he Obs some of the regular 'sea-watchers' were busy spotting Red-throated Divers and a few Common Scoter but for me it was time for coffee. During the stay there was what sounded like a Chiffchaff calling in the garden, but it was now time for a search among the beach huts again for Black Redstart, without success. Being so close, a second visit to the Owl site was thought worth it and paid dividends as this

Little Owl* was sat on the quarry wall. Distant, and not allowing a particularly good photograph

this image has been taken from the archive for illustration.

On the way back, 10 Black-necked Grebe and an Eider where found close to the north edge of Portland Harbour, while the Plan B meant a return to Newton's Cove. It is often the case when the wind is in this quarter that smaller birds seek shelter and food either in the small cove at the root of the Stone Pier below the Napoleonic Nothe Fort or in the Gardens of the same name.

This was certainly true of a calling Chiffchaff* in the garden, a timely back-up for the one in the Obs garden.

Passing the entrance gate of the Fort, now a well visited tourist attraction, the steps drop

to the Weymouth Stone Pier,

where a Black Redstart* was found perched on the stony fortification, moving from perch to feeding station and

back to perch. An area of the town not often visited, I took the opportunity to take these few stills.

Pelican of London is, by and large, stationed in Weymouth, employed training young people.

The Condor Ferry plies a route between the town and Guernsey & Jersey, Channel Islands plus Saint Malo, France.

Weymouth's Historic Water Pump.

The Tudor House

and detail.

The Outer Harbour looking towards The Town Bridge.

The Year (January) List now stands at 169