A Firecrest, Redwing and another American Gull - October 2014

This mornings ringing session was a very sedate affair, with only 18 birds ringed of nine species, and of those half were re-traps. But amongst the new birds there was some quality in the form of our first Firecrest and Redwing of the year. The Redwing was the first that I had heard this autumn, and given that we had another eight flying over the ringing area, there had clearly been an arrival.

Redwing, Titchfield Haven - October 2014

The Firecrest was a real cracker, as of course they always are, this bird we aged as a juvenile due to the pointed tail feathers, and a male by virtue of the amount of orange in the crown.

Juvenile Male Firecrest - Titchfield Haven

Juvenile Male Firecrest - Titchfield Haven

This was the 25th Firecrest to be caught at the Haven, the first was in 1982 and the second in 1988, with the remaining 23 caught between 2000 and 2014. Despite the status of this species as a breeder in Hampshire and regularity with which it occurs along the Hampshire coast in winter, its occurrence remains unpredictable at the Haven, as demonstrated below.

During the ringing session the other species captured were Cetti's Warbler, Robin, Blackbird, Wren, Reed Bunting, Blue Tit and a female Blackcap. A Brambling, several Linnets and Goldfinches were recorded passing over.

I have recently been given permission to ring at Walpole Park in Gosport, and will be hoping to catch and colour-ring Black-headed, Common and Mediterranean Gulls at the site. After ringing I nipped down there to see how many birds were present and how they were behaving. There were around 100 Black-headed Gulls present, a few Herring and a Common Gull.

Adult Winter Black-headed Gull - Walpole Park

Adult Winter Herring Gull - Walpole Park

Of course the star attraction at Walpole Park over the last 12 winters has been the Ring-billed Gull. It had arrived back on 26th October, and had already taken up residence in its usual place. As interesting as it would be to catch this bird, colour ring it, and see where it goes during the summer, I will not be making any attempts to catch it.

Adult Winter Ring-billed Gull

Mute Swans and Canada Geese also make the most of the food on offer at Walpole Park and whilst I was there I found three that were ringed. One bird had an orange colour ring, whereas the other two had just metal rings. The swans are so approachable that it is easy to read the ring numbers, and take close up photos. I will let you know where they are from when I find out the details.

Adult Mute Swan - Walpole Park

Adult Mute Swan wing feathers.

Ring-billed and other Gulls at Walpole Park, Gosport

With strong south-westerly winds across the south of England this week there has been no opportunity for bird ringing. Instead I decided to spend a few hours working my way along the coast looking for gulls and other storm blown species. Back in January I wrote about an adult ring-billed gull that had been frequenting a park in Gosport every winter for the last 10 years, well this last weekend it had returned, so my first stop was to go and look for it.

Adult Ring-billed Gull Larus delawarensis - Returning for its 11th Winter

Being over 10 years old now, this bird is a full adult, and therefore is probably in the easiest plumage for identification of the species. In winter plumage an adult ring-billed essentially looks like many other gull species, pure white head, breast, belly and under-tail coverts and black tips to the primaries.

Flight View of Adult Ring-billed Showing obvious Small White Window in Primary Tips

There are still some obvious and distinctive identification features and these include the large yellow bill with obvious black band near the tip, the yellow legs, the pale yellow iris and when in flight the small white window in the otherwise black wing tips. The bird showed very well for the whole time I was there, so if anyone is interested in getting some experience with this species, Walpole Park may be worth a visit.

Adult Winter Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus - The deep red legs and bill suggest this
bird is several years old

There are often many other species of gull at the site, the most common being black-headed gull. Black-headed gulls reach full adult plumage in their second winter and therefore there are only two plumage's to consider. Adult birds show some vertical head streaking, light grey back and mantle and pure white nape and underparts (see above). First winter birds lack the bright red bill and legs, have brown primaries and brown feathers in the tertials and lesser coverts (see below).

First Winter Black-headed Gull - Note the brown primary tips, tertials and
some lesser coverts. The leg colour is also duller and more orange than that
of the adult bird (above)

Another species that is a regular along the south coast is Mediterranean gull, although the numbers in winter are much lower than during the summer months. There was only one bird at Walpole Park and that was an adult winter bird. Mediterranean Gulls in adult plumage have pure white wings, including the primaries. They have a deep, blood red bill with a black band and dark red legs, white eye crescents and a dark mask. Overall this species is larger and stockier than black-headed gull, with a squarer shaped head and subsequently stands out from the black-heads.

Adult Mediterranean Gull Larus melanocephalus - the light grey upper parts

Herring Gulls are another common species, often with a variety of ages present. On this visit there was just one first winter bird. This bird had a fairly short dark bill, which was slightly paler at the base. A paler head, breast and underparts and brown markings on the under parts. The tertials exhibit broad dark centres and a dark subterminal band is present on the back and mantle.

First Winter Herring Gull Larus argentatus - Walpole Park

Walpole Park has a bit of a history with American Gulls as in November 2005 a first winter laughing gull joined the ring-billed and was present at the site from 5th November through until the 13th. It did go missing at times but for the patient it provided some great views. 

First Winter Laughing Gull Larus atricilla Walpole Park November 2005

Unfortunately I was limited by time every time I visited but I did still manage to get some acceptable record shots.

First Winter Laughing Gull Walpole Park November 2005

An Easter break in Boscastle

I was looking forward to another weekend in North Cornwall, since it would hopefully give me the chance to catch up with some spring migrants and also the opportunity to walk the cliffs in search of Puffins. We set off early Friday morning and were crossing the northern tip of Bodmin Moor when a Sand Martin flew past in front of the car.....maybe a good omen!!

After a short break upon arrival in Boscastle I unpacked my camera gear and headed out onto The Stitches. There are strips of scrub at the eastern end and these usually act as a great migrant trap, with the fields being a great place to look for Northern Wheatears, larks and pipits. Two Barn Swallows dashing low across the fields were my first migrants, and a pair of Common Ravens were croaking overhead, twisting and turning as they tumbled from the sky. Other than a handful of singing Chiffchaffs and an occasional Blackcap, that was it migrant wise, although resident birds were in full song with Dunnocks and Chaffinch's being very vocal and prominent.

Male Dunnock

With not much happening on The Stitches I headed to the cliffs and a view of the sea. The cliffs were alive with auks, the most visible species being Razorbills on the land facing cliffs, with Guillemots being abundant on the seaward side. I spent a few minutes scanning the face of the nearest offshore island...Meachard, before turning my attention to the sea.

Razorbills on Meachard, off Boscastle

The odd passing Northern Gannet and the resident Herring Gulls were the most visible species, but a scan with my scope revealed a load more auks and around 30 European Shags on the water. Scanning west along the coast it was possible to see auks crammed on the ledges of two distant off shore rocks, Grower Rock and Short Island. I continued to scan and soon picked up two Puffins sat on the sea preening; after a while they took flight, circled briefly, before landing on the seaward side of the more distant rock, Short Island. I usually see Puffins on this rock and also another nearby one, that is just out of sight called Long Island, so it was good see them still there.

The rugged north Cornwall coastline, the two islands are
Grower Rock (nearer) and Short Island.

Another stroll around The Stitches yesterday (Saturday) morning, again produced very little in the way of migrants so I headed back to cliffs to scope the sea. The Northern Fulmars were settled down on the cliffs, with a few circling around on the wind, Herring gulls and Jackdaws were also paired up, but that was all.

With not much happening at sea I headed down Valency Valley, primarily to check up on the resident Dippers, but there seemed to be very little activity around the nest site. When birds are incubating there is often limited activity around the nest site, so lets hope that this is the case and not that the nest has been predated. I did see two further down the valley by the car park, but they were only fleeting flight views.

Fulmars, Boscastle

This morning I overslept and didn't head out until gone 10am, by which time most of the migration was probably over, assuming that is that there was any. There seemed to be more Chiffs and Blackcaps around and a single House Martin flew east, but again that was it. A rabbit was tucked into the vegetation around the field margin, so I thought seeing as it is Easter Sunday I would include a picture of it.

An Easter Day Bunny

A feeding flock of Herring Gulls, Gannets and Fulmars were just off shore, so I watched intently for a glimpse of a Harbour Porpoise or Common Dolphin, but it was not to be....hardly surprising as the sea was a bit choppy this morning. 

Grey Wagtail on the River Valency

With a lunch date planned with my wife and mother-in-law I headed down to the village centre; there were loads of people around but this did not deter a pair of Grey Wagtails that were busy nest building, oblivious to the hussle and bussle around them. 

Have to say I was slightly disappointed with my weekends birding and with heavy rain forecast tomorrow I don't think tomorrows birding is going to improve!!