Caspian Gull, Garganey, Curlew Sandpiper, et al.

As the title suggests it has been a good few days!  

We have been blessed with good wading bird numbers over the last week or so on the Axe, particularly on Black Hole and Colyford Marsh. An adult Little Stint that lingered for almost a week was probably the highlight, but there has also been two juvenile Ruff, two juvenile Knot, a juvenile Turnstone, up to six Greenshank, seven Avocet, double-figure counts of Dunlin and Ringed Plover, plus the odd Little Ringed Plover and Green Sandpiper.  Add to that the first returning Yellow Wagtails and Wheatears, as well as a couple of Ospreys passing through (which unlike everything else above I have missed) the birding has been excellent!  

And then came the Birdwatching Tram on Sunday evening (20th)...

Midway through the trip when we were by Tower Hide, a large gull on the Estuary caught my attention during a cursory scan of the modest-sized gull flock. It looked large, white-headed, white-fronted, and showed several moulted scapulars...

So a Yellow-legged/Caspian Gull... but something just didn't feel right for YLG 

When I am leading the birdwatch trams I don't carry my telescope, so with just bins I knew my camera was the key to getting any real detail on this bird.  So I started papping and spent less time looking, not what I would usually do but necessary considering the circumstances.

About two minutes later, and once I put the camera down - it flew!  Gleaming white underwings were obvious, so I scrambled for the camera again and managed to fluke a flight shot by just pointing it in the general direction it was flying!

Once back home a quick review of the pics showed promise for it being a Caspian Gull, so I sent the photos to Rich Bonser (who shared it with others) and all came back with 100% Casp! RESULT!

The flukey flight shot!  Shows very pale underwings and critically the perfect 'venetian blind' 
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Note big grey moulted scaps, plain greater coverts and all black tertials

A very familiar shape, nice full chest, a bit of a 'saggy nappy' appearance and a relatively parallel bill with minimal goyns angle. Am just not used to seeing so much streaking on a Casp but that's because I have never seen one so young! 

Long tibia, and the makings of a neck shawl I would say... Lovely mousey brown juvenile feathers too, a really nice colour (as brown goes!)

This, if accepted, will be the 30th Caspian Gull for the Axe.  But for me it is one of my favourites as a juvenile has been high on my wanted list for years.  The (and my) previous earliest autumn date for an Axe Casp is 3rd Sept (although I didn't actually fully confirm it until late October - read HERE for all the details!) so this is the first August record.   Am absolutely chuffed to bits and a very educational bird for me.

And as if this lump of brown wasn't enough excitement for the 22 passengers onboard the birdwatching tram last night, about twenty minutes later I found them another lump of brown! A slightly stripey one...

An autumn Garganey - a real treat!

At first, like the 16+ Teal it was feeding with on the mud on Colyford Scrape, it was surprisingly elusive and hard to keep tabs on.  But by the time we left the scrape (about five minutes later) it had ventured closer and was the only duck on the water...

What a beaut and what a view!

Maybe an adult female?  Not too sharp on autumn Garganey ageing/sexing though, thoughts please?

What a fabulous double-whammy!

And today it got even better, as Clive found a Curlew Sandpiper on Black Hole Marsh.  I haven't seen a Curlew Sand on the Axe for many years, we just haven't had good numbers of them in the UK for several autumns now.  

When I saw it it remained distant on the far side of the marsh, so please excuse this awful phone-scoped record shot...

Always knee-deep in water! This shot shows the bill shape really well if nothing else.

Am looking forward to seeing what else August 2023 brings us!  Hopefully a proper rare wader is on the cards...