Last cach of the season?

Back on the tip today, in rather balmy conditions - well, at least I could feel my hands throughout the morning! It took a long time for the large gulls to come in, although by late morning/early afternoon a couple of 1st-winter Caspian Gulls showed up. I found this bird that in the end showed nicely: -

Nice contrast in colouration between the secondaries and coverts.

Black terminal band on the tail contrasting well with the relatively unbarred uppertail.

Finely barred axillaries. This is at the darker end of Casps on the underwing-coverts though.

Still looking nice and full bellied, despite looking slick otherwise in this alert posture. The good old spindly legs show up well here too.

Quite a sturdy individual with knackered greater-coverts and scapulars moulting through. Retained tertials still nicely dark though looking predictably worn at the tips.

There was also another individual, that showed less well but still gave some decent views as it fed in amongst the other gulls: -

Good to see them this late on in the winter, and as you can see both birds looked pretty knackered plumage wise. Meanwhile, there were a handful of Med Gulls around (as well as a couple of Yellow-legged Gulls) that added a bit of fun to the Black-headed Gull monotony.

adult Med Gull in the feeding frenzy

It took a while to get the single catch of birds, but thanks to the compactor drivers, a haul of 419 birds were ringed by the NTGG. This included a couple of Common Gulls and more Lesser Black-backed Gulls than the last time (as they're now starting to move through), as well as lots of Herring and Black-headed Gulls. Once again, I ringed a few birds, got the opportunity to see the gulls up close and personal and had a really good time.

More on these little chaps at some other point

Garbage gulls

Back on the tip again today, once again really enjoyable and got more involved than the last time. An adult Med Gull soared around early on as we were setting up - shame it didn't end up in our catch as I'd loved to have seen one close up. But here it is flying around.

We did a couple of catches, mainly Herrings today with a fair few of those real brutes - GBBGs. Nice to see them in the hand like this: -

Being obvious and pretty much monotypic, you don't really look too hard at GBBGs - but good to see a spread wing 

2cy GBBG with its new bling

 And also one of the birds in the nets was a Norwegian control, just like this bird that I managed to ring read as it chilled out on one of the mounds: -

adult GBBG 'JH413'; ringed at Mandar, Vest-Agder, Norway on 3rd June 2011 and last reported in Norway on 19th August 2011.

I had a go at a bit of bird handling, and now used to Black-headed Gulls. They're pretty meagre really, and only give you a quick nip even if they're going at you full throttle.

3cy Black-headed Gull - note the retained dark feathering on the primary-coverts

And then I just about managed to deal with the a bit of large gull action. I was glad that I didn't venture any bigger than Herring Gulls, as there was a fair bit of blood being drawn by those GBBGs...

Once the ringing had finished, I headed back to the south [best] side of the river, and spent the last  couple of hours of light unsuccessfully looking for a Bittern at Crossness. Another decent day locally.

Guess Who's Back? Back Again...

After the coastal jaunt yesterday, today I stayed a lot closer to home and did the rounds on the patch for the first time for a week. The council is doing a bit of refurb to the lake at Burgess Park at the moment, and although there's no access to get close to the birds, there are quite a few gulls congregating including a few large. Amongst the smalls though, I came across a familiar figure - the adult Med Gull (that I'd found as a 2nd-winter in late 2008) was back for another winter session. Really good to see it again, as I'd been getting a little worried...

Mediterranean Gull Burgess Park (picture taken January 2010)

I had a trudge around Russia Dock Woodland, in the hope of a Firecrest or an interesting Chiffchaff, but to no avail. A couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers and busy Long-tailed Tit flocks were the best of a quiet visit. We've had pretty mild weather so the water bodies were void of any aythya action while a check of the river had the usual suspects but nowt else.

Back at the Bridges

The mighty Bridges of Ross

Later on this afternoon, I'll be heading off to the Bridges of Ross, County Clare for my annual bit of seawatching. This site, bar none, is the best in Britain and Ireland and it's been a permanent fixture in my calendar ever since I first went there in 2002. Quite a bit has changed since those almost solitary days before loads of Brits descended upon the place for their 'presumed Feas' tick. Thankfully, as the job is done and a lot of those involved have got their quarry, it's back to relatively low numbers of birders (for British - not Irish - standards at least).

I've now seen 5 presumed Feas at the Bridges of Ross, as well as finding one further north off Annagh Head, County Mayo. However, that elusive Little Shearwater - or Macaronesian Shearwater - still eludes me and probably still will on my return. I've been on site when one flew past (there are a couple of choices of where to sit, and I was with the majority who were in the wrong place), been at breakfast when another was reported past and missed the odd one or two by a couple of days. But if you're looking for good views of a steady stream of migrating seabirds, that can increase dramatically in numbers with strong northwesterlies, then the Bridges of Ross is bang on the money. Sit at Porthgwarra and you'll get distant views of stuff, at Pendeen views may be slightly better but more weather dependent. At the Bridges, when it's good it's mint. I'm talking 40+ Sabine's, Long-tailed Skuas cutting the corner and scooting over your head, Wilson's Storm-petrels in the cove below you. That sort of shit you don't get in Cornwall. Never.

The weather looks ok for this year, well tomorrow at least. And then current Magic Seaweed predications show a nice high settling in the eastern Atlantic so it'll predictably go quiet. And when it goes quiet, there are always a few spots to check for waders etc. Last year, with Josh Jones and Marc Read, we were lucky to see a single presumed Feas Petrel before heading down to Kerry for a grotty American Herring Gull and then up to Mayo to see the Snowy Owl, Black Duck and we managed to find an unseasonal Ring-necked Duck on Achill Island too. Along the Clare coast, over the years, pleasant distractions have included regular Ring-billed, Glaucous and Iceland Gulls as well as Long-billed Dowitcher, Spotted Sandpiper and finding White-rumped Sandpiper. So all in all, it's always a decent and relaxing trip with good company.

Snowy Owl and pellet, County Mayo August 2010

American Herring Gull, Blennerville, Kerry August 2010

Glaucous Gull, Kilrush, Clare August 2010

Ring-necked Duck looking grubby on Achill Island, Mayo August 2010

Times have also changed. Back in the day, Franko and I used to sleep in a barn that was kindly (unwittingly) laid with fresh hay by the farmer. However, the last couple of years have seen the roof corrode a bit and this free accommodation is no longer. Last year was the tent, but now having turned 30 I'm reluctantly splashing out on the (comparative) luxury of The Lighthouse Inn in Kilbaha. Admittedly this is where most other birders have based themselves each year, so it's not a palace by any means.

Ring-billed Gull Spanish Point, Clare August 2009

Iceland Gull Liscannor, Clare August 2008

Mediterranean Gull Limerick August 2008