Irish trip day one - County Cork

It's February half-term now and that means the standard use of a week's holiday for gulling. This year, like in 2012, it's a little bit closer to home than last year's California trip. So true to form it's another week in Ireland. And with these winter storms, let's see what the damage is. After flying out late last night (after a pointless day seeing naff all in the way of herons in Kent), we hit Ballycotton early doors and encountered the 1st-winter Laughing Gull as soon as we arrived. It then duly obliged with a bit of baiting: -

1st-winter Laughing Gull Ballycotton, County Cork

There were also a couple of adult Glaucous Gulls present. Kinsale was predictably quiet, though there were a couple more Glaucous Gulls (an adult and a nice white juv - typical of a Nearctic origin), and then another Glaucous Gull and a couple of Med Gulls were about at Clonakilty/Ring. Usual stop off points at Rosscarbery and Ballydehob provided zilch in the way of notepadders, though the usual ritual of lobbing out bread at every site paid off at Bantry where a couple of 2nd-winter Ring-billed Gulls decided to take the bait: -

2nd-winter Ring-billed Gull Bantry, County Cork

It's pretty amazing how the same sites attract the same species year-on-year, as these two birds were in the same spot as a nice showy 1st-winter on my trip a couple of years ago. Anyway, back to today, and we headed down to near the end of the Beara peninsular where we managed to find the female King Eider (a mega Cork bird) sheltering in a rocky bay near Cahermore; there was also another adult Glaucous Gull here. It was also interesting and sad to find 1 few auks dead on the tideline, while the storms of the previous week were obvious throughout the day - tidal debris on roads and trees uprooted in loads of places. Back in Castletown Bearhaven, a couple of wingers revealed themselves in the near darkness - a juvenile Iceland Gull and yet another adult Glaucous Gull.

11 species of gull seen today. Not too bad an effort.

Cachinnans weekend fix

Being on a weekend thing with work that spilled over to 1pm on Saturday severely curtailed any meaningful birding that I'd have otherwise got involved in. And that includes going to the tip, although with a puncture from last week, the Land Rover was out of action anyway. Between the writing of the gulls section of the London Bird Report for 2012 and collecting tiles for the refurb of our bathrooms, I managed to grab a few hours out this morning. All the local sites were quiet except for when I spent an hour scanning through the gulls on the flooded fields off Bob Dunn Way, Dartford and came up with this beauty: -



Caspian Gull 1st-winter in flooded fields off Bob Dunn Way, Dartford Marshes, Kent 9th Feb 2014.

So, despite the limited amount of time I had, it was once again another cachinnans friendly weekend. Quite a few bits and bobs turning up too, so may get a little twitchy for Saturday before I head off to Ireland for the week. That should be half decent...

Med Gull madness

With nice weather yesterday, I headed out with Karen for the afternoon with the intention of doing something I'd been meaning to do for ages. Go to Southend Pier to papp a few Med Gulls. I wasn't disappointed, with all ages showing well, which included three white-ringed Belgian birds including a bird I'd seen at the tip nearby on 14th December 2014. There was also a nice confiding Shag, as well as a load of Turnstones and a solitary Knot. All in all, a very pleasant afternoon stroll along the Essex seaside. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Med Gull, adults (above two photos), Southend Pier 2nd Feb 2014

Med Gull, second-winters (above three photos), Southend Pier 2nd Feb 2014.

Med Gull, first-winter (above photo), Southend Pier 2nd Feb 2014.

Belgian-ringed adult Med Gulls, Southend 2nd Feb 2014 - the left hand bird (E494) ringed as a chick near Antwerp in 2010 and has spent every winter since birth at Southend Pier (as well as being seen at Rye, East Sussex last April) while the right hand bird was also ringed near Antwerp, as a chick in 2002, and I saw this bird nearby at the tip in December 2013.

Shag, Southend Pier 2nd Feb 2014.

First of the month on the tip

A new month, but the same old habits. Despite the deluges of the week, it was nice and bright today on the tip. To be honest, too bright - for accurately assessing colours but also it's days like today that the gulls are a bit jittery, being disturbed at the slightest bit of abnormality (foxes, dustcarts slamming their doors etc). Though there was a bit of a brisk wind, there still hasn't been any serious cold weather this year and it's starting to tell - with just the one first-winter Caspian Gull noted, along with three adult Med Gulls and a first-winter Yellow-legged Gull. I managed to get 18 rings too, all of which were British (though I did see a Norwegian GBB Gull but it flew off before I could get its ring coding!).

1st-winter Caspian Gull 1st Feb 2014

This interesting third-winter bird (below) did show itself though, and was picked out several times during the morning due to its distinctiveness (both roosting up and in the melee). Though structurally quite squat, with its Herring Gull-like legs and shortish, though parallel-sided bill it did also have a darker grey mantle, a speckled iris, red orbital ring and obvious white mirrors in P9 and P10. I'd speculate that this could be a Herring/Caspian Gull hybrid.

third-winter gull sp. 1st Feb 2014

With gull numbers dropping by early afternoon, and the rather more serious issue of a puncture, we had to leave the tip pretty swiftly. Back down by the cars, amongst Canada Geese, was a White-fronted Goose - a bird that has been lingering in the area for a while. On the way back home, I stopped in briefly at Bob Dunn Way, Dartford where there were a couple of Yellow-legged Gulls but little else.

More January tip action

Another weekend's over, and it followed on in a similar vein to last weekend - trip to the tip followed by social engagements on Saturday, Sunday spent seeing little locally while completing all the shenanigans involved in re-doing our bathrooms. With the weather once again mild, it was relatively hard work on the tip with birds pretty flighty as they didn't need to feed.

1st-winter Caspian Gull 25th January 2014

Highlights overall included a couple of Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls (an adult and 1st-winter of both species), an adult Mediterranean Gull and a few ringed gulls - mainly local birds as usual, but with a Norwegian GBB Gull thrown in and Herring Gulls from Norfolk and Suffolk thrown in.

1st-winter Yellow-legged Gull 25th January 2014

So, with perhaps a bit of colder weather forecast from an easterly direction during the next week, it'd be nice if next weekend was a bit more fruitful. Five days of work between now and then to deal with though.

First dump visit of 2014

After a few weeks of absence, it was back to the tip action and yesterday's haul as usual didn't disappoint. It's not everyone's ideal way to spend a Saturday, but the five or so hours I spend up there is usually the highlight of my week. And to kick 2014 off, a northern beast made a visit: -



2cy presumed Viking Gull (Glauc x Herring) 18 Jan 2014; complete with eyelids, hoary tertials and coverts.

As did an old friend - this leucistic, almost albinistic, 1st-winter Great Black-backed Gull from Norway. I also saw this bird a few days before Christmas, and part of a brood of three with another sibling getting the runt genes, while the third escaping with normal genes. 

1st-winter Great Black-backed Gull 18 Jan 2014

It wouldn't be a tip session without a Caspian Gull, and today three birds were noted - a pale-eyed adult (seen previously), a second-winter and a first-winter. The adult was possibly the closest bird of the whole day, just chilling out on a mound right beside me, while the other two were a bit more distant (and the second-winter exhibiting very restricted P10 mirrors so possibly a bird seen previously too). 

1st-winter Caspian Gull 18 Jan 2014



adult Caspian Gull 18 Jan 2014. A pale-eyed individual, which isn't actually a problem as up to 10% of adults are truly clean-eyed (and up to 62% of adults in Ukrainian colonies are apparently 'pale-eyed'. Otherwise, it exhibits a classic wing pattern with a large white tip to P10 and a pale tongue to the underside, black subterminal band to P9 and a complete black band to P5.

Added to this were two Yellow-legged Gulls (an adult and 3rd-winter) and two adult Mediterranean Gulls. I'd been lucky to be with the NTGG when they ringed the 3rd-winter bird (as a second-winter) 15 months ago; amazing how much maturity of bare parts and moult happens in such a short space of time.

3rd-winter Yellow-legged Gull 'YJ6T' 18 Jan 2014 (top) and the same bird when ringed by the North Thames Gull Group at the same site in October 2012 - what a difference 15 months makes both moult and bare part wise.

Today, the local birding stakes were limited to a Ring-necked Parakeet 'singing' in Russia Dock Woodland and a couple of Egyptian Geese at Burgess Park (where there was no sign of the regular Med Gull).

Outrageous behaviour

I headed out of London on Saturday, with sunny skies and showy birds on the agenda. Inevitably I ended up at a paddling pool in Hove, just like a lot of birders in the southern half of England with any ounce of interest in photography. There are showy birds and then there are birds like this Grey Phalarope, that literally walked past doing its thing on centimetres away. It seems to be fit and healthy, though being completely unperturbed by its surroundings and potential dangers is of course a bit of a worry. But so far, so good and it helps that its favoured paddling pool is fenced in.

Grey Phalarope Hove, East Sussex 11th Jan 2014

A juvenile Glaucous Gull in the nearby harbour at Shoreham did the business, albeit briefly. It would have been a whole lot easier if the whole place wasn't fenced off and restricted access. Guess that's the way of the world these days though. Meanwhile, having started off at Dungeness in the morning, it was obvious that the massive gull influx of last weekend had subsided so all I came away with were a decent Great White Egret, a Black-throated Diver and a redhead Smew. Still, these were with little effort and that'd be a good day's birding in itself in a London context.

juvenile Glaucous Gull Shoreham harbour, West Sussex 11th Jan 2014

Today I stuck much more locally, and in the gloom mustered up a Kingfisher and a couple of Lesser Redpolls in Russia Dock Woodland while near the O2 I had an adult Yellow-legged Gull and a Rock Pipit on the foreshore.