Portland Dorset

Yesterday I met up with some Flickr friends for the day. (Flickr is a photo sharing group) We spent the early evening at Portland. In the Above photo we are looking down on the Chesil beach
its a very Bleak landscape
The evening light , with cloudy skies, but some sunshine made for some good photo opportunities

We all enjoyed meeting up and hope to do it a gain soon.
One of the highlights of the trip was not caught on Camera. Whilst we were having a cup of coffee, someone spotted a small speck hovering high in the cloud. We watched for several minutes and saw it was a peregrine .......Having spotted his supper, he suddenly dropped down below the cliffs at an unbelievable speed. It was well worth seeing.

A day in Dorset

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It was such a beautiful day today. After walking the dogs we went out to enjoy the sunshine. Our first stop was the Wildlife trust nature reserve at Holmsley. This is an old gravel pit and although we could see some geese swimming we were unable to get into the reserve ad so only saw a distance glimpse. Just opposite we saw the New Forest Air Force memorial. We then drove onto HighCliffe. We had some good views of the coast line as we followed the path and saw several hang gliders in the distance. On the beach we were lucky enough to see a Grey Wagtail. Our next stop was Highcliffe castle.
Highcliffe Castle was built in the early 1830's by Lord Stuart de Rothesay and remained a family home until the 1950's In the 1960's two fires devastated the place and it remained a ruin until Christchurch Borough Council began a series of repairs in the 1990's. Only two rooms were open today as yet more restoration work is taking place. We stopped here for lunch and it was so warm we ate it outside in the sunshine.
On our way home we called in at Blashford lakes and I managed to get a photo of the little field Vole as he sneaked out to feast on the fallen seed from the feeders.

New Fores Airforce memorial

Highcliffe


Grey wagtail
Highcliffe

Lunch Al fresco
Highcliffe castle

Christ church

The old Mill House Christchurch

Greylag Goose

Billing and Cooing swans

Pied wagtail


Christchurch priory. Building was begun in 1094, but a Saxon Minster from the 7th century was demolished to make way for it. The nave and transepts are in the Norman style whilst the great Quire and lady chapel are in the more delicate Perpendicular style.
The Priory has some beautiful stained glass and the sun was shining through leaving coloured patterns on the stone work.


Christchurch also has the remains of a Norman castle and Norman House