Stalking seagulls

I've got a big gathering of large gulls on Greenland Dock, next to my flat in Rotherhithe, at the moment. They may look a little worse for wear at this time of year, and they're all non-breeding youths cackling away. Early this morning as I was heading out to Crossness, I found this 1st-summer Herring Gull and bizarrely the ring combination rang a bell for some reason: -

Herring Gull VY8T Rotherhithe, London 4th May 2013

When I got home, I checked my geeky 'gull rings 2013' spreadsheet and hey presto, I'd seen this bird on the tip in Essex on 16th March 2013 (and it had been ringed at Rainham, London, on 15th December 2013). Here's a shot of it from March: -

Herring Gull VY8T Essex 16th March 2013

Otherwise, today at Crossness was quiet except for an unobliging male Whinchat in the paddocks and a couple of Arctic Terns bombing west past the outfall mid morning. I went there on Thursday too, where there was a Turtle Dove (a rare sight these days) and a Green Sandpiper amongst the usuals, while a couple of Common Terns seem to be back in Rotherhithe today. Hope there is some action this Bank Holiday...

BTGs and GWT at Crossness today

Uneventful across the country today, with a real turn in wind direction and drop in temperature. I hadn't had a lie in past 7.30am for over a month, so deserved the one I had this morning to recharge the batteries. John A had done Crossness in the morning, so I decided that a late afternoon visit was the way forward, especially with more overcast conditions forecast.

It was quiet though with no noticeable passage and just the usuals to look at. So with the 35 Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits looking better and better by the day, I focused on them for a bit. In this flock was one ringed bird that has been present in the Crossness/Barking Bay area since 31st March: -

Black-tailed Godwit - ringed at Levington on the Orwell Estuary, Suffolk on 18th August 2008 then seen at Alton Water, Suffolk on 1st September 2009, Abberton Resr, Essex 19th September 2009, Loire Estuary, France 14th February 2010, Ouderkerk, The Netherlands 16th March 2010, Trimley, Suffolk 22nd July 2010, Cliffe, Kent 13th July 2011, Rainham, London 27th December 2011 and then Manningtree, Essex 16th September 2012 before turning up here in late March (look here to see how much it has moulted).

Jim Wilson flagged up a project that he's involved in on one of my earlier posts, where three schools (one in Ireland, one in Devon and one in Iceland) have got together, promoting awareness of this species. Have a little look here if you fancy it.

The numbers of Black-headed Gulls are building up again at Crossness - presumably non-breeders - so I'm wondering whether either of the two Bonaparte's Gulls from last May will come again. However, the current yank was back. It obviously has good taste, preferring south of the river after its day trip to Rainham yesterday.

drake Green-winged Teal - several observers have commented on the more extensive 'mane' of this bird compared to the drake Eurasian Teals. This photo, taken today, exemplifies this.

Showy Subalpine Warbler in Suffolk

Some birds just have it in them to show well. And a Subalpine Warbler that first turned up at Landguard, Suffolk yesterday evening was a good example of this. Having hung around with Jonathan L and Nick C waiting for news on this bird or the Rock Thrush at Spurn (which had gone), the decision on which way to turn was easy. So by mid morning we'd parked up and in no time at all, found this showy male feeding actively in brambles and scrub: -

The bird was superb, a nice male albistrata with a deep red throat and upper breast becoming paler towards the under belly as well as a broad moustachial stripe. I didn't hear it call though. All this loveliness was slightly tempered by a few sour faced souls not happy with the way the crowd was viewing the bird at point blank range - the types who take up birding during their mid/late life crisis, buy a pager then optics before moving to Norfolk/Suffolk where they feel at home as the don of their poxy manor and twitch any old nonsense that they could find themselves if they had any idea what they were actually looking at. Nothing wrong with good views of a showy bird guys.

A nice gathering of a dozen Wheatears were on the common at Landguard, while the journey back to London was a tale of two ducks - a female Ring-necked Duck in amongst a few Tufted Ducks at Chigborough Lakes near Maldon, and then the Green-winged Teal from Crossness had made it across the river to Rainham, where it showed appallingly in heavy showers early evening.

Rotherhithe's first Wood Warbler

It's fun times at the moment. The sun is shining, and the weather is hot. I've been stuck inside, as usual, since the weekend and with little in the way of migrants in London on Monday and Tuesday decided to do admin stuff and footy, shelving the birding. But, with a step up in action today, I headed out after school onto the mean streets of South London trying to find some birds.

So I got myself to Russia Dock Woodland - scene of the infamous marathon crash on Sunday (check out after about 5 seconds on the video here for the entrance to this mighty woodland) - and started my evening, pre-Tesco stroll. Nice, a couple of Swallows over to start with and then, along with a handful of Chiffchaffs, a Reed Warbler clucking away in the vegetation was evidently a migrant (though they do breed in Rotherhithe - in the reedbed at Canada Water).

So, back to the car and as I was approaching, glanced up into the nearby trees at the back of the primary school and before I even raised my bins knew that the squat, short-tailed stocky phyllosc I'd just found was going to be something special for Rotherhithe - with a couple already found today in London, I'd located Rotherhithe's very own Wood Warbler. Get in. Massive bird here in Central London, and my first in Rotherhithe so happy days. It's all about context, and Wood Warblers are birds I rarely see these days so I was made up just to see one.

News out, but gutted that like with the Redstarts at the start of last week, my camera wasn't with me. Not sure I want to keep a nice SLR with me each day where I work, but this being the second time in as many weeks where I could have papped a Rotherhithe mega and didn't has made me think. John A and a couple of other locals arrived just after I'd last seen the bird (7.10pm) in the declining light so missed out, though with a bit of rain tonight who knows. Though Wood Warblers have a poor track record of staying over in London, but we'll see. Funny thing is that Josh and I were only talking about Wood Warbler as an obvious bird for Russia Dock Woodland as we wondered around the place the Saturday just gone.

Russia Dock Woodland, Rotherhithe April 2013

I didn't do a write up on Sunday's birding, not because it was gash but just time got the better of me. Anyway, a nice long walk with John A around Crossness produced a male Whinchat on southern marsh as the highlight, while 5 Wheatears remained and the Green-winged Teal was still there. Two Lesser Whitethroats were new for the year, and nearby at Crayford I located a couple of Whimbrel while successfully searching for Kev's Spotted Redshank. All good stuff.

Green-winged Teal and migrants at Crossness

Not a cloud in the sky all day. It started frosty as Josh and I headed out to Crossness, arriving shortly after 6am. Conditions like this usually render the river quiet, and that was the case today - just a couple of Common Terns as well as the drake Green-winged Teal still about at the outfall, showing well in good light with ever depleting numbers of Teal.

The paddocks were alive with Wheatears, and with 15 of them, this was easily the highest number I'd seen here. They were in an obvious flock first thing, all coming out of their sleep rather begrudgingly. None of yesterday's couple of Whinchats were around today, but a female Redstart at the sluice gates was nice enough and has lingered here since Monday. Reed and Sedge Warblers were now in, as were Whitethroats in good numbers, so it seems like the hold up was just temporary. Willow Warbler, House Martin and half a dozen Jackdaws were also noted as well as a couple of LRPs.

Right, got to be up early tomorrow if I don't want to get trapped in by the marathon.

Willow Warblers and more in Rotherhithe

I spent a couple of pleasant hours locally in Rotherhithe this evening. And with the weekend of birding promise ahead, I was in a relaxed mood. So much so that I actually stood for several minutes, just listening to one of the Willow Warblers that currently occupy Russia Dock Woodland. Willow Warblers are just a passage migrant in Central London, so I only really hear the melancholy song for a few days each year. For some reason, their song always brings me back to childhood memories of long summer evenings, waiting for it to get dark enough for Nightjars at Nercwys. They're certainly more a northern bird for me.

Willow Warblers Russia Dock Woodland, Rotherhithe 19th April 2013

This year, Willow Warblers are about 10 days later than usual, but the seven I had this evening are a way better count than average. Just a couple of Blackcaps singing though, compared to 20 or so I'd expect by now.

I headed to Southwark Park and had a mooch around late on, and though passerines were packing up for the day, a Common Sandpiper on the lake in this urban park last knockings was the first I'd ever seen here - and the first locally of the year (I normally only see a couple each year).

Common Sandpiper Southwark Park 19th April 2013

For some reason, not too sure what exactly, there's a decent possy of non-breeding Herrings Gulls gathering on the pontoons on Greenland Dock; much larger numbers than I've had any other year. They're there in the morning when I head to work, and there when I get back. Nothing interesting in them yet.

Gulls on Greenland Dock this evening

Iceland highlights

I promised I'd come back to my trip to Iceland, even though it was a couple of weeks ago now and the temperature here has finally started to get back to what we expect. But, to be honest, I wouldn't have bothered writing about this trip if it had been distinctly average. Some trips are you know; some places pass over me while others stick long and hard.

Iceland's one of those places - even the capital Rejkjavik has a decent vibe, and I reckon if you lived there it'd be the best capital to live in within Europe if on your lunch hour you wanted to pop out and find the odd yank or two. There's a pool at Bakkatjorn, just a couple of miles west of the centre of town, and at the end of the Seltjarnarnes peninsular that gets decent hauls of yank waders most autumns as well as the odd gull or two; including an adult Ring-billed Gull when I was there. However, I loved the showy Eiders that came to bread with the Mallards: -

But if there is one place that did it for me, it was the Snaefellsnes peninsular - a remote, rugged and beautiful area a couple of hours drive to the northwest of Rejkjavik. I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in scenery and/or nature.

As you can see, we were blessed with beautiful weather. Set amongst this stunning backdrop, the wildlife was unbelievable too - sheer numbers of species that really get me going. You're talking high thousands of Fulmars, mid thousands of Glaucous Gulls and Kittiwakes and then low thousands of Eiders and Iceland Gulls. I'd not seen such a high concentration of birds anywhere to be honest. Here is a bucket load of wingers, inbetweeners and an argentatus Herrring Gull, with Fulmars and more white-winged gulls in the background.

The cliffs at the tip of the peninsular, and just to the south of the lighthouse, included several of these boys - Brunnich's Guillemots - and nice to see them in summer kit, as opposed to the lone individual in Lerwick a few years ago (the only one I'd seen previously).

And where you get high concentrations of birds, you're bound to get other wildlife too. I've been on a bit of a quest recently to see Killer Whales, failing in Washington last year and California earlier this year. So to say I got rather pumped up about the pod - at least seven of them - from land by the Öndverdarnes lighthouse was an understatement. The sea was like a dreamscape, flat as a millpond, and these handsome beasts were feeding close offshore. Killer Whales, looking stunning in the calm waters: -

Harlequin Ducks were around and about; seemingly paired or on the verge of pairing up. Some nice views could be had around the village of Grundarfjörður: -

Yann Kolbeinsson had been a true gent throughout the trip, supplying me with news and info. I always enjoy a bit of a Western Palearctic gripping yarn, and given that Yann's just a couple of years older than I am and having seen all those rares that you associate with Iceland (Cerulean and Palm Warblers, Least Flycatcher etc) I was enjoying his tales and visiting the sites of these mega rares. Not that I was likely to find any type of passerince really, but it's always good to put a visual to the names of Eyrarbakki and Stokseyri. But what he did say is when on Snaefellsnes check the pools near Rif, as they'd got past form including Wood Duck and Redhead. This I did, and with some patience, managed to find Iceland's first female Lesser Scaup: -

I'll be sure to return to Iceland in the not too distant future - one to add to the Azores and Ireland on the list of my favourite destinations. It's not as expensive as people make out, especially if you do an off season visit like this. The scenery is amazing and the birds are present in massive numbers. It's a good place for gull lovers to go scratch their heads too as, amongst the Glaucous (adult immediately below) and Iceland Gulls (near adult below) there are innumerable 'Viking Gulls', a hybrid swarm of Herring x Glaucous Gulls, much more numerous than I'd anticipated.

And, what's more, I always felt that there could be something lurking round the next corner. A thoroughly enjoyable trip. And the question that gets posed to you the most when you come back from Iceland 'did you see the Northern Lights?' - here's the evidence.