Fudge Find

I had another good day out close to home today; always the best way, grilling birds along the river and in the parks of southeast London. As it turned out, the best bird seen was at the last site visited - Thamesmere; a small lake by the Morrison's car park in salubrious Thamesmead. John A and I stopped off here on the way home, as we'd had enough of the cold and, away from the main flock of aythyas initially and hiding in the reeds, I found a female Ferruginous Duck. Probably the first for the London borough of Greenwich apparently. It was with 30 Pochard and 15 Tufted Duck, looked wild and didn't seem to show any hybrid characters. Apologies for the shots... my digiscoping camera battery had ran out and it was just a bit too distant for the SLR as these illustrate.

female Ferruginous Duck at Thamesmere

So, what else happened today? I got to Greenland Pier in the hope that Dave Mo's Brent Goose from Battersea would make it downriver to Rotherhithe, but it had other ideas. Had a 1st-winter Yellow-legged Gull on the groynes, and then it was off to check Burgess Park for a bit - no Med Gull again (I haven't seen it since early December) but there was a NTGG-ringed (red/orange ring with black writing) 1st-winter Herring Gull I'd not seen before.

1st-winter Yellow-legged Gull, Rotherhithe

So I sacked it off and headed a short way east to Crossness late morning. John A had already scored heavily with 11 Tundra Bean Geese east early morning, so I met him at Southmere where he quickly found this bird. Initially it looked absolutely bang on for a Casp with a nice slightly dark grey mantle, long parallel-sided bill, long-winged and significant white in the primaries. However this bird shows a relatively large, pale eye and although there's a nice white tip to P10, there's quite a significant amount of dark in the primary shaft. Could this bird possibly be something from the hybrid zone in Poland? Not sure and any useful comments appreciated.

I needed some grub after this perplexing ordeal, so headed off to get a pasty, while in the meantime missed an adult Kittiwake off the golf centre. Serves me right for again not making sandwiches. Anyway, there was a nice selection of bits and pieces, including a load of large g's on the mud - including three with bling. One NTGG group Herring Gull, a Suffolk-ringed Herring Gull and then a Norwegian Great Black-backed Gull.

JN252; ringed at Keila, Hjelmsøy, Måsøy, Finnmark, Norway on 11th June 2008 and this was the first recovery - a straight line distance of 1313 miles

More head scratching as we found another gull on the Thames foreshore. A real beast of a bird, obviously massive and leggy - just look at its size compared to the GBB! I had a 1st-winter Casp on the river a couple of years ago that almost matched this bird in size.

This bird was a near-adult, presumably a 4th winter with some dark smudgings on its primary coverts. Stilt legs, though not too spindly.

Then in flight this bird showed what you want in a Casp, with a nice pale tongue to the underside of P10.

Obviously this bird lacks a bit of maturity, but the wingtips seem pretty developed with an obvious pale outer web to the underside of P10. However, argentatus Herring Gulls can show pretty similar primary patterning to Casps - just compare this wing of an argentatus that I photographed in the hand yesterday.

Extensive pale tip to P10 and lack of any black on P5 put this within the range of argentatus in the ringer's book

A bit more Casp loving

I left it pretty late to get out this morning, wanting to make the most of the last day of the holidays to have a decent sleep. But when I'd decided what to do, and on my way to Crossness, John A phoned to say that the adult Casp (the same as the one I'd found yesterday) was showing relatively well in the decent sunlight. Given that there wasn't a single Casp at Crossness in 2011, it was rude not to get amongst this classic beast from the east once again.

A total classic - beady, dark eye, parallel-sided bill with slight dark marking on gonys, tepid-coloured legs

Lovely sloped forehead, slightly dark mantle (on a par with argentatus perhaps, though lacking the bluish tinge) and loads of white in those primaries - a nice extensive white tip to P10

Rather burnt out image! But nice bayonets, with grey of the outer primaries extending into the black wingtips on the inner webs, on the upperwing, extensive white tip to P10 and pale underwing tongue.

Nice shot of the extensive pale tongue to P10, with the outer web wholly pale, and a narrow black band on the inner web. P9 with similarly extensive white tip to P10 with a slight black subterminal mark.

Once the Casp headed off over the river, having watching it for a fair while, I had a quick walk to the outfall - where there was little - and then back to the car.

Teal at Crossness - glad I don't have to grub around in the Thames mud for my dinner

Rotherhithe was pretty slow, with just the usuals in Russia Dock Woodland last knock-ins and this lovely breeding plumaged Herring Gull.

Midlands gull roost watchers be warned... it's that time of the year again. Do not use the 'white-headed' approach to Yellow-legged Gull identification; some Herring Gulls have already completed their head moult, feeling rather frisky too 

Crossness casp & colour-ringed ridibundus

Happy New Year by the way. I headed out just shy of 8 this morning to Crossness, and it was another one of those grim, grey mornings that made the Thames foreshore that bit more depressing that it often is. That is, until John A received a call from Dave Mo the other side of the river to say that there were a couple of Dark-bellied Brents sat on the mud in Barking Bay. Nice they were too, and a result for the day. While watching these birds, I scanned the near line of gulls - where there'd been a couple of 1st-winter Yellow-leggeds when I arrived - and there bang in the centre of my scope was a quality adult Caspian Gull, complete with the oft-quoted beady eye, rounded forehead and pale tongue to the underside of p10. At 9.40am, was this the first cachinnans of the year on British turf?

Caspo El Clasico. Almost as good to watch as Barcelona?

John A and I then had a mooch around Southmere, Thamesmead, where I found this bad boy, sporting a bit of bling. Seems like it's come to get us from Russia with Love... well, Latvia to be accurate. I reckon it's pretty nailed on from this ringing scheme.

presumed Latvian-ringed Black-headed Gull

South paddock was crap, although a Buzzard was half decent, and then we headed back to the river where the two Brents had flown a lot closer.

A check of the protected area and the paddocks produced nothing of real interest. Then the heavens opened, as the weather people had predicted, so I headed home with a sodden coat. Some things never change. Will I ever learn to go birding in suitable attire?