First signs of spring in London

Given the weather of the last week or so, with all those winter storms behind us, spring does seem to be on its way. I'm not going to get ahead of myself as we're only just in mid-March, though a lot of birds are singing away and this morning I recorded my first spring migrant of the year - a showy female Garganey at the outfall at Crossness. They're just about annual these days here, so to see one so soon into the year was decent enough.

female Garganey, Crossness 15th March 2014

Other than that, there were typically loads of birds but with not much too special mixed in - 3 Green Sandpipers, 26 Wigeon, 300 Teal, a NTGG-ringed Black-headed Gull and a Song Thrush the highlights other than the star duck. No Wheatear, no Sand Martin but for sure they'll come some day soon.

Sunny tip gulling

Usual routine once again, and not too sure how many more visits to the tip there'll be before all those spring migrants come hurtling in and attention is diverted elsewhere. Well, to be honest, British birding in spring is exceptionally hit and miss so I'm pretty happy to just stick to the gulls for now. Admittedly with the sun shining today, it didn't really feel like tip watching weather but last week's juvenile Iceland Gull was still around, as was the regular leucistic Norwegian-ringed Great Black-backed Gull. Three or four Med Gulls were also bombing about, including a 1st-winter, but gull numbers were down on the previous week.
On the way out of the tip, I stopped off at Wat Tyler Country Park and saw a rather uninspiring 1st-winter Spoonbill, as it roosted in the creek by the marina, along with a Spotted Redshank.

juvenile Iceland Gull, Essex 8th March 2014 - same bird as last weekend

It was also the first time the NTGG were able to get up to the tip this year, a combination of lack of staff on the tip and this winter's bad weather. They managed three catches, with the third including a nice adult Med Gull.

Iceland, Caspian and Med Gulls on the tip

After a week of work, and the joys of a week on the road in Ireland well behind me, I was back into my usual Saturday routine today. So back on the tip three weeks on, things had changed a little as you'd expect. Lesser Black-backed Gulls were present in larger numbers, as were Common Gulls, and the odd mute wintering Med Gull had transformed into over a handful of vocal, hooded birds. There were also a load of rings including the dominant North Thames Gull Group red ringed birds, but also a couple from Milton Tip/King's Lynn and also two GBB Gulls from Norway.

Pride of place today though goes to a lovely, smokey juvenile Iceland Gull that came in late morning and was then present on and off until mid afternoon; at times it showed to just a few yards in the sunshine and was actually the first one on the tip for nearly a year and a half.

juvenile Iceland Gull 1st March 2014

There was also just one Caspian Gull, a first-winter, but what was lacking in quantity was recompensed by views of this hefty looking bird, presumably a male: -

1st-winter Caspian Gull 1st March 2014

Amongst the crowd, there was a familiar individual - the leucistic first-winter Norwegian-ringed Great Black-backed Gull. Ringed as a chick in Mandal, Vest-Agder on 20th June 2013, this was the first time I'd seen it since 18th January (having first seen it on 21st December 2013). It showed exceptionally well today, at times alongside the juvenile Iceland Gull: -

leucistic 1st-winter Great Black-backed Gull 1st March 2014 (with Iceland Gull, below)

Mediterranean Gulls too were putting on a performance, with at least six including this Belgian bird that I'd seen at Southend Pier on 2nd February (and back at the tip in December 2013). There was also a 1st-winter Yellow-legged Gull too.

adult Mediterranean Gull 1st March 2014

I'm already looking forward to next week, as give it a month and the majority of these gulls will have headed off back to their breeding areas, and that'll be that for another gull watching season.

Chinese Pond Heron in Kent

I'll keep this one brief, and to the point. On Sunday morning, I was once again near Hythe, Kent waiting in the darkness and overlooking the small urban valley at Turnpike Hill. After a bit of walking about and searching, I called it a day just after 10am as birders hadn't really seen the target, a Chinese Pond Heron, after then on any day.

Chinese Pond Heron at Saltwood, Hythe, Kent 23rd February 2014

So just a couple of hours after getting back to London, this swine of a bird - probably the least predictable indvidual I've had the misfortune to try and twitch - was refound again in gardens on the other side of the village, Saltwood, where I'd been earlier. Previously it hadn't exactly hung around long enough to be twitched any further away from Dungeness, so getting Karen all assembled and ready to head down was a bit of a bold call. Thankfully, despite a couple of negative reports, we arrived there late afternoon with the bird chilling out on a log in the field adjacent to the end of Redbrooks Way. It was present for 20 minutes or so, at a decent distance, before flying back east over the houses when we lost it from view. Obviously very heavily streaked, with a deep orange bill base and quite dark mauve upperparts with some russet coming through on the nape and ear-coverts. Anyway, here's one a bit more advanced in plumage from my travels: -

Chinese Pond Heron at Mai Po, Hong Kong, August 2011

Irish trip day seven - Cork and Kinsale

Our final day of the trip and it was a toss up between going around Galway, which is always nice, or doing some dirty long distance twitching back down to Kinsale, Cork for a nice showy and pink Ross's Gull. The latter won overwhelmingly: -



adult Ross's Gull Kinsale, Co.Cork 22nd February 2014

This was remarkably my first Ross's Gull since one in Plymouth in 2002 (though I did see one disgustingly in Suffolk in 2006), so I was pretty chuffed with the show it put on. Though erratic in its appearances, it did show well by the quay near the Trident Hotel every hour or so. There was also a juvenile Kumlien's Gull present, while nearby at Kinsale Marsh an adult Ring-billed Gull was on the rocky causeway.

juvenile Kumlien's Gull Kinsale, Co.Cork 22nd February 2014

With our flight back to London scheduled for the early evening, there was still time to increase the Ring-billed Gull tally! Popping in at the rather depressing Atlantic Pond in Blackrock, there were a couple of them - an adult and a second-winter. Cork County Council advised not to feed the birds bread, and as an alternative suggested vegetables such as lettuce and celery. Suffice to say, there was floating bits of lettuce in the water that evidently didn't suit the culinary needs of our feathered friends, while abandoning Cork City Council's advice and whacking in a load of brown bread allowed us to eyeball this: -

2nd-winter Ring-billed Gull Atlantic Pond, Co.Cork 22nd February 2014

So onto another top spot, the slipway at O'Callaghan's Strand in Limerick town - within twenty minutes of Shannon airport too. Here there was a nice looking first-winter Ring-billed Gull along with a pretty dopey, placid looking juvenile Iceland Gull.

1st-winter Ring-billed Gull Limerick, Co.Limerick 22nd February 2014

And that was that, the end of another decent trip. Without the mega find unfortunately, despite a lot of trying, but with 14 species of gull including Ross's Gull, Laughing and American Hering - plus 88 white-winged gulls and 11 Ring-billed Gulls - it wasn't too shoddy a week.

Irish trip day six - Killybegs and Leitrim

We were on site at Killybegs first thing in the morning, ready for a good day's gulling. The previous evening, loads of trawlers were in and there were gulls swirling in the darkness. Exciting times. This place always gets me excited, as it brings back the good times, and was also part of my first Irish trip back in 1998. Those days of fish guts slopping around all over the place are long gone what with increased health and safety, but it was good to get the car stinking of fish for the subsequent 24 hours for old time's sake.

adult Kumlien's Gull Killybegs, Co.Donegal 21st February 2014

Anyway, as it turned out there were indeed loads of gulls but there was only a small percentage of wingers. We cruised around, spending time at the main pier, Mooney's boatyard as well as looking at the harbour mouth from the other side of the bay. Totals included four Kumlien's Gull (two adults, 2nd-winter and juvenile), 5 Iceland Gulls (adult, 3rd-winter, 2nd-winter and 2 juveniles) and 6 Glaucous Gulls (2nd-winter and 5 juveniles). Most memorable were a couple of the Kumlien's Gulls, a cracking dark-eyed, stocky looking adult on the rocks by Mooney's boatyard and a showy juvenile off the main pier mid-afternoon. 

juvenile Kumlien's Gull Killybegs, Co.Donegal 21st February 2014

It was also good to meet Gavin Thomas on the main pier, where an adult Little Gull was seen distantly - gull species number 13 of the trip.

juvenile Iceland Gull Killybegs, Co.Donegal 21st February 2014

juvenile Glaucous Gull Killybegs, Co.Donegal 21st February 2014

Heading south during the late afternoon, the drake American Wigeon was found on the shoreline at Drowes river mouth, Tullaghan - possibly the only bird I'm ever likely to see in County Leitrim. The hour or so before darkness was spent on a wild goose chase in Sligo, culminating in a couple of nice flocks of Barnacle Geese but little else of note.

Irish trip day five - The Mullet

It was another good day out west today, and we were lucky with the weather too. Anyway, the day was spent on The Mullet and amongst other things one of the highlights was a quick cup of tea at Dave Suddaby's place - gripping tales of where the Cedar Waxwing buzzed about etc etc and a genuinely top bloke. So much quality too, dead and alive. Here's the dead one first.

American Purple Gallinule - found dead at Carne golf course on The Mullet on 2nd Feb 2014. Since then, it has been residing in a freezer awaiting sending it to a museum.

. The day started off at Termoncarragh Lake, where a pretty smart drake Black Duck was showing. I like them anyway. A juvenile Iceland Gull was chilling on the lake too. Heading to the south, there was an adult Glauc and juvenile Iceland Gull at Fallmore while nearby in Blacksod Bay the female King Eider showed distantly along with copious amounts of Great Northern Divers and half a dozen Purple Sandpipers.

Juvenile Glaucous Gull, Cross Lough, The Mullet 20th February 2014

Heading back up The Mullet, there were a load of Glaucs still hanging about; the total was well shy of the staggering 40 from last week but there were four (two adults and two juveniles) in the Cross Lough area, and a further seven at Belderra Strand (including an adult, a second-winter and five juvs) as well as a juvenile Kumlien's and Iceland Gull. Annagh beach was quiet, though there was still another beast of a 2nd-winter Glauc. Lobbing a bit of bread out at the harbour in Belmullet town attracted a decent enough adult Ring-billed Gull.

adult Ring-billed Gull, Belmullet, Co.Mayo 20th February 2014

Slightly further east, near Barnatra and Carrowmore Lake we checked out the gulls in the fields mid afternoon and no sooner had we arrived were we confronted by what was presumably the probable American Herring Gull reported a few days ago. The bird seemed to show all the classic in flight traits of the species - all black tail (except for a bit of shelling on the outermost tail feathers), nice greater-covert bar and heavily barred uppertail and undertail. On the deck its tertials were nice and plain brown too. Its primaries though were pale-tipped and seems slightly hoary in terms of its overall colouration. However, this all seems to apparently fit within the variation of a northern, Newfoundland bird. Additionally, the bill was pink-based though feeding in cow shit all day didn't really let you see this feature too well.