Irish trip day three - Dingle and north Kerry

Another day of sunshine out here in western Ireland. Having stayed the night in Dingle, it was just a few steps across the road to the harbour for a pre-breakfast mooch about where the first wingers started to reveal themselves. Typically, the beasts from the north were in full effect sniffing out any sort of bullying opportunities. All the juvenile birds up until now had been nice and large, white looking individuals but one of the Dingle harbour juveniles was a bit warmer toned.

juvenile Glaucous Gulls Dingle, County Kerry 18th February 2014

After a few looks around the harbour and the adjacent estuary at Milltown, there were eventually 13 white-winged gulls present - 3 Kumlien's Gulls (an adult and two juveniles), 6 Glaucous Gulls (2 adults and 4 juveniles) and 4 Iceland Gulls (near-adult, 3rd-winter, 2nd-winter and juvenile), as well as a 1st-winter Med Gull.

adult (above) and juvenile (below) Kumlien's Gulls Dingle, County Kerry 18th February 2014

Nearby swoops of the beaches to the west netted a pretty mega 10 Glaucs together on the small beach at Ferriter's Cove - all adults except for a 3rd-winter and a juvenile. Ventry had a couple of Med Gulls, but despite the numbers of birds, little else of note. And this theme continued for the rest of the day, with checks of Fermoyle, Lough Gill (where admittedly there were 3 Pink-footed Geese), Kilshannig, Carrahane, Black Rock, the Cashen Estuary and Tarbert revealing very little. The only exception to this was a late lunch stop at Blennerville where an adult Ring-billed Gull and juvenile Iceland Gull were on the estuary, while the newly built Tralee Wetlands (or perhaps better named boating lake!) produced a couple of showy Ring-billed Gulls, a slightly retarded looking second-winter while another bird that's presumably a 3rd-winter bird: -

Ring-billed Gulls Tralee Wetlands, County Kerry 18th February 2014

Irish trip day two - The Beara and The Iveragh

With all the recent storms seemingly distant with the sun shining most of the day, we headed along The Beara peninsular checking a few bays. There was still a juvenile Iceland Gull in Castletown Bearhaven harbour early morning, while the King Eider and same Glaucous Gull from yesterday were at Cahermore. Pallas' Strand at Eyeries was the only other bay on the Beara to hold some decent birds - 2 adult and a 2nd-winter Glaucous Gull. At the head of the bay, at Kenmare, a juvenile Iceland and juvenile Glaucous Gull were seen distantly from the pier.

Onto The Iveragh, a check of the always promising looking Derrynane Estuary near Caherdaniel produced little of note, though a bit further west things started to hot up a bit. In fact, as well a juvenile Glaucous Gull that was head deep in a Guillemot carcass, the first Kumlien's Gull of the day, a juvenile, was on the beach to the west of Waterville; a nicely tail-banded bird with subtle dark pigmentation in the outer primaries.

juvenile Kumlien's Gull, Inny Strand County Kerry 17 February 2014

Just a bit further west at Inny Strand, one of the sites I'm more used to checking on September wader trips, there were an impressive three Kumlien's Gull - two juveniles and a 2nd-winter - as well as another 2 Glaucous Gulls (an adult and a juvenile). The Kumlien's Gulls were again relatively subtle birds, with the chunky 2nd-winter having a bit of ghost mirroring and one of the juveniles the darkest of the day.

two juvenile Kumlien's Gulls (above) and second-winter Kumlien's Gull (below), Inny Strand County Kerry 17 February 2014

Further checks of Ballinskeligs and Portmagee were fruitless, while the usually decent Reenard Point held a single juvenile Kumlien's Gull; the storms that hit recently all came from the northeastern seaboard of the US so it's no surprise that a load of these have been displaced to western Ireland this winter.

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.