Richmond again

Photos:

Short-eared Owl, Higher Green

Three juvenile Iceland Gulls plus adult and first winter Yellow-legged Gulls and adult Herring Gull with blue face, all at Richmond Bank

13^th March

There was no sign of the Black-tailed Godwit at HGF this morning and nothing else new so I headed off to Richmond Bank again. There were decent numbers of gulls and no birders once again when I arrived and as yesterday I quickly picked up two juvenile Iceland Gulls. One was a bird I saw yesterday while the other was new to me but has been seen many times by others over this winter – it has red dye or paint on its face. I also picked up a single Yellow-legged Gull.

Ian and Pete then turned up and between them found four more Yellow-legged Gulls including a nice first winter bird. At one point some gulls drifted off down river and I caught sight of a white-winger which I initially thought was one of the Iceland’s (one had left) and then started doubting myself. Another birder, Kenny Dummingham, arrived having seen an Iceland just round the corner, down river. I headed off to check it out and satisfy my curiosity – it was the juvenile with the red face – and when I got back the other bird from yesterday had showed up, making it three Icelands. I also got a few more ringed birds which were all Lesser Black-backs and all ringed by the Severn Group:

AEX – ringed at Gloucester Landfill Site in 2007 – seen most winters there since but nowhere else 

AKD – as above ringed at GLS also in 2007 and also not seen anywhere else 

KEN – same as above two but only ringed in 2010 

50 Tree Sparrows and 10 Yellowhammers were present at the feeding station this afternoon. Also here was a female Reed Bunting and a Stock Dove. While watching I noted a male Sparrowhawk which flew over and then started spiralling up on a thermal with a Buzzard. While these two climbed high, scanning around produced two more Sparrowhawks spiralling together over Myddleton Lane and two more Buzzards doing likewise over Highfield Lane. 

Late afternoon I decided, while passing nearby, to visit Higher Green where Pete Berry has been watching a Short-eared Owl for the last few days. I did bump into Pete and his lad again while waiting for the owl to show (or not as the case may be). Eventually I was joined by Martyn Jones and Pete Hilton too – and soon the owl was up and floating around the place. It gave good views initially but then started hunting further away. A very pleasant end to a glorious day!