It’s fame springs from the fact that it provides one of the most accessible beaches along the Jurassic coast and has been a magnet for fossil hunters for at least 150 years.
When Sue and I were in Dorset we paid a visit and went out on an organised fossil hunt. The leader explained what to look for and then took us to a place on the beach where there were likely to be fossils.
A dull, overcast and wet day which didn’t bode well for birdwatching so Sue and I set out in the car. Our first stop was at Portesham village, a known area for Western Cattle Egret. As we drove along we saw some white birds in a field. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stop until some distance later when we pulled into the entrance of the Sewage Works and was able to look back with the telescope and confirm that they were Cattle Egrets.
Our next stop was Lyme Regis Harbour and our target birds
Black Redstart and Purple Sandpiper. As we walked along the harbour wall we saw
3 Rock Pipits and a few Ruddy Turnstones but there were no roosting Purple
Sandpipers. I scanned the sea out from the harbour and was surprised to find a
Red-Necked Grebe, a number of which winter on this part of the coast.
The rain was now coming down hard and so we retreated for lunch at a nearby restaurant. Afterwards, with the wet weather not abating, we decided to call it day and head back to our cottage in Weymouth.
Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos)
Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator)
Red-necked Grebe [sp] (Podiceps grisegena)
Western Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)
Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Ruddy Turnstone [sp] (Arenaria interpres)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Mew Gull [sp] (Larus canus)
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)
European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
House Sparrow [sp] (Passer domesticus)
White Wagtail [sp] (Motacilla alba)
Eurasian Rock Pipit [sp] (Anthus petrosus)
