Spring 2020 will go down as my worst in history for seawatching in Seaton Bay.
You'd have thought being in the midst of a global pandemic, and a forced lockdown limiting all outdoor activity, would be the main contributing factor right? Wrong. It's all about the weather - and it's been completely pants for seawatching all spring with way too much north wind and nowhere near enough cloud or rain. Just look at sites like Portland that have had daily coverage all spring and how many Pomarine Skuas they've reported, very few. Look at all the skua species in fact, there's not even been a good Arctic or Bonxie day. So ironically lockdown probably didn't make a blind bit of difference to the seawatching story here this spring, there was nothing to miss.
Yesterday offered one final (half) chance for some spring sea action. Although it wasn't overly windy it was from a south westerly direction, backed up with a decent coverage of cloud just not enough of the wet stuff. I set my alarm for 5am and watched 05:25 - 08:25 from the Spot On Kiosk. I was joined by Phil for a chunk of it- at a distance greater than 2 meters of course I only really wanted him there to open up the Kiosk but he didn't get the hints!
Anyway, back to the seawatch and although there were no skuas, at times it was actually quite busy even if it were just the commoner species. In the three hours I was there I noted (west unless stated);
Great Northern Diver 1 at 08:15 Diver sp. 1e Gannet 155w, 13e Manx Shearwater 2 Auk sp. 68w, 3e (c70/30 Razorbill/Guillemot) Common Scoter 28w, 25e Black-headed Gull 3 Common Gull 2 Kittiwake 11 Sanderling 2 (flew in and landed on beach) Swift 3
Highlight of the watch for me, two Sanderling on the beach
Love how they just melt into the pebbles! Nice to get a pale one and a red one.
The biggest single flock of Common Scoter recorded - 19 west
Although not taken yesterday, this Great Northern Diver flew close past the seafront during a beach wander in late April...
I know it doesn't look close but for us it was - full breeding plumage too!
Fingers crossed I can get my skua fix in the autumn...
Whenever I've been outside during the past week I've been mostly looking for/at Starlings! The beginnings of what could well prove to be a mightily impressive influx of adult Rose-coloured Starlings into the UK is underway, following exceptional numbers seen in central and eastern Europe. Most the local Starlings are still in their family groups at the moment, but there does seem to be plenty of them dotted around so hopefully some big groups will start to form. We are all very keen to see an Axe Rose-coloured Starling following the painful near miss we suffered in Colyford many years ago. An adult bird graced private gardens for almost a week in June, and we only found out about it the day after it was last seen...
Today has seen some classic murky grey and sometimes wet weather, and being late May that's meant wading birds! Tonight Black Hole Marsh was bursting with Arctic nesting waders including 24 Dunlin, six Sanderling, four Ringed Plover and singles of Grey Plover (cracking breeding plumaged adult, been around a few days now) and Bar-tailed Godwit. Ian Mc had a Turnstone and a few more Sanderling on the Estuary earlier in the day too.
I didn't have long so couldn't get closer to any of the birds by going up to the Tower Hide, but still want to include some pics here to give you a flavour of the evening...
Grey Plover, in this plumage they are hard to beat!
Sanderling and Dunlin, doing what these late May waders always seem to do whenever I see them - feeding frantically!
A Bar-tailed Godwit taking a more relaxed approach to life!
Yesterday saw a good shake up in the weather, with a front arriving from the south overnight Tuesday/Wednesday producing strong winds and heavy rain. There was a bit too much rain on Wednesday morning for decent sea watching, but I gave it a go anyway! 07:40 - 08:40 from Spot On was wet and at times quiet, but another twenty minute watch from 09:45 with Phil showed a bit more was on the move once the worst weather had gone through. By mid morning the wind turned and began blowing from the north west which put a stop to any movement. My totals from both watches came to (flew west unless stated);
2 Great Northern Diver
1 Arctic Skua (dark-phased low west at 08:23)
41 Manx Shearwater
26 Kittiwake
20+ Sandwich Tern (6 west, 14+ fishing close in)
8 Common Tern (all looked like Commons to me anyway!)
12 Auk sp.
2 Ringed Plover (on the beach then flew west)
1 Dunlin (on the beach then flew west)
9 Sanderling (seven on the beach with the above two species, then all flew west joined by two more)
3 Whimbrel
A bit of rain and wind in early May always seems to drop Sanderling on Seaton Beach, my thanks to Phil for texting me about these. The seven settled birds ranged in plumage from full summer to just moulting out of winter wear...
Well concealed among the pebbles!
Enjoying a well earned rest
Wednesday wasn't a complete wash out though and the sun came out mid morning. A dog walk around the back lanes of Axmouth showed several singing male Common Whitethroat and a smart and fairly showy Lesser Whitethroat. I will keep an eye on it as it's a place I've never had one before. Lesser Whitethroats actually seem to be increasing in our bit of Devon over recent years, going against the grain of virtually every other migrant species!
Sadly I missed what was probably the best spring fall of long-distance migrants for several years on Sunday due to work, and it was only Kev who managed to get up to Beer Head and other sites around Beer. During the day he notched up six Redstarts, ten Whitethroats, four Spotted Flycatchers and a Garden Warbler, as well as excellent numbers of Willow Warblers constantly passing through. Who knows what else would have been discovered if more people were able to get out on the day, sadly Clive and Ian Mc were both away and Phil and I were working.
Although I missed all the passerines on Sunday, I was fortunate to luck in on a couple of Red Kites that flew low west over Seaton in the early evening, causing mayhem among the gulls. Tim White had seen them arrive from the east and I just happened to be driving through town when I noticed all the commotion. They really were low, not that you can tell that from my photos, but they did gain height again as the headed off west.
Amazingly my first Red Kite of the year!
Red Kite with the light sadly behind it!
Not got much else to tell really despite this being my first blog post for a week. There are more Reed and Sedge Warblers in now, and Friday 27th saw a truly impressive arrival of Swallows with flock after flock arriving low over the beach. Always so thrilling to see active migration like this. That evening Phil saw an Osprey, or maybe two, fishing on the Estuary - like so many species it's been a poor spring for them.
Cracking weather here last night and today, big seas, strong south west wind and plenty of passing showers. I gave the sea as much time as I could, but sadly no Leach's Petrels came past when I was looking. There were plenty of Gannets out there this morning moving west, along with a lone Shearwater sp. (looked Balearic but mega distant) a few Kittiwake and Auk sp. and one Common Scoter.
A nice bonus was a Sanderling that flew around with three Ringed Plover for a short while before pitching down briefly on the beach...
I've also spent time today checking the gulls on the Estuary, there were excellent numbers of Great Black-backed Gulls but nothing better in with them. I suppose the highlight was this first-winter presumed intermedius Lesser Black-backed Gull. Although the photo is pretty bad (taken in strong sunlight) it does shows how fresh this bird looked. It basically looked like it had only just come out of the nest, by now a first-winter graellsii should be far more worn than this...
Despite the clear skies and completely calm conditions at dusk yesterday, this morning I woke up to heavy rain and a pretty hefty southerly wind. It had to be worth a sea watch!
The conditions were really tough, it was really hard to find shelter from the wind and spells of heavy rain often hampered visibility. But I stuck it out and 06:20 - 07:40 from Spot On Kiosk produced (all west);
6 Common Scoter
2 Great Northern Diver (1 sp 1 wp)
3 Manx Shearwater
1 Shearwater sp. (annoyingly I know it was a Sooty, just didn't get enough on it)
31 Sanderling
7 Kittiwake
It was the Sanderling that were most impressive. Flocks of three and 22 flew in off and then flew low west along the beach, and a flock of six did the same but landed in between (photos below). When the flock of 22 went by the six flew up and joined them, making a single flock of 28 birds. This is easily the biggest single flock of Sanderling I've ever seen here. There were a further three Sanderling shortly after on the Estuary, along with two Ringed Plover, a Dunlin and eight Whimbrel. I think I'm right in saying that the peak spring Sanderling passage is usually a bit later than the main Dunlin migration, and today's observations would certainly fit that...
I love seeing waders downed on the beach during spring rain - so so thrilling! Resting on the beach in front of you one minute, then off on their way to their breeding grounds the next...
Wow what a day. The best birding day of the month turned out to be the last day of the month, and that was simply because we had some different weather. A nice south easterly wind has been blowing all day (since yesterday in fact) and we've had lots of rain. And this meant birds birds birds!
Although south easterlies aren't our best wind direction for sea watching (that's south westerlies) I just had to give the sea a look - quite a long look in the end! I started the day with a four hour sea watch and then had two twenty minute glances during the afternoon, all from the Spot On Kiosk. These are the exact times, and this is what I saw (east unless stated);
05:50-09:50, 13:10-13:30, 15:10-15:30;
2 Dark-bellied Brent Goose
110 Common Scoter (75e 35w)
5 Great Northern Diver (all singles and all west)
70+ Gannet
6 Manx Shearwater (two singles and a four)
4 Arctic Skua (ad pale-phased west at 08:40, ad pale-phased and near-ad pale-phased close east together at 09:02 and ad dark-phased west at 09:40)
3 Mediterranean Gull (all first-years)
6 Common Gull
40 Black-headed Gull (most flew in)
21 Sandwich Tern
1 Arctic Tern (so close that I think it came out of the Estuary then flew east at 08:20)
4 Dunlin (in)
3 Sanderling (one east with a flock of ten Whimbrel and later two flew in sat on beach briefly then headed off west)
72 Whimbrel (biggest single flock being 38 birds)
2 Guillemot
14 Razorbill
8 auk sp.
1 Yellow Wagtail (flew east along beach calling).
I'm pleased to say there's four year ticks in that list; Arctic Skua and Tern, Manxie and Sanderling. I had to wait for the skuas, they only arrived once the cloud came over and just prior/during the first rain showers of the day. Although the numbers always make a sea watch for me (Whimbrel and Scoter today), and of course the skuas which are always notable birds here, my star bird of the watch was the Arctic Tern. Our 'commic's' are usually distant, but this thing virtually flew over my head! Great to be able to see all the diagnostic features, but best of all that distinctive bouncy flight and super long tail streamers. Now if I was to be a bit whingy a Black Tern would have been nice, but I'm not today - it's just been such a fab fab day!
Whimbrel flying east
Arctic Skua - just!
One of the closest Gannets of the day
With many other birders watching the coast today, there were a couple of interesting re-sightings of my birds. My four Manx Shearwaters in the afternoon flew past Sidmouth half an hour earlier (Dan), and it took my dark-phased Arctic Skua twenty minutes to fly from here to Budleigh (B Heasman) and then another forty minutes before it flew west past Teignmouth (L Allnat). Always find this kind of stuff fascinating, thanks for getting in touch folks.
Considering the amount of wading birds passing over the sea, I knew the river valley would be worth keeping an eye on today. By the end of the day on the Estuary there were;
10 Ringed Plover
12 Dunlin
5 Bar-tailed Godwit (three sum plum males)
3 Black-tailed Godwit
36 Whimbrel (giving me a day total of well over a hundred - very notable count for the Axe)
1 Greenshank
From left to right; three Barwits, a Whimbrel and a Blackwit
Is there a finer wader? Summer plumaged male Bar-tailed Godwit
And again
And again! x2
Four of the five Barwits from today
And this wasn't it. Wandering towards the Colyford Marsh hide early afternoon I noticed all the birds that were clearly on the main scrape on Colyford Marsh lift off and behave as though they'd just been spooked by something. Two minutes later I was watching my/our first Marsh Harrier of 2017. Year tick number five of the day...
Female Marsh Harrier
And again, but a little more zoomed in
I must just thank my wife, who's been amazing as always and was quite happy to let me fill my boots when it came to birding - she knows how much I've been longing for this weather. In my defence I did find time to build a bed today as well!
Before I sign off for the night I will quickly tie up yesterday's birding news - don't worry it won't be long as I only had about an hour out. Saying that it was a pretty good hour though! First up was an Avocet that flew in calling on the Estuary just as the tide was coming in...
Avocet and Shelduck
Then there was a new in Lesser Whitethroat singing alongside the tram line opposite Coronation Corner. And finally my forty minute wander along the beach with the dog which produced a Great Skua east and a Mute Swan and 22 Pale-bellied Brent Geese west...
Pale-bellied Brent Geese, later seen off Dawlish Warren
May is my favourite month for sea watching without a doubt. Everything is in fresh spring plumage and the variety of what can fly past is as good as it gets (skuas, terns, shearwaters, divers, wildfowl, waders, etc) and we often do get a good blow at some point during the month. I love it!
But this can cause problems.... Birders know just how painful it can be when you are tied up with 'daily life' and there is a bird or are birds you want to see. It could be a rare, a movement or fall and you're stuck at work/in the middle of a shopping trip/have the kids for the day - I'm sure we've all been there. Now I'm very lucky, first of all Jess is very understanding, and has now learned it is always best for everyone if I just go. But I am sensible about it, and I can cope with missing most things now except for 1/ a patch tick and 2/ may sea watching. Although with sea watching you can kind of predict what you are going to see, there is just something so magic about watching birds migrating over the sea as they head to their breeding grounds. I find it so SO hard to leave/ignore a busy spring sea.
The weather looked good for Monday 2nd May, not great but good enough, so I watched from the Spot On Kiosk on Seaton seafront 05:55-08:20 and 14:00-15:00 and saw;
4Great Northern Diver (1 s/pl e, 2 s/pl w and 1 w/pl on the sea)
1Black-throated Diver (w s/pl w)
16 Pale-bellied Brent Geese (w in one flock at 06:08)
31 Common Scoter (all w, biggest flock was seven)
122 Manx Shearwater (40 in morning and 72 in afternoon, all west)
1 Great Skua (w at 07:45, Dan J had it past Sidmouth just under half an hour later)
2 Arctic Skua (2 d/ph hassled gulls then flew e at 06:30, they were later seen past West Bay and possibly the same two through Chesil Cove at 07:50 per John Down)
4 Kittiwake
6 Sandwich Tern (two groups of three w)
2 Whimbrel
2 Ringed Plover (two singles w along beach)
4 Sanderling (two two's w with Dunlin)
210 Dunlin (a very impressive movement with flocks of up to 40 flying w, they dried up by 8am)
So although I have had much better May sea watches, there was a real nice variety and some decent movement. The skuas were the first one's I've seen on patch for almost 18 months (missed the few we had last year) and the Dunlin movement was really quite spectacular. It's just a pity there wasn't a bit more rain about because then the waders would have come on to the beach and up the river valley instead of just passing.
I didn't manage to video any of the real goodies, but here's the Brents, a Whimbrel and a Fulmar...
The relatively new phenomenon that is the spring Pale-bellied Brent migration is fantastic. We don't get flocks of geese down here in this small valley, so it is about as 'Norfolk' as birding can get for us. The flock past the sea front was great, but I had an even better sight that evening...
The girls and I were enjoying a wander around Lyme Regis, and just after we arrived I noticed on twitter a flock of c60 Pale-bellied Brents were flying around over Weymouth (Julian Thomas) and then flew west through Portland Harbour. I knew they were coming so kept one eye on the sea, but I actually nearly missed them because of this.... They left west from Weymouth at 17:13 and at 18:05 I was suddenly aware of Brents calling. I turned around and was greeted with the beautiful sight and sound of 70 Pale-bellied Brents flying rapidly west between us (on the end of the Cobb) and the town. It's a short clip, but just listen to that sound!! (and not my wife asking if it's a ship or a boat!)...
A quick calculation indicates they were traveling at about 28mph - love being able to work things like this out! I fired off a quick text to let the other patch birders know that there were heading for Seaton, and Tim Wright managed to make it down to the sea front just in time to see them/some of them pass by.
I would really love to know where these Brents come from, maybe Holland or France? They only seem to appear at around Portland, fly west along our part of the coast then always seem to settle on the Exe Estuary for the rest of that day. It is such a predictable passage now that it clearly is a movement of birds from a regular wintering site to their breeding grounds, presumably in Canada. AMAZING!
Isn't the weather looking promising for the next week. Not for sea watching, but it's looking good for some rare herons, warblers, maybe something better... and surely a tan!?
After several days of blustery and wet conditions, Tuesday was calm and dry so I thought I'd give Beer Head a try for autumn migrants. It was a bit of a long shot really as sites like Portland and Dungeness hadn't reported much in the way autumn migrants yet.
As ever, and in keeping with previous 'first visit of the season to Beer Head posts' - here's a scenery shot...
Notice the mist in the river valley
Nice to see a new visitor board at the entrance too. For some reason they've not labelled the prime migrant spots though...
I just wish people would read the 'Please keep your dog on a lead' bit!!
Bird wise it certainly was a worthwhile visit - although no variety, totals of 28 Willow Warblers and two Wheatear certainly made it feel 'autumnal'...
This is the closest this Wheatear would allow me!
Every year when I see the first autumn Wheatears they always look small - and I suppose that's because the last Wheatears I see proir to this are large Greenland-type jobs in late spring.
I gave Beer Head another try today, it was much quieter with just one Wheatear and eight Willow Warblers. I did have a Beer Head tick though in the form of a juv Green Woodpecker near The Summit bushes. They do breed half a mile in land but I've never seen one here before.
A little later in the day I had a lovely flock of 17 Crossbill in Morganhayes Woods. They were clearly hanging around as they were moving backwards and forwards between tree-tops, so I'll have to keep my eye on them in case a Two-barred joins them. Now that would be nice...
After this, a quick look at Lower Bruckland Ponds showed an aytha in with the moulting Mallards. Sadly not a Scaup or a Pochard...
...a lady Tufted Duck
My daily Black Hole Marsh vist was later than usual today, I didn't get here until early afternoon. The wader situation appaeared much the same as the previous few days. A single juv Ruff remains, there's up to 34 Black-tailed Godwits (including two Axe Estuary colour-ringed birds) and several Green and Common Sands dotted about. There was a newbie in with the Dunlin (numbering 40) and Ringed Plover (numbering 22) though - this lovely Sanderling...
Sanderling surronded by Ringed Plover, Dunlin and a Common Sandpiper
Have to say it wasn't feeding like a Sanderling at all, it was probing just like a Dunlin!
To complete this post, an update on the colour-ringed juv Kittiwake at Black Hole Marsh on Monday. Thanks only to Phil's quick camera work we were able to make out the combination of colour-rings, and I've already had a response...
The bird was ringed at the Pointe du Raz colony (Plogoff, Finistère, Bretagne, France), which is pretty much the most western point of France. It was last seen in the colony here on 27th July. Thanks to Phil and Jean-Yves Monnat.
At the moment, when I'm not at work, I'm stuck behind this bleeding laptop. I've been here for about three weeks now and can conclude writing reports is not my thing! I'll happily do field work until I'm blue in the face (or hands I should say!).
It's not just the local birding I am REALLY missing because of this, there's two birds out there I actually want to twitch. The long-staying Somerset Pied-billed Grebe has been there long enough now for it become 'twitchable' for me, then there's the stunning Exe Bonaparte's Gull! What a looker, and apparently its showing very well too.
I've been waiting for rain and wind for what feels like the whole spring, and last night it came. So I set my alarm for 5am and just HAD to get out there...
I started sea watching at 05:20, too early really! It wasn't all that good, and with the shadow of report writing looming over me I jacked it in by 06:30. No skua, no shearwaters. All I saw was...
1 Velvet Scoter (drake on the sea very close in)
3 Common Scoter (on the sea)
6 Gannet
10 Whimbrel
10 Dunlin
1 small wader sp.
12 auk sp.
1 Mediterranean Gull (first-summer feeding with terns)
9 Kittiwake
3 Sandwich Tern
1 Common Tern (a year tick - woooo!).
After a few hours back at home doing you know what, the conditions prompted me to take an hours break. I did a quick tour of the valley, and tried to check as many places as possible. The first place I went was Black Hole Marsh, and the first bird I saw here was a cracking adult Wood Sandpiper. Sadly it was too close for photo with reeds blocking the view, so I had to walk away from it to get any sort of shots...
I know dodgy photos - but you can just about tell what it is!!!
Shortly after I sent the texts out, a land rover came driving down from the Tower Hide and the it took off and flew south. About five mins later I could see it flying around over Seaton Marshes, and about ten minutes after that I could heard it overhead again.
Also on Black Hole Marsh, three Greenshank. On the Estuary, one Dunlin with a few Blackwits and Whimbrel. But that really was it.
Next stop was the beach, for another quick look over the sea and a check for waders. The sea was still dead, but on the beach I struck patch bronze with a cracking Sanderling. For stunning frame-filling images take a look at Karen's blog. Have a look at those cracking pics, and now take a look at a proper photo of a Sanderling on Seaton Beach...
I call it art. Everyone else calls it crap.
In my defence I didn't want to go near it incase I flushed it - I knew others would want to see this bird. Waders on the beach in spring often fly off and away when flushed, obviously this bird wasn't so skittish!
The Estuary, Coly Marsh and Axmouth FC showed nothing of note, then the hour ended and I returned home.
Blog readers won't be surprised to hear I love local patch birding. Not just this local patch, but the whole concept of local patch birding. I really enjoy reading tweets and blog posts from local patch birders about their local patch antics. Being a bit of a simpleton, looking through this blog you will see my posts are pretty much just about me going birding and what I've seen. I do admire, and am jealous of those who can write proper paragraphs about interesting stuff that sparks debates, but pure birding blogs is what I'm in to. And one I love is 'Stringer' at Beadnell Birding.
At work last night I learnt of a Collared Flycatcher at Low Newton-By-The-Sea, and spent the whole evening wondering if 'Stringer' was the lucky one who turned this cracker up. Click on the link above and you will see.... what a gripper and many many many congratulations. Looking back through his blog (warning, swearing often is part of his posts so it's not for the faint hearted) you will see how he, with a few others, have got Newton on the map through habitat improvement and observer coverage.
Right, that's enough for now. I'll finish with a couple of pics from last weekend...
It looked very good for sea watching today - well that was until I got down to the sea front at 06:15...
A murky sea
Although in the photo it does look like there's plenty of sea to look at, in reality there wasn't! This probably isn't so much of an issue for all you headland sea watchers, but here in a bay we need to see as far as possible. Luckily at about 06:45 it cleared for just over half an hour, but it came in again, so I finished watching at 07:45. This is what ended up in my notebook...
3 Common Scoter 4 Great Northern Diver (all ended up on the sea, the closest one was a stonking pristine summer plumaged bird - the best example of one I've ever seen here without a doubt) 24 Gannet 39 Manxies 2 Grey Plover 1 Knot 41 Dunlin 25 Whimbrel 2 Bonxies (sat on sea for twenty minutes before flying off west - a great sight as always) 5 Kittiwake 34 Auk sp. (all looked like Razorbill)
After a good few hours at home, the continued foggy conditions encouraged me back down to the beach. But not to sea watch, for a beach walk...
See - still very foggy!
This proved very worthwhile as on the beach there was a flock of 7 Ringed Plover, 8 Dunlin and these 8 gorgeous Sanderling...
What a treat!
Whilst watching the above birds, another flock of waders flew straight through west along the beach and away into the murk. This flock included another 15 Sanderling (so a total of 23) and 10 Dunlin. 20 Whimbrel also flew west (18 and a 2).
After this, a look at Black Hole Marsh still showed no Red-rumped Swallow. But for the second day there were 14 Gadwall (so odd to have such large numbers here in May!?), also 2 Shoveler and these 2 Tufted Ducks...
Always swimming away I'm afraid! Soon after they flew off west
The only waders here were 8 Dunlin. A little later a quick look along the Estuary added 44 Whimbrel, 4 Blackwits and 2 Barwits, with another 14 Dunlin and 2 Ringed Plover past the sea front mid afternoon.
So nothing outstanding today at all - but some lovely highlights. A male Kentish Plover would have topped it off so nicely though....
Well it should be Miss Nasty really, as I'm pretty sure our lingering Caspian Gull is a female (on size).
Yesterday I spent half an hour watching her, from Coronation Corner - and boy was she in a bad mood! Every few minutes she would just have a go at anything near her. The funny thing is though, she would often lose! I did feel sorry for an unsuspecting first summer Black-headed Gull though, which was just sitting there minding its own business, and the Casp must have run for about 15m along the mud just to have a jab at it! For absolutely no apparent reason! What a bully...
It must be the time of the month!
Also yesterday, a wander around the Beer Cemetery fields showed little, except these four Wheatears which looked like they were shortly going to be continuing with their northward migration...
Three males, and my first female on 2012
Today, all I've had time for was a ten minute watch from Coronation Corner just before 9am. This proved worthwhile as a winter plumaged Sanderling flew north up river and around the corner. A minute or two later though it reappeared, flying around with two Dunlin, before nipping over the tram line and appearing to drop down on Black Hole Marsh.
Saw three Swallows whilst driving too, south of Musbury. Although there are nowhere near the amount of hirundines around that I'd expect by now, maybe these - along with two Sand Martins I saw yesterday over town - signal the start of a mass arrival?
A look along the Estuary mid morning showed that a bit of duff weather does indeed entice Gulls in. We always have a much higher number of Black-backed Gulls around when the weather is a bit pants, in fact almost the entire flock of large Gulls by the tram sheds were of the Black-backed varieties...
Sadly though nothing rarer... Kelp Gull one day!
I counted a total of 38 Lesser Black-backed Gulls of mixed ages and mixed mantle shades, and one of these was colour-ringed - I will inform all when I get the history back. It actually proved an excellent day for colour-ringed Gulls, as I also had two colour-ringed Great Black-backs and this colour-ringed adult Med...
Again, I will inform all of the life history of this bird when I hear back
Now to waders, and today's top wader was a Sanderling north of Coronation Corner early afternoon with 35 Ringed Plover and half-a-dozen Dunlin. On the Estuary there were also ten Blackwits, I'd forgotten just how stunning juv Blackwits are - so beautifully marked...
Six of the flock looked like this
Over on Black Hole Marsh it was the same as it has been, with three Wood Sands, three Greenshanks, two Lapwing and the Knot being the most notable birds.
Not in keeping with the post title were the 4+ Yellow Wags that flew over the river opposite the Tower Hide.
