Ride A White Swan - T Rex

 Wear a tall hat like a druid in the old days
Wear a tall hat and a tattooed gown
Ride a white swan like the people of the 'Beltane'
Wear your hair long, babe you can't go wrong

With suggestions from the readership, I have tried again to allow you to increase the size of published photographs without success. This involved changing the 'template' which, if I had half an ounce of sense, could have remained the same but oh no I had to press the 'default' button and bingo that's the end of the set-up we have all become used to. Well, ever onward and one thing that hasn't changed much is the weather in recent days. It still remains chilly with what wind there is clinging to the Northern quarter so pleasant enough if you keep on the move. My last day staying at Portland, but with prospects of something new a little further away I headed for

Just on the western edge of Langton Herring village, on the Rodden road, there is a steep hill ending in a sharp right hand bend as you reach more level ground which is where a bright yellow bird was spotted drinking or bathing in a roadside puddle. A

SERIN

was a most welcome sight, but not an addition to the Month List.
Flushed from the ground it flew into nearby trees, but despite an
extensive search was not seen again.

In the far distance
SAINT CATHERINE'S CHAPEL,
to the west of Abbotsbury Village, hove into view

but my next stop was before that at the top of the hill overlooking
ABBOTSBURY SWANNERY 
where it was noted extensive 'works' are taking place. The Swannery
has been here since the days of King Canute (1016–1035) so
maybe it is about due a bit of refurbishment?

Some of the Mute Swans can be seen in the top picture while smaller waterfowl, mostly Pochard and Tufted Duck seemed to favour the sea area further from shore. Among these were reported to be a number of Greater Scaup (another 'diving' Duck) which I was unable to sort out from the rest. Nor could today's target birds be seen from where I stood so it was a move down into the valley.

Once at the farm gate overlooking the water meadows a number

of Geese could be seen which were the c12

BARNACLE GEESE

I had come to see. The bottom two images are from the archive for illustration purposes, unfortunately access didn't allow for closer approach. Abbotsbury has to be one of the counties most beautiful and visited villages which always entices me to tarry awhile.

The TITHE BARN

COTTAGES with the ruin of the ABBEY on the left,
was a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint Peter.

Views along the main thoroughfare

and the road leading to the west.

The Sun (once again no complaints) didn't exactly enhance this shot which, with a little imagination, shows the vista from the top of the hill to the west of the village across West Bay, The Fleet and all the way to The Isle of Portland - we will endeavour to do better next time!

 BELTANE FIRE FESTIVAL

Come, come, come to the Sabbat - Black Widow

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Throw Down the Sword - Wishbone Ash

 Throw down the sword, the fight is done and over,
Neither lost, neither won.
To cast away the fury of the battle and turn my weary eyes for home.
There were times when I stood at death's own door,
Only hoping for an answer.
Throw down the sword, and leave the glory,

a story time can never change.
To walk the road, the load I have to carry
  a journey's end, a wounded soul.

Personally it would not bother me one jot if the whole of sport was 'closed down', and even though I love and enjoy the spectacle from time to time, of such events as Wembley and Twickenham, there is this underlying feeling that like our politicians, clergy, bankers, top entertainers etc that some kind of corruption exists. That was highlighted to MILLIONS all over the world last night when Mighty Warrior

GEORGE GROVES

was mercilessly 'bush-wacked' by so called referee Howard Forster at the Manchester Arena. Forster not only robbed Groves of his chance to continue what was already an overwhelming performance against Carl Froch but also robbed the world wide audience of their 'entrance fee' (pay to view), betrayed his own sport, sullied the reputation of the fine city of Manchester and brought ENGLAND into disrupt. and for what? 

30 Pieces of Silver?

Throw Down the Sword (Live Dates)

The sun continued to shine and I continued my few days stay on Portland again starting the day at Portland Bird Observatory.

The HIGHER LIGHT
Portland Bill

CARRION CROW

STOCK DOVE

and despite the wind still being in the northern quarter and fresh,

one of the

LITTLE OWLs
was putting in an appearance, unusual under these conditions.

STARLING
sparkling in the bright sunshine.

Another occasional visitor to the Island this

LAPWING
was on the Bill Common.

Quite a few Auks about today but mostly too distant to determine
identification. This one, in flight, was most definitely a
COMMON GUILLEMOT

Another distant record was a LITTLE EGRET

which is enhanced with this photo from the archive.

GANNETs have also been numerous during my stay

but today at least only a single
MEDITERRANEAN GULL
in this area.

THE MOON
Waning Gibbous about 70%

ROCK PIPIT

GOLDFINCH

WALL SNAIL (or Snail on a wall)

SEA CAVE

Sunflash at the Boat Hoist.

Here's one for you Deborah (Tessier that is)

BETSY, the PBO cat, was asking after you.

A quick and short visit to Ferry Bridge at Low Water produced

just a few

MEDITERRANEAN GULLs

 As VENUS was RISING (just left and above centre)

the sun was setting behind a distant SOUTHWELL VILLAGE

 I was on my way to BOWIE (right) and SHEILA EDWARDS

for a Curry with more than a few Drinks and the added bonus of 

sharing all of this with former Shipmate and Great Friend

DAVID (The Post Sausage) FRAMPTON

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Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix

It would be churlish indeed to complain about the sunshine particularly at this time of year and with a North Easterly blowing as well. However on my second day in Weymouth, and mostly Portland, what few birds there were clashed with the sun making them all very difficult to see let alone photograph.

Not unusually my day started at the
Portland Bird Observatory

taking this shot along the Mist Net Ride to show the
disappearance of the last black clouds.

A wander along the East Cliff as far as the Trinity House Obelisk
found a few GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLs

and even more HERRING GULLs.

GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL

 

The OBELISK from the West Coast

The Commercial BASS Fishermen were already in the Race

catching 'line caught' fish from the vessel
ARETHUSA

More interesting to me was this distant

BALEARIC SHEARWATER
which was an addition to my Ongoing November List.

 

There were some fine 'seascapes' with combinations of sea and sun.

ROCK PIPIT

GANNET

These cliffs never cease to bring me wonderment, just the sight of
these 2 massive chunks of rock (centre) just snapped off the main
ledge by the force of the sea.

OYSTERCATCHER
was followed by a most welcome find in my first

PURPLE SANDPIPER

of the year (in fact there were c2

which very much perked up at my approach.

The only one to grace the view finder was in company with
c3 TURNSTONE

These confiding little Waders could have come from as far away
as Iceland.

The BILL from the east.

These fast craft seemed to have  menacing about them
maybe it was the Special Boat Service?

 

Another fine view including one of several
SEA PILLARS

and so to Secret's house for a coffee and as it happened some
tasty cheese and crackers - yum, yum!

Waiting for him to arrive home I sat in the kitchen
(I have my own key, a measure of our friendship)

when a movement caught my eye.

It was this mange ridden

FOX

prospecting the possibilities of a meal from around the
Bird Feeders where this

MAGPIE

seemed to be doing very well.

Late Note:- It's a known fact that I am half technophobe and 52% stupid as for many months now readers have been unable to increase picture size on this Blog. Having no idea how to rectify this I just ambled on thinking it was another result of unwanted and unneeded changes made by Google. After a discussion with Secret he seemed to think it maybe a change of lap-top with one holding the required programme and the other not. Today I'm compiling and publishing this post on the middle size computed and you should find that by 'right clicking' any image it will increase in size, hopefully enhancing your enjoyment.

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