7th December

With the Barred Warbler settling down to making regular visits to the apples in the Obs garden it attracted most of the attention today; the only 'extras' making the list came as a result of a marked freshening of the westerly wind that saw late singles of Manx Shearwater and Arctic Skua pass through at the Bill and Ferrybridge respectively. Lingerers still about included 2 Black Redstarts and a Blackcap at the Bill, a Black Redstart at Blacknor, the Black Guillemot and Eider still off Portland Castle and 2 Pale-bellied Brent Geese at Ferrybridge; additionally, 2 Red-throated Divers passed by off the Bill and a Black-throated Diver passed over at Ferrybridge.

 

 

Barred Warbler, Red-breasted Merganser and Eider - Portland Bill and Portland Harbour, 7th December 2014 © Brett Spencer Brett's Goosey Ganderings (Barred W still), Martin Cade (Barred W video) and John Wall (Eider)

 

...the Eider has been unexpectedly close to shore for a couple of days and, sadly, the reason is now apparent as it looks to have swallowed some fishing tackle (photo © John Wall):

Finally, thanks to Beryl Clafton for bringing us the remains of the Hoopoe that was found dead at Wakeham a couple of days ago:

We know absolutely nothing about ageing Hoopoes and haven't fully understood what we've attempted to glean from the literature; however, the presence of, for example, two new outer tail-feathers amongst other features seem to suggest that this one is a juvenile/first-winter.