Gulls again

Third winter Glaucous Gull, Albert Village Lake, Leicestershire. The size of this bird is apparent when compared to Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls....

And here a comparison with a Great Black-backed Gull. It's a big gull - what a cracker!

Yellow-legged Gull, Calvert Lakes, Buckinghamshire with argentatus Herring Gull behind. Notice how the poor lighting conditions makes these birds look dark.

Possible Caspian Gull at Calvert Lakes. It slept virtually the whole time I was there except on one occasion when it sat up in the water and looked like a Casp. Never got a look at the primaries though....

Yellow-legged Gull, Albert Village Lake. This one took half an hour of tracking before it showed off its bright yellow legs and P10/5 formula. There were lots of smartish looking argies on AV and Calvert lakes and I found it very hard going and sometimes frustrating trying to ID these birds. I disregarded any bird where I didn't see leg colour and primaries.

A nice comparison with Yellow-legged Gull, centre with argenteus Herring Gull (right) and argentatus Herring Gull (far right). The argy looks at least as dark as the YLG in this image but despite advanced moult into new plumage it still manages to look slightly scruffier.

Second winter Yellow-legged Gull, Albert Village Lake.

Possible Caspian Gull at AVL. Another birder who seemed to know what he was doing saw the primaries on this bird (and ID'd it as a Casp) - I didn't. In this image the bill looks chunky and bright. In one very poor image I have the underside of P10 is partially shown and seems to have extensive black more in-line with YLG.

"Hooded" Lesser Black-backed Gull on AVL.

Albert Village Lake - very civilised place to watch gulls with proper footpaths and good views!

Mute Swan JP4 back on Rixton pools. I have been following this swan for over a year now and it's good to see him back at Rixton. Two ringed swans on HGF originated from Leigh and Farnworth.

Lesser Redpoll at Moore. This bird was with a flock of Goldfinches - not much else about on a very foggy day.

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No birding of note last weekend. A foggy morning stroll around Moore was about it and I can't be bothered to trawl through the birds I did see.

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HGF remains pretty much the same and completely frozen again this morning.

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Around 80 Tree Sparrows are consistently at the feeding station. In the garden a small tabby cat which appears to have adopted us keeps haing a go at the Pheasant. The said bird just looks at her in disdain before kicking out and making the cat go away. Comedy value!

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Been working away this week - this enabled me to get in a couple of gulling sessions.

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First one was at Albert Village Lake. There are probably only around 1500 large gulls on this lake but lots of variety and interesting stuff. The third winter Glauc is a superb bird and stands out a mile. The rest is rather more complicated. Several birders there reported two Caspian Gulls - having seen one of them I remain to be convinced and I'm not that good at gulls. It's also very hard picking out the YLG's as there were lots of bright looking argentatus Herring Gulls to fool me and some of the YLG's I did see did not have the classic looking structure - particularly the small ones (females?).

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I did pick out 6 YLG's (5 adults and the second winter) and later I headed over to Foremark Reservoir for dusk where I picked out possibly the same 3cy YLG and also the Glauc.

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The following day I spent some time after work at Calvert Lakes. These are two lakes split by a road, one of which is a nature reserve and one is a sailing lake. There were around 8000 gulls on the latter and not viewable (until I figure out how the locals get on). On the nature reserve were around 1000 large gulls and absolutley no BHG's. I picked out 2 YLG's but I wasn't patient enough to keep tracking these until they showed their legs and primaries. There was a possible Caspian Gull, however I didn't get a chance to see its wing configuration. Also here was a Black-necked Grebe and two low-flying Red Kites providing an aerobatic spectacle. Typically just after I had put my camera away, a Muntjac walked right across the front of the hide....

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At the beginning of the week I managed to get to Parkgate after work. Grey, cold and windy but some decent birds nevertheless including 4 Hen Harriers (male and three ring-tails), Merlin and Peregrine.

Bramblings in the fog

The feeding station in the fog today...

The full moon yesterday.

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A distinct lack of birding recently and not much to report.

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The pool at HGF finally dethawed at the end of last week. Opportunities to visit even for a brief look have been rare. Last time I was there around 30 Wigeon had been joined by a similar number of mixed aythya ducks. A female Goldeneye was present for one day.

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A few days ago a male Brambling was observed feeding at the back of the garden with the Chaffinches. Today I managed a visit to the feeding station and watched two Bramblings feeding with the Chaffinches - a male and a female. Interesting mix of birds there today all feeding:

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5 Grey Partridges

8 Yellowhammers

1 Reed Bunting

19 Chaffinches

2 Bramblings

3 Greenfinches

44 Tree Sparrows

8 House Sparrows

13 Starlings

1 Dunnock

1 Magpie

1 Jackdaw

1 Rook

6 Crows

2 Collared Doves

2 Woodpigeons

1 Blackbird

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At the moment I am putting down 4Kg of seed per day on average. Not surprising with that lot munching on it. I also find that I need to find somewhere else to buy seed now as the usual farm shop in Culcheth is closing and is currently running down its last stock. Hopefully the weekend will provide a birding opportunity, however given tonights weather forecast it looks like three more days of fog. Bugger!

It's rough driving around the country

It's hard work trying to digiscope a flying bird! At least the white tail is shown off well.

Juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard, South Ferriby

Marsh Harrier, South Ferriby

Roe Deer, South Ferriby

Fallow Deer, South Ferriby

Starlings at Ham Wall

Ham Wall RSPB with Glastonbury Tor in the background

Great White Egret, Ham Wall RSPB

Bewick's Swans with some of the 540+ European White-fronted Geese at Slimbridge

Wigeon, Slimbridge

Linnets in Waterworks Lane

Tree Sparrows in the garden

Starlings, Rixton Moss

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Very little local birding recently and have been on the road again for week a lot in the last couple of weeks. I have barely been near the feeding station other than to out food down. One day I saw around 60 Tree Sparrows and 12 Yellowhammers waiting to be fed. I know John Tymon has spent more time there and has seen both Peregrine and Merlin there. The Linnet flock was still in Waterworks Lane – one day I counted 106 birds (from a photo) with 15 Skylarks tagging along. Same in the garden really – I can’t think of much to report other than a Song Thrush which was a welcome visitor for a few days. A couple of thousand Starlings were hanging around the tip at Rixton mosses.
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I did pay a brief visit to Newton Lake during the thaw (last Saturday am). The water level had risen significantly resulting in all of the undergrowth at the back of the lake being partially submerged and consequently many of the water birds were hidden in amongst this. 89 Teal were seen with a Little Grebe a welcome addition. Also drake Pochard still and 6 drake Tufties.
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Later that day I wandered around Croft late afternoon. There was a sizeable party of mixed thrushes in the horse paddocks off New Lane. No sign of the Little Owls, however 3 Brown Hares are still present in the field behind the owl roost – two of these engaged in a boxing match! On Monday this week I had stopped by the metal gates just past Hanging Birch Farm in Culcheth. In the previous two winters I have found a flock of 30+ Corn Buntings here and as I drove past this day I saw a flock of brown jobs in the trees. I stopped to check them out, unfortunately a Buzzard flushed them and they disappeared before I could ID them. I did wander up the track behind the gates though and looking across the ploughed field towards the farm I could see a flock of pigeons behind the farm and not visible from the road. I set the scope up and was chuffed to find a large flock of Stock Doves – 188 in all. There was also a flock of 130+ Linnets feeding with them.
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As a brief aside – this year to date I have started off by literally tripping over Peregrines. I had seen 10 different birds by the 11th! I even saw one while driving down the M6 – it drifted over near Walsall.
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Two brief birding sessions were to be had during my tour of the UK! One was to see a long-staying Rough-legged Buzzard at South Ferriby. This juvenile has been hanging around Read Island. When I arrived there was instant raptor interest with three Marsh Harriers and a Peregrine on the island. The place also seems to attract deer – I counted at least 8 Fallow and 4 Roe present on the island. A Buzzard and a Kestrel were seen behind the laybye, I had to work though to pick up my target bird. It eventually showed a little distantly around the spoil heaps behind the laybye. Cracking bird and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.
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The other session was at my favourite birding spot in the world – Shapwick Heath / Ham Wall. Interestingly last year I visited eight times and picked up Bitterns on each occasion. Not this time, unfortunately. I did make it just in time for the Starling roost though. When I arrived some birders were watching a ring-tail Hen Harrier hunting the reed beds. I then picked up the Great White Egret creeping through the reeds – eventually it took off and did a fly over before briefly visiting the pool behind us. Then the Starlings started to arrive.
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It was fortuitously a rare day this winter i.e. it was sunny and little cloud cover so viewing conditions were quite good even late in the afternoon. The first Starlings started to arrive a little early and this time the birds really put on a show. The various flocks were twisting and gliding around the sky making all sorts of shapes. This performance seemed to be carried out in almost total silence except for a whisper as a flock flew overhead. I watched in awe – this is surely the best wildlife spectacle we can see in the UK and I did get goosebumps watching them!!! I would estimate (a real guess) that there were only around 400,000 birds in the roost – well down on previous visits. ONLY 400,000 he says!
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As the afternoon turned into gloom and with most of the Starlings in the reed bed, most of the gathered watchers wandered off. The Starlings then came out again and decided to switch reed beds, providing another spectacle. At this point raptors also arrived. I saw both Buzzard and Peregrine catching Starlings while a second Peregrine and a Sparrowhawk drifted over. I hung around until it was too dark to see, hoping for the Barn Owl. I didn’t see it, however while I was stood against some brambles watching the grassy ride around the reed beds, a small flock of late arrival Starlings flew just a few feet past my head – and I mean a few feet. I never heard them until they went past and they frightened the bloody life out of me!
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Yesterday evening I arrived at my hotel in Upton Warren and the evening felt almost Spring-like being very mild compared to the recent ice days. Apparently I was not the only one to think so – at 5am a Song Thrush burst into song outside my window! To be fair he had as varied a song as I have heard from this species with hints of Lapwings, gulls and Waxwings all packed in. Also by getting up early and starting work I managed to finish early and head up the M6 at a decent time. I arrived in Rixton at dusk and decided to have a quick look at Moat Lane pool while I was there. The reward was 2 Green Sandpipers plus a half dozen Mute Swans. This seemed thrilling compared to weeks of an empty and frozen pool.

Swans & raptors

Bewick's Swans, Shotwick Fields

Part of the Linnet flock at Burton Marsh

Pochard, Newton Lake

Brambling in our garden

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The first bird of 2011 was a Woodpigeon feeding opposite my brother-in-law’s house. The first good bird of 2011 was a Red Kite found just 20 minutes later being mobbed by corvids just outside the village. It’s a long way from any of the reintroduction schemes here in this part of Wiltshire, however I later found out that the odd Red Kite has been seen this far down the M4 corridor over the last year or so – clearly the birds from High Wycombe are spreading some distance.
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My first real birding session was on Monday (3rd) when I decided to take Bill over to the Wirral. My first stop was Shotwick fields where a sizeable flock of mixed swans had built up. In all I counted 120 Bewick’s Swans plus 54 Whooper Swans and 76 Mute Swans. Interestingly there were only 14 juvenile Bewick’s present (7 Whoopers) which mirrors what I saw at Slimbridge i.e. very few juveniles. I can’t claim to be any sort of expert but I wonder if the reproduction rate of these birds is declining? Also on the deck here was a flock of 1520 Pink-footed Geese – the largest flock I have seen on the deck around here.
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Next I wandered up by Burton Marsh towards the Decca Pools. The first raptors were Buzzards – I eventually counted four of them, all perched on various posts. At the pools I decided to just stand and watch for a bit. The pools were still mostly frozen and not much was about there though a few Little Egrets flitted past. I soon found a distant ring-tail Hen Harrier – it was motoring up towards Parkgate. I then spotted a Merlin chasing something – it eventually gave up and perched up! I eventually found four of these little falcons perched on various posts – 3 females and a male. I had spotted small flocks of Linnets heading from off the marsh and into a stubble field opposite the pools – around an hour later there were at least 430 Linnets in this field. A pair of Peregrines then arrived and perched up just behind the pools – clearly a falcon and a tiercel. I later found 2 more Peregrines perched way out on the marsh and off towards Parkgate – I needed the scope on 60x zoom just to see these birds. They looked very brownish through the scope so maybe they were first winters? All in all there were plenty of raptors but all of them just perching and not doing much. Back by the car park a male Stonechat was a welcome find.
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Not had much chance to view the feeding station though yesterday I counted 60+ Tree Sparrows in the garden and then immediately afterwards 30+ at the feeding station. I’m not sure why they frequent the garden so much at the moment. Yesterday there was fresh seed at the feeding station and hardly anything in the garden but they still preferred it. Maybe it is a bit more sheltered or maybe it’s the warmth? The vent from our boiler puts lots of hot air out towards the back of the garden. I also has a smart male Brambling in the garden – it seemed to be hanging around with a small flock of Goldfinches.
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Sunday I had a quick mooch to Newton Lake. The pool was still 80% frozen and all the birds were concentrated in small stretches of water. A drake Goosander was the highlight with drake Pochard and Tufted Duck also present. The pen Mute Swan still remains on her own – the Teal count was 103.
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This afternoon I managed to escape at lunch towards Rixton. The pools are still completely frozen and are dead. I wandered over to where I kept picking up Willow Tits before Christmas and sure enough I heard some again. This time I managed to watch three of them chasing around some trees. A Treecreeper was also observed nearby.
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A couple of asides. For the last 2 months a guy has been shooting woodies in Waterworks Lane with the result that the place is often deserted. On one occasion I saw him wing a Crow which started to flap away. He then walked over to put the bird out of its misery. He stopped well short of where I would have shot from and took three further shots to kill the bird. I’m not a huge fan of Crows and I understand that not all shots will kill outright but FOUR attempts to kill a bird? Bloody irresponsible. I also noticed on a recent trip to Preston a number of dead gulls on the ice at the docks. In all I counted 17 dead birds and I didn’t try particularly hard. I wonder if this winter is having a very significant effect on bird populations or is this the normal attrition rate and it is just more visible as a result of the ice?