Holy Island/Budle Bay

With ADMc back from visiting Paddington, sun-tanned and a list as long as your arm we headed off up to the north of Northumberland today for some winter birding on a cold but bright day.
First stop Beal where we spent a little time noting colour rings on some of the confiding Pale-bellied Brent Geese, single Skylark and Reed Bunting were year ticks for both of us, at least ADMc had an excuse.

Over to Holy Island and from the lower reaches of The Heugh we had soon picked out five Slavonian Grebes, a single Red-throated Diver and one or two Razorbills. A little further along overlooking the harbour ADMc spotted a single Red-necked Grebe feeding just off the harbour. Suprisingly we couldn't find another diver or a single Long-tailed Duck in an area normally very good for both.

The 'Rocket Field' was quiet with just a single Black-tailed Godwit and a single Short-eared Owl so we headed south to Budle Bay. Lots of Barnacle Geese and common wildfowl and waders whilst we dipped into lunch. Surprise of the day was a smart looking Hooded Crow at the south end, presumably the same individual that has been recorded at Rock and Howick (early Jan and November 2011)? We watched it repeatedly picking up 'cockles' and dropping them from a height to try and break them open.

A brief look from Stag Rocks produced more Slavonian Grebes, a small number of Common Scoters, a single Stonechat and a few Purple Sandpipers. Incredibly here too we found not a single diver or Long-tailed Duck in an area that would have teemed with both a few years ago, the mild winter or long term trend?
 

Iceland Gulls (Ardglass)

A selection of images taken of some of the Iceland Gulls (all glaucoides) at a range of ages at Ardglass on Saturday.

Juvenile with dark underparts and some brown peppering on inner webs of some primaries.

2nd-winter - note pale eye and more rounded primary tips

3rd-winter

Yank Teal

With but a couple of hours this afternoon and a promise to cut the fuel bill after going over budget on the Ross's Gull I remained close to home. I caught up with the long-staying drake Green-winged Teal at East Chevington, though it's so far south on the south pool it could almost be a Druridge tick. The wildfowl on the north pool were restless and airborne and a single female Pintail was the best I could pick out.

A few Common Scoters close in off Hadston Scarrs and a half dozen Red-breasted Mergansers on a choppy sea were to be expected; what wasn't expected was the Woodcock that came tearing in off the sea, straight over the dunes and into the country park. There seem to be a few reports along the east coast mentioning Woodcock today so I wonder if there has been a late winter cold weather movement? A male Stonechat was by the boardwalk onto the beach at the south end.

Kumlien's Gull (Ardglass)

One of the many highlights of Saturday's trip was catching up with one of the two juvenile/1st-winter Kumlien's Gulls that have been around the harbour. This individual has fairly dark looking primaries with obvious white tips that don't seem to extend into long 'chevrons'. Nice smooth 'velvet' breast and belly and some interesting u-shapes on moulted scapulars. I had wandered over to the mudflats north of the harbour for a break from the Ross's Gull and some chocolate and was picking through the various Glaucous, Iceland and Herring  and a bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk on offer when I came across this one.
I hadn't really paid much attention to earlier images of these two before I went out but now I've had a look and this seems to be an individual that has been present since at least 6th Jan. The primaries are fairly dark and I did wonder about the possibility of something better but after a night spent trawling the net for equivalent aged gulls that might be well out of range ( and a little help from friends) it would appear to be too pale. Another day maybe....

Ross's Gull - Ardglass, Northern Ireland

I had been planning a trip to Ireland this winter. most probably to Killybegs towards the end of January/early February to look for gulls but with the current influx of white-winged gulls and the bonus of an adult Ross's Gull in Ardglass, Co Down I decided to go for it this weekend rather than wait. It probably ended up costing me a little more as I flew over to Belfast and hired a car from there on Saturday morning. I managed to get through Easyjet with camera bag, scope and tripod on the way out but not on the way back adding an extra £25. On the plus side with the car hire, I booked a cheap Fiat Panda type and benefited from a free upgrade to a Vauxhall Zafira; at least I drove around in reasonable comfort and luxury.

Ardglass is a small village about an hour southeast of Belfast with a natural harbour on one side protected by some typical rock formations and a man-made pier/sea wall at the south.

 

There was a bit of a breeze but otherwise reasonably pleasant. As the Ross's Gull had been parading off the harbour entrance there was reasonably good vantage from atop the sea wall where about a dozen birders were gathered when I arrived mid-morning. The first time the Ross's came in it moved back offshore very quickly but it soon returned and spent much of the rest of the day moving to and fro and feeding actively on a circuit ensuring plenty of time to enjoy it. A superb looking adult in winter plumage with just a smudge of pink on the breast the pale grey wing and big eye gave this a distinctive look. The first image below also highlights the narrow black outer web on P10 and the wedge shaped tail quite nicely too. After a short while it's deep wingbeats and habit of flying in high and then dropping rapidly to either patter briefly or plunge feed allowed it to be easily picked out with the naked eye at some distance (probably helped by the lack of many other small gulls).

 

The plunge diving in particular was quite an interesting behaviour and not one that I've seen another gull species perform as regularly as this individual, It's mentioned in the literature so is obviously a regular feeding technique employed by the species. The Ross's Gull would continually fly in to within 25m of the sea wall at a height of c25m then drop rapidly, almost tern-like into the sea. Whilst not the sharpest set of images these give an idea as how this looks.

Not once during 4-5 hours did it settle on the sea for more than a split-second, constantly active sometimes heading hundreds of metres out to sea before coming back in and resuming the short feeding circuit along the sea wall and into the harbour mouth. There was lots of other gull action but I'll save that for another post as I won't have too many opportunities to bang on images (even ropey ones like mine) of one these charismatic little beauties.

I can't go without saying a big thanks to Craig and Penny Nash though for kindly putting me up in their wonderful cottage overlooking Strangford Lough, generously cooking and providing an evening of bright conversation that just put an extra shine onto a very enjoyable day in a beautiful location with a stunning little gull. You can find Craig's images of the area and further afield, some of which are incredible, here.

Glaucous & Iceland

I had an appointment at one of Newcastle's finest hospitals this morning. Arriving at reception I was handed a pager, told to wait till it went off then head off down the corridor to see someone. For once I felt reasonably qualified to follow the instructions, though the experience of sitting in a room full of people with pagers going off left, right and centre was mildly bemusing.

Afterwards with a couple of hours to spare before recovering the kids from their respective schools and nursery I headed across town towards Blaydon to look for gulls. Recent reports had suggested that there was a juvenile Glaucous Gull in the area. Heading through one of the industrial areas I noticed a spiral of gulls dropping into an area of grass with some small floods ahead of me so I parked and walked the 300m or so to find a group of 150-200 bathing gulls. A typical mix of Herring and Great Blacked Back with groups of Black-headed Gull nearby. Second scan produced an adult Iceland Gull that I was able to show to another lunchtime gull watcher from Natural England.

Ten minutes later after a little turnover a cracking juvenile Glaucous Gull dropped in, presumably the individual that has been at Stella and Shibdon Pond over the past few days. I managed to get some Iphonescoped record shots of this one as it was on the outer section of the roosting gulls.

 Glaucous Gull- juvenile

 Tomorrow I get to do more gulls, this time in a different country.

Black Red Boy Girl?

Had an hour spare in between checking over the repair/improvement work on Seaton Sluice Watchtower and picking up the kids so after a short look for gulls in Blyth Harbour I nipped down to Newbiggin to catch up with the Black Redstart that has been reported from the lifeboat station in recent days (as a female). It seemed to be given a few folk the run around this afternoon. I caught sight of it sat under a boat before it dived into nearby gardens and then reappeared on the roof of the lifeboat house. I left with two birders still circling the lifeboat house as it had once again vanished. I said reported as a female but with a fairly obvious white-wing panel might this be a 2nd or 3rd calendar year male? Svensson seems to suggest that females never show any white in the wing...