Mike Morse
@bexbirder.bsky.social
Birding West Bexington and Cogden, Dorset
Just happened to be in Lyme Regis with my wife this afternoon when I received a message from Paul Temple of a Grey Phalarope there. Managed to locate it on the sea close in to the Cobb wall about 50yrds off Monmouth beach. Phone pic...
October 10, 2026 at 3:40 PM
Just happened to be in Lyme Regis with my wife this afternoon when I received a message from Paul Temple of a Grey Phalarope there. Managed to locate it on the sea close in to the Cobb wall about 50yrds off Monmouth beach. Phone pic...
The Wryneck proved to be reasonably confiding and was still on the coastal path below Long House when we left it at around 9.30, but was working its way slowly west.
October 8, 2026 at 12:29 PM
The Wryneck proved to be reasonably confiding and was still on the coastal path below Long House when we left it at around 9.30, but was working its way slowly west.
Wryneck West Bexington along the coastal path below Long House...
October 8, 2026 at 7:04 AM
Wryneck West Bexington along the coastal path below Long House...
Just to prove, not least to myself, that it's October and there are birds on the move through West Bex... just not that many! The Redstart was seen Friday.
October 4, 2026 at 12:08 PM
Just to prove, not least to myself, that it's October and there are birds on the move through West Bex... just not that many! The Redstart was seen Friday.
Covulvulus Hawk-moth caterpillar on Cogden Beach this morning. Obsidentify insisted it was an Auger shell but we got there in the end...
September 24, 2026 at 11:54 AM
Covulvulus Hawk-moth caterpillar on Cogden Beach this morning. Obsidentify insisted it was an Auger shell but we got there in the end...
You don't often see them like this...
September 22, 2026 at 2:38 PM
You don't often see them like this...
Dark morph juv Long-tailed Skua off West Bex this morning. Very close in and not attempting to fly suggesting poor energy reserves or illness... it continued to drift east when we left it around 9.30am.
September 14, 2026 at 12:10 PM
Dark morph juv Long-tailed Skua off West Bex this morning. Very close in and not attempting to fly suggesting poor energy reserves or illness... it continued to drift east when we left it around 9.30am.
Lesser Emperor at Cogden this morning .... the first record for here. Patrolling along the coastal path east of the boardwalk although realistically it had little choice of habitat, all the ponds at Cogden and West Bex have completely dried out...
August 24, 2026 at 12:10 PM
Lesser Emperor at Cogden this morning .... the first record for here. Patrolling along the coastal path east of the boardwalk although realistically it had little choice of habitat, all the ponds at Cogden and West Bex have completely dried out...
Dutch ringed Med (3.742.469) back at West Bex for at least its 4th year.
August 12, 2026 at 3:33 PM
Dutch ringed Med (3.742.469) back at West Bex for at least its 4th year.
Bird interest this morning was confined to an early movement of six Goosanders west, the other two were just out of shot. Still quite a few Blue-eyed Hawkers around...I got lucky with this one.
July 28, 2026 at 2:09 PM
Bird interest this morning was confined to an early movement of six Goosanders west, the other two were just out of shot. Still quite a few Blue-eyed Hawkers around...I got lucky with this one.
There seems to have been a recent influx of Blue-eyed Hawkers.... at least three today quite well spread across the patch.
July 21, 2026 at 3:03 PM
There seems to have been a recent influx of Blue-eyed Hawkers.... at least three today quite well spread across the patch.
Great Northern Diver off West Bex coastguard cottages this morning....
July 20, 2026 at 12:15 PM
Great Northern Diver off West Bex coastguard cottages this morning....
Waders at West Bex today included a new juv LRP and the lingering Green Sandpiper. Additionally, Yellow Wags (3) made it onto the year list (scarce here in spring) and there was an unseasonal Common Gull on the beach although I guess they will be on the move soon enough...
July 16, 2026 at 3:29 PM
Waders at West Bex today included a new juv LRP and the lingering Green Sandpiper. Additionally, Yellow Wags (3) made it onto the year list (scarce here in spring) and there was an unseasonal Common Gull on the beach although I guess they will be on the move soon enough...
Birds on the move this last week include 156 Sand Martins in and around Burton Mere on the 8th then Green Sand, Curlew, 8 Cattle Egrets and 2 Teal thru. 2 LRPs lingered this morning.
July 11, 2026 at 12:43 PM
Birds on the move this last week include 156 Sand Martins in and around Burton Mere on the 8th then Green Sand, Curlew, 8 Cattle Egrets and 2 Teal thru. 2 LRPs lingered this morning.
Blue (Scarce) Chaser in the nature reserve at West Bex this morning... first patch record.
June 25, 2026 at 10:37 AM
Blue (Scarce) Chaser in the nature reserve at West Bex this morning... first patch record.
Just shy of 2,000 Manx Shearwaters east past West Bex 6.00am – 7.45am. With unidentifiable birds further out, I thought I was undercounting and numbers at Portland suggest that was the case although the movement might have started before I arrived. A Curlew east the only other bird of note.
June 22, 2026 at 1:35 PM
Just shy of 2,000 Manx Shearwaters east past West Bex 6.00am – 7.45am. With unidentifiable birds further out, I thought I was undercounting and numbers at Portland suggest that was the case although the movement might have started before I arrived. A Curlew east the only other bird of note.
Great views of 6 Manx Shearwater off West Bex beach this morning, which meant I got them on my WeBS count too.
June 15, 2026 at 3:40 PM
Great views of 6 Manx Shearwater off West Bex beach this morning, which meant I got them on my WeBS count too.
There was no sound let alone sight of a Cuckoo on patch this spring.... However, we usually do better when birds head back south again and that was the case this morning with this bird at Cogden.
June 10, 2026 at 4:51 PM
There was no sound let alone sight of a Cuckoo on patch this spring.... However, we usually do better when birds head back south again and that was the case this morning with this bird at Cogden.
Less exciting, but probably more important, we noticed a few Small Eggar tents this morning too....
May 25, 2026 at 6:21 PM
Less exciting, but probably more important, we noticed a few Small Eggar tents this morning too....
Nice to join in with the current moth action down here... Crimson Speckled at West Bex this morning...
May 25, 2026 at 9:35 AM
Nice to join in with the current moth action down here... Crimson Speckled at West Bex this morning...
Five of the six Arctic Skuas that flew east past West Bex this morning.... other birds on the move included 89 Kittiwakes, 114 Gannets and singles of Whimbrel and Brent Goose.
May 19, 2026 at 12:59 PM
Five of the six Arctic Skuas that flew east past West Bex this morning.... other birds on the move included 89 Kittiwakes, 114 Gannets and singles of Whimbrel and Brent Goose.
You have to take your highs where you can this spring.... not able to trace a local release the two Grey Partridge, re-found this morning at West Bex, are getting the benefit of the doubt... 😉
May 14, 2026 at 12:19 PM
You have to take your highs where you can this spring.... not able to trace a local release the two Grey Partridge, re-found this morning at West Bex, are getting the benefit of the doubt... 😉
A scattering of common migrants around this morning but also the shock of stumbling on two Grey Partridge at Cogden. Assume from a release, but who knows? I think conservation releases are more likely than shooting these days...anyway, makes a change from the bloody Red-legs.
April 24, 2026 at 11:45 AM
A scattering of common migrants around this morning but also the shock of stumbling on two Grey Partridge at Cogden. Assume from a release, but who knows? I think conservation releases are more likely than shooting these days...anyway, makes a change from the bloody Red-legs.
Whilst it's great to have lingering Garganey on patch (2 still this morning, 3 on Friday) some variety wouldn't go amiss...
April 12, 2026 at 12:29 PM
Whilst it's great to have lingering Garganey on patch (2 still this morning, 3 on Friday) some variety wouldn't go amiss...
Male and female Garganey on West Bexington Mere this morning. Also decent arrival of Common Whitethroats and our first Reed Warbler of the year...
April 8, 2026 at 11:43 AM
Male and female Garganey on West Bexington Mere this morning. Also decent arrival of Common Whitethroats and our first Reed Warbler of the year...