Bits & Bobs

Too much work last week, plus a hectic weekend of this and that, equals minimal birding. Still, I did manage to add two species to my West Bay & Eype Patchwork Challenge list: Collared Dove and Mute Swan, both fly-overs. Hardly epic. And while on an errand in town yesterday I came across a lovely bit of Firecrest-y habitat which, sure enough, soon coughed up a stripy gem. That's my fifth Firecrest in the Bridport recording area this winter.

A quick pictorial catch-up...

Sunset last Sunday, and four Purple Sandpipers feeding together at the far end of the West Bay harbour wall.

Black-spotted Longhorn Beetle Rhagium mordax, found in a friend's log pile over in Lyme Regis yesterday. Impressive. I could easily get into beetles...

One of two Purple Sands this afternoon. Love the Limpets and tiny Barnacles on that rock.

The confused ducks today. I wonder what's going to become of these two...

What a surprise! Two 10lb+ Carp in the River Brit by Rise restaurant in West Bay this afternoon.

In angler's parlance, the two Carp are a Common Carp and a 'Ghostie'. I always check the river for fish here, but have never seen anything bar the occasional Mullet. Seeing these Carp was unexpected enough, but a few minutes later a smaller fish swam past from the right, quickly dropping out of sight in deeper water. It looked a bit odd, but I was rather slow to get my bins on it. If I had been peering into the Hampshire Avon or Dorset Stour, I would not have hesitated to call it a small Barbel. With its snouty head shape, greenish hue and coral-tinged pectoral fins, I honestly could not think of any other species which fitted, but my view was so brief...

So there we are. I'm stringing fish now.

As far as I can tell, my Rock Pipit photos now depict eight different birds. And finally, we have a bit of pre-breeding moult! I've just discovered that I came across Rockit 2 again on Thursday afternoon...

Rockit 2 on 9/2. Note missing centre-left tertial!

Same bird on 30/1. I last saw it on 2/2, with centre-left tertial still present.

This is the Rock Pipit that I confidently (or recklessly) called littoralis when first encountering it on 29/1. Well, at least it's doing the right things so far...