Yo Ho Ho it's Portland Bill

 

Saturday and another day, another drive to Weymouth and another jab, this time flu and making me feel rather like Eric Bristow’s practice dart board. The discission to make an early start, despite the dark, proved to be prudent as the first delay was just 10 miles ahead with a fallen tree at Corfe Mullen and the de-toure involving 2 further alterations of course for the same reasons! A little more to it than that as with formalities over it was a meet up with Dave Foot in the Ferrybridge car park. There, despite the 40 knot wind along with sporadic showers were found a number of Wading birds in total

 

just c3

DUNLIN

a small group of

RINGED PLOVER

along with a couple of

BAR-TAILED GODWIT

before seeking the lee of

 PORTLAND CASTLE

with this image and

video telling part of the story and finally a

female

and male
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER

PORTLAND BILL
where we headed for elevation at the
HIGHER LIGHT
the oldest of the Islands 3 Lighthouse's to try for an

overall picture which, if nothing else was a bit of a waste of time, save for the usual best view of the active and junior of the 3 navigational aids.

At the Bill Quarry we came close to stepping on this

ROCK PIPIT
with it having other ideas and before seeking another lee behind the

TRINITY HOUSE OBALISK

From there

SHAG

SHIP's that PASS in the DAY
while walking east in flight

KITTIWAKE

one of the 3 Crab / Lobster boat hoists,

the middle era lighthouse which is the
PORTLAND BIRD OBSERVATORY
and an equally flighty

MEDITERRANEAN GULL
High, if not Top of the also rans, were the new benches fashioned from

Roach Stone
which if we remember rightly is the final layer before reaching the most valued Cap Stone, and full of minute fossels, famous throughout the world for the contruction of numerous and impressive buildings.
It was during my time living on Portland that 'roach' started to be used for such decoration as hotel reception desktops etc, but there is also a large building somewhere in the capital (memory fails me) that if fully cladded with it. We thought, finally, that just the briefest of encounters with a

PURPLE SANDPIPER
might be the end of it, but no as we jammed into one of the 2 semi-resident

MERLIN
on wandering back to the car, and hopfully we will have Part II for you tomorrow.

Seven Wonders - Fleetwood Mac (Continued)

 We had to re-enter and clip the south-western corner of Honduras to reach Nicaragua, while in so doing we added

VIOLET SABREWING
to the World and ever extending Trip List, and with the Rotund One still in Maitre D' Hotel mode we were once again ensconced in

clean, comfortable and inexpensive accommodation.

We were begining to wonder if there were any 'below standard' such B&B's across the length of
Central America?

BLACK-CHEEKED WOODPECKER
was yet another addition the next morning hammering away at what we could only describe as a Palm and setting out for the now almost mandatory

Market Place

along with the associate sights, smell, colours and all else,

and while patroling the tide-line found numerous scavenging

NICARAGUAN GRACKLE

plus Porcine and good old
Suchitoto Thelma having thought we had left El Salvador behind?

While at elevation, and looking down on the Watershed we found the secretive

HIGHLAND TINAMOU
along with a stunning

KEEL-BILLED TOUCAN
leading us to think it might be time for a pint of
GUINNESS
although their mascot is a

TOCO TOUCAN
only found in South America and already firmly on the
World List!
Although being almost 'Templed Out' it would have been sacrilege to have overlooked the

UNESCO Heritage Site of LEON VIEJO

and attendant Birds such as

BAY WREN

RUDDY-CAPPED NIGHTINGALE THRUSH

and

RED-LORED AMAZON PARROT

while on the banks of

Lake Managua

our final encounter became

RUFOUS-TAILED JACAMA

JUMP - Van Halan

 

Despite the plunge in temperature to a chill +2°C there were still a couple of Moths to be had with the most surprising being a wayward

BARRED SALLOW

while the only other representative was a far more expected

DECEMBER MOTH
It is surely getting close to stowing the traps away for the Winter but not until we have paid some attention to December itself. With

CORMORANT
having now taken up winter lodgings at both the Moors River and the close-by Main Pond

we made a right Pig's Ear of attempting to capture the one at the latter, with the exceuse being "we had to get to the Equestrian Centre poste haste"!

Already a good number of

Competitors and Onlookers

predominantly female there were certainly no

Male Riders

but what talent 'on the hoof' among those

Young Lady Riders

with more Olympic Medals on their way we would suggest!!
Thank Heaven's for that as the rest of the rounds, confined to the Heath was to say the least disappointing with only the following logged during the 2 hours search. A single 'litter picking;

CARRION CROW

c3 distinctly separate

and different

STONECHAT
along with this single

STOCK DOVE
"Ideas are being Bucked Up as we speak"

but given the conditions out there this morning it might take some doing!