ringed gulls on the Adur (15 and 18 November)

Wednesday 18th.  I visited the Adur for a couple of hours around low tide hoping the strong winds might have brought something interesting in.  Nothing particularly unusual but at least 5 Mediterranean Gulls, 4 adults and a second-winter, was a very good count here for me.  A selection of ringed gulls proved rather frustrating.  Single adult Black-headed, Common and Herring Gulls with metal ring had either lost their colour-rings or not been fitted with them.  If the latter the chance of learning anything from them is surely negligible.  A Common Gull with a white ring, possibly Norwegian, was obscured by another gull before I could read it and all the gulls were then flushed by a Sparrowhawk.  I did not see it again despite an hour in the area looking at the sitting gulls hoping, if it were still there, it might stand up.  A local Herring Gull was standing in a shallow depression sufficiently deep to hide the final character.  I suspect it was A2FA which I have seen on the Adur in December 2010, November 2011, November 2012 and November 2014.  Of the 5 rings I did read two were Great Black-backs and three North Thames Herrings.  Also on the Adur were 4 Grey Plover, my first of the winter, and a Little Grebe.

Mediterranean Gull on the Adur, one of at least 4 adults seen

second-winter and adult

ringed Black-headed Gull, colour-ring not fitted or lost?

ringed Common gull, again no colour-ring

two ringed Herring Gulls, one ringer will be receiving an update on their bird ...

it was the North Thames Gull Group enabling a bit more history to be added to Herring Gull NW7T, ringed as a second-year at Rainham in February 2012 and seen at Warnham (by Jake?) in December 2014, it was seen on the Adur on my previous visit 

another North Thames Herring Gull read was L9HT, ringed as a first-year at Rainham Tip in November 2013 and seen in Brighton in February 2015, it was also seen on the Adur on my previous visit 

also North Thames Herring Gull T1LT, a new one for me

Guernsey Great Black-backed Gull 6AA9.  It was ringed as chick on Lihou Island, Guernsey in June 2014 and seen on Chouet Landfill Beach and then Dawlish Warren that August

Great Black-backed Gull 93R.  It was hatched at Le Havre in June 2014, seen at Brighton Marina that October, the Adur in November and the Marina again in December 2014

Sunday 15th.  Seawatching from Widewater between 07:50-08:50 produced 32 Gannets and single Pintail, Red-breasted Merganser and adult Mediterranean Gull flying west. Going through the gulls on the Adur with David Buckingham added 7 new readings for me although 3 were opposite Ricardo's rather than the Airfield presenting a minor dilemma - should I extend my core area to be from the flyover and not the Old Toll Bridge to the railway bridge? As well as 8 colour-ringed Herring Gulls there was an adult Mediterranean Gull and a Kingfisher.

presumed local Herring Gull A5CC

North Thames Herring Gull X6NT.  Ringed as a second-winter at Pitsea in March 2014, I had seen it on the Adur earlier in the month

Crooked Spires and Crag Martins: Chesterfield 11 and 14 November

Saturday 14th.  This time it was John King's turn to drive as we returned to Chesterfield. Neither of us were very confident after Wednesday's non-appearance but going and missing it seemed a lesser evil than not going and it being seen.  We arrived at 07:30, stood around looking at the crooked spire and chatting to friends amongst the 200+ birders present (Andy Clements, Paul Noakes, Nick and Russell Gardner, Steve Smith, Steve and Richard Webb),  some I had not seen in years. At about 10:45, and long after most of us had given up, the bird suddenly appeared over the church and proceeded to shoot around at high speed pretty much continually until 12:00 when it disappeared.  We waited 20 minutes but it had not returned by the time the rain came in from the south.  We headed home, the M1 and M25 being unpleasant with lots of spray despite light to moderate traffic.  Another two Pink-footed Goose flocks flew South, about 90 and 30, and we saw Peregrine and Grey Wagtail while waiting.It had definitely been worth going back.

back again, spire still standing ...

09:45, still no sign

Pink-footed Geese over Chesterfield

Crag Martin or dirt on the lens?

some hummingbirds have slower wingbeats!

the rarest bird I've seen at a national landmark?

not such a bad place after all!

Friday 13th.  My dad's 91st birthday.  Happy Birthday Dad.  The Crag Martin was back in Chesterfield for most of the day.

Thursday 12th.  Megan and I walked along Worthing seafront to goring Gap where there were at least 5 adult Mediterranean Gulls, 39 Sanderling, 14 grey Plover and a Knot.  Later nothing of note could be found amongst 2000+ gulls on the Adur at dusk although a Greenshank was seen as the light faded.

Grey Plover and Knot at Goring Gap

mainly Sanderling at Goring Gap

spot the Mediterranean Gull at Goring Gap

three adults in these two images

gulls on the Adur, spot then interesting one (I couldn't)

Greenshank on the Adur at dusk

Wednesday 11th.  With the Chesterfield Crag Martin showing for most of the day on Tuesday and not working on Wednesdays it seemed worth trying for.  I was really confident when I left home at 03:30, picked up John King in Burgess Hill at 04:00 and we were on site, via M25 and M1, by 07:40.  A tense wait then ensued with about 100 others.  Matt and Mick were there too, the latter certainly enjoying life as a Norfolk resident.  Usually the Crag Martin had appeared by 08:30, all but once by 09:00 so by then by confidence in seeing it had all but drained away.  We waited until 12:15 but there was no sign of it at all.  While standing in the car park we saw two flocks of Pink-footed Geese (c600 and c100) flying South, Peregrine, Sparrowhawk and Mistle Thrush and heard Grey Wagtail.  With little prospect of the Crag Martin appearing, at least based on previous showings, we headed home hoping to be clear of the M25 by the time traffic built up.  We were successful in that at least.

07:40, arrival at the crooked spire

08:00, earliest time the Crag Martin had appeared/novelty of the spire rapidly wearing off

09:55, still no sign

11:55, spire still standing ...

Sunday 8th.   Megan and I walked around Mill Hill where a pair of Bullfinches were the only birds of note.  Later I visited the Adur seeing the first-winter Caspian Gull and Kingfisher again.  I saw the gull when I arrived just after 15:00 but it disappeared before I could obtain any decent images of it, another observer seeing it flying SW at about 15:10.  It did not return, neither could I see any colour-ringed gulls.

not so obvious from this angle

Gulls on the Adur (Caspian and CR #98-101)

Saturday 7th.  A strong SW wind limited my options, particularly with a morning high tide.  I tried a seawatch from Widewater and from 08:00-09:00 saw 29 Gannets, 28 Kittiwakes (most quite distant), 2 Great Crested Grebes, a Brent Goose and a Mediterranean Gull all flying West (although what was presumably the same Brent had earlier flown East). I spent most of the afternoon watching gulls on the Adur.  During the course of the afternoon I saw 7 colour-ringed birds - 4 Herring and 3 Great Black-backed.  Two of each were new taking my total of colour ringed gulls read on the Adur opposite Shoreham Airport to 101!  They 59 were Herring (none from further than Gloucester), 25 Great Black-backed (most Norway and Normandie), 6 Lesser Black-backed (Denmark, Gurnsey and UK), 5 Mediterranean (Germany, Holland and Belgium), 3 Black-headed (Denmark and Holland), 2 Common (Norway and Germany) and a Caspian (Germany).  A Kingfisher also flew past.

As if 7 colour-ringed birds wasn't enough to make it one of my best gull visits to the Adur an unringed first-winter Caspian Gull was also present.  Not the rarity it recently was it is still a bird I do not feel familiar with or have seen very often.  Unlike the bird seen on 24 October which looked wrong structurally (and had an all dark upper-wing) everything about this one seemed to fit.

first-winter Caspian Gull on the Adur.  .

In my very limited experience this bird showed all the features I associate with 
a first-winter Caspian Gull.  Unmarked white head, small dark eye, long parallel dark bill ..

bulging breast, sagging rear belly, stilt-like legs and long wings ...

four coloured pattern of white head, greyish mantle, brown coverts and black tertials (with thin white edges) and flight feathers.  It also had a predominantly white underwing. Nice!!

Guernsey Great Black-backed Gull 6AA9.  I had also seen it on 24 October.

Le Havre Great Black-backed Gull 40T.  Having photographed it I then realised  97R was standing near-by.  Unfortunately both flew before I could take further images.  It was the first time I had seen either on the Adur

North Thames Herring Gull A8DT.  My first sighting on the Adur but I had seen it on Brighton seafront in June 2014.  Also seen on the Adur were North Thames birds AU9T, KT4T and X6NT.  It was my first sighting of the latter while I've been seeing the other two very intermittently since March 2013 and March 2011 respectively.

quite a striking Lesser Black-backed Gull on the Adur, but this age often appear to be to me

long winged too ...

Friday 6th.  Two Goldcrests in Stanmer Park.

Thursday 5th.  a low tide visit to the Adur where there were 75 Great Black-backed and 400 Herring Gulls.  The last included three North Thames birds: N2HT, T7HT and one the flew before I could read all of its ring (FxxT).  I had not read any of the rings before and the two I did read took my Adur total to 97.

North Thames Herring Gull T7HT on the Adur

Wednesday 4th.  A walk around the Adur with Megan at low tide.  Despite having no telescope I managed to get a photo of a Norwegian colour-ringed Great Black-back which was just about readable when I got home - JT271.  My 96th different Colour ring on the Adur by Shoreham Airport.  We also saw 2 Goldcrests and 2 Reed Buntings.

Goldcrest outside St. Nicholas Church

it responded well to 'pisching'

Norwegian Great Black-backed Gull

Sunday 1st.  A walk behind Shoreham Harbour produced a Rock Pipit.  Later 2 Sandwich Terns flew east past Splash Point Worthing as we were walking towards the Dome Cinema to see Spectre.