Franklin's Gull, Foremark Reservoir
November 2nd – 5th
Xxxxx
Tuesday morning at HGF didn’t produce anything new. The Scaup was still present and has remained at the pool all week. A few Fieldfares flew over – that was pretty much it.
Xxxxx
At lunch I wandered over to Rixton. Moat Lane pool 1 was busy with the highlights being 3 Green Sandpipers. 7 Gadwall had joined the various Mute Swans while 130+ Redwings flew in a big circle over the pool. A Sparrowhawk also drifted over. I drove quickly around the mosses and as I drove down Woodend Lane I spotted a few brown jobs on the wires down by the farm. I was quite surprised to find they were Tree Sparrows – 21 in all. They were feeding in the remains of the pumpkin field where large numbers of Starlings were also present. I haven’t found Tree Sparrows around the mosses before – more investigative work is required I think.
Xxxxx
In the garden today the usual autumn increase in corvid attention materialised with Crows, Rooks, Jackdaws and Magpies all present. The partially leucistic Collared Dove I spotted last winter put in an appearance – the first time I have seen it since around March! The now regular cock Pheasant also turned up – it has continued to visit virtually daily.
Xxxxx
Thursday I was working on the Wirral – I managed to get to Parkgate half an hour before dusk. The conditions were atrocious – it rained heavily and the wind was rocking my car all over the place. I managed to position the car behind a wall to provide just enough shelter from the element to be able to wind down my window and scan the salt marsh. A flock of around 31 Pink-footed Geese were moving along the marsh and lots of little brown jobs were flitting around – hadn’t a chance at identifying them though.
Xxxx
Shortly after I arrived the first ring-tail Hen Harrier appeared. The wind was holding the bird up and as the rain lessened good views were had. A second bird appeared and then a third with all three dropping into the roosting site and then back out again for another fly around. A male harrier also appeared – stonking bird but I couldn’t tell whether it was an adult or a sub-adult in the conditions. Eventually these four dropped into the roost site and everything went quiet – until I saw a fourth ring-tail appear from the direction of Burton which flew into roost in an almost subdued manner compared to the others. 56 Little Egrets also flew past on their way to roost.
Xxxxxx
Friday I had a day off. It was windy and overcast and not very promising. I didn’t visit the feeding station all week and I only had a brief glance at it today. Instead I decided to go to Derbyshire to look for a Franklin’s Gull – a bird I have long wanted to see but never connected with. I arrived at Willington Gravel Pits late morning – the gull has been dropping in their intermittently for a bath though it was clearly roosting elsewhere.
Xxxx
There are no hides overlooking the gravel pits – just viewing platforms and quite a few birders had turned up hoping to see the gull. It did turn into one of those days though where no one was prepared to work for the bird. Lots of people just stood around waiting for someone to find the bird and left when it didn’t parade in front of them. It was also clear that no one knew how to identify one and birders kept jumping every time they saw a Black-headed Gull with a partial hood left. My view was that the bird should stick out like a sore thumb and there were only a thousand or so BHG’s present at any time. Eventually there were only two of us left with the other guy being the only other birder prepared to put the work in. I had a feeling though that the gull wasn’t going to turn up here today.
Xxxxx
There wasn’t an awful lot else to keep us occupied but one event was worth visiting the pits for all by itself. At one point I heard a Snipe and struggled to find it. I eventually spotted the bird a couple of hundred feet up and flying over towards us. Suddenly a dark streak flew up towards the Snipe, there was a collision and an explosion of feathers and the Peregrine flew off with its prize. I have never seen a Peregrine attack from underneath like this before and the event was both brief and stunning. Fortunately my birding partner also managed to get onto this when I had pointed out the Snipe. Two birders on the next platform, directly underneath this event at the time, were completely oblivious to the drama.
Xxxxx
Mid afternoon I decided to head off to Foremark Reservoir, a few miles down the road. The gull has been seen, intermittently, in the roost here. My birding partner from the gravel pits had gone but had told me that he had tried four times for the gull here and had failed to see it. He also told me that dozens of birders had been present the night before (the bird was not seen). I was very surprised then to find the car park completely empty – not even a dog walker. I could see a few thousand gulls already on the water and I could also see a very dodgy weather front closing in so I began scanning the water. I found the Franklin’s Gull after just a couple of minutes – I was right it did stick out like a sore thumb!
Xxxxxx
A couple of birders turned up shortly afterwards so I got them onto the gull and put the word out. Another birder also subsequently appeared and he too watched the gull. The light started to go and the rain came down and all of a sudden none of us could see the gull. I did eventually pick it out again briefly in the middle of the flock, however my perception that it stood out had now gone out of the window – in these conditions it was bloody difficult. I then headed for home and spent 3.5 hrs driving back up the M6 on a Friday! The gull and the Peregrine attack made it well worth it though. Incidentally this was the last time the gull was seen.
Xxxxx
Tuesday morning at HGF didn’t produce anything new. The Scaup was still present and has remained at the pool all week. A few Fieldfares flew over – that was pretty much it.
Xxxxx
At lunch I wandered over to Rixton. Moat Lane pool 1 was busy with the highlights being 3 Green Sandpipers. 7 Gadwall had joined the various Mute Swans while 130+ Redwings flew in a big circle over the pool. A Sparrowhawk also drifted over. I drove quickly around the mosses and as I drove down Woodend Lane I spotted a few brown jobs on the wires down by the farm. I was quite surprised to find they were Tree Sparrows – 21 in all. They were feeding in the remains of the pumpkin field where large numbers of Starlings were also present. I haven’t found Tree Sparrows around the mosses before – more investigative work is required I think.
Xxxxx
In the garden today the usual autumn increase in corvid attention materialised with Crows, Rooks, Jackdaws and Magpies all present. The partially leucistic Collared Dove I spotted last winter put in an appearance – the first time I have seen it since around March! The now regular cock Pheasant also turned up – it has continued to visit virtually daily.
Xxxxx
Thursday I was working on the Wirral – I managed to get to Parkgate half an hour before dusk. The conditions were atrocious – it rained heavily and the wind was rocking my car all over the place. I managed to position the car behind a wall to provide just enough shelter from the element to be able to wind down my window and scan the salt marsh. A flock of around 31 Pink-footed Geese were moving along the marsh and lots of little brown jobs were flitting around – hadn’t a chance at identifying them though.
Xxxx
Shortly after I arrived the first ring-tail Hen Harrier appeared. The wind was holding the bird up and as the rain lessened good views were had. A second bird appeared and then a third with all three dropping into the roosting site and then back out again for another fly around. A male harrier also appeared – stonking bird but I couldn’t tell whether it was an adult or a sub-adult in the conditions. Eventually these four dropped into the roost site and everything went quiet – until I saw a fourth ring-tail appear from the direction of Burton which flew into roost in an almost subdued manner compared to the others. 56 Little Egrets also flew past on their way to roost.
Xxxxxx
Friday I had a day off. It was windy and overcast and not very promising. I didn’t visit the feeding station all week and I only had a brief glance at it today. Instead I decided to go to Derbyshire to look for a Franklin’s Gull – a bird I have long wanted to see but never connected with. I arrived at Willington Gravel Pits late morning – the gull has been dropping in their intermittently for a bath though it was clearly roosting elsewhere.
Xxxx
There are no hides overlooking the gravel pits – just viewing platforms and quite a few birders had turned up hoping to see the gull. It did turn into one of those days though where no one was prepared to work for the bird. Lots of people just stood around waiting for someone to find the bird and left when it didn’t parade in front of them. It was also clear that no one knew how to identify one and birders kept jumping every time they saw a Black-headed Gull with a partial hood left. My view was that the bird should stick out like a sore thumb and there were only a thousand or so BHG’s present at any time. Eventually there were only two of us left with the other guy being the only other birder prepared to put the work in. I had a feeling though that the gull wasn’t going to turn up here today.
Xxxxx
There wasn’t an awful lot else to keep us occupied but one event was worth visiting the pits for all by itself. At one point I heard a Snipe and struggled to find it. I eventually spotted the bird a couple of hundred feet up and flying over towards us. Suddenly a dark streak flew up towards the Snipe, there was a collision and an explosion of feathers and the Peregrine flew off with its prize. I have never seen a Peregrine attack from underneath like this before and the event was both brief and stunning. Fortunately my birding partner also managed to get onto this when I had pointed out the Snipe. Two birders on the next platform, directly underneath this event at the time, were completely oblivious to the drama.
Xxxxx
Mid afternoon I decided to head off to Foremark Reservoir, a few miles down the road. The gull has been seen, intermittently, in the roost here. My birding partner from the gravel pits had gone but had told me that he had tried four times for the gull here and had failed to see it. He also told me that dozens of birders had been present the night before (the bird was not seen). I was very surprised then to find the car park completely empty – not even a dog walker. I could see a few thousand gulls already on the water and I could also see a very dodgy weather front closing in so I began scanning the water. I found the Franklin’s Gull after just a couple of minutes – I was right it did stick out like a sore thumb!
Xxxxxx
A couple of birders turned up shortly afterwards so I got them onto the gull and put the word out. Another birder also subsequently appeared and he too watched the gull. The light started to go and the rain came down and all of a sudden none of us could see the gull. I did eventually pick it out again briefly in the middle of the flock, however my perception that it stood out had now gone out of the window – in these conditions it was bloody difficult. I then headed for home and spent 3.5 hrs driving back up the M6 on a Friday! The gull and the Peregrine attack made it well worth it though. Incidentally this was the last time the gull was seen.
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