Started the morning at Sandsfoot Castle on the north side of Portland Harbour. There are a distant pair of Black-Necked Grebe in the harbour and a small raft of Red-Breasted Merganser. In the gardens around the castle there are a large flock of House Sparrows.
Sandsfoot Castle was built in the reign of Henry VIII to protect the entrance to the harbour.
Walking west along the north side of the harbour, there are more Red-Breasted Mergansers. I reach Ferrybridge and check the high tide roost but there are no waders or geese only gulls and a Meadow Pipit.
In the afternoon, Sue and I went to Bowleaze Cove looking for Short-Eared Owl which winters in that area. We didn’t see one but did see two Kestrels and a Buzzard. On the sea was a raft of 20 Mediterranean Gulls.
Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator)
Great Crested Grebe [sp] (Podiceps cristatus)
Black-necked Grebe [sp] (Podiceps nigricollis)
European Shag [sp] (Phalacrocorax aristotelis)
Eurasian Sparrowhawk [sp] (Accipiter nisus)
Eurasian Oystercatcher [sp] (Haematopus ostralegus)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
White Wagtail [sp] (Motacilla alba)
Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)
Pete's Favourite Things 