This Gulls In Love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNkZynPgPkw

20 years ago it was a lot of hard work to tease apart the identification features of Caspian and Yellow-Legged Gulls.  The great paper in British Birds by Martin Garner and David Quinn was the start of a generation of birders journey into a love-hate relationship with Large White Headed Gulls, (LWHG's)

https://www.britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V90/V90_N01_02/V90_N01_02_P025_062_A004.pdf

Last Sunday I perambulated the lake at Cambridge Research Park and enjoyed close views of a small (so presumably female), smart adult Yellow-legged Gull.  At the other end of our journey to the in-laws in Walthamstow a near-adult Caspian Gull put on a show at a roadside pond in Snaresbrook.  This one straight out of the field guides, a great bird to enjoy at close quarters.  The open wing shot shows the characteristic long, grey tongues on the inner webs of the outer primaries and some black markings on the primary coverts which would suggest this is a 5CY bird.

On my return to the car a gorgeous male Kestrel swung up into the branches of the Oak right next to me and we shared a nervous minute not quite sure what the other was going to do.  Eventually, or typically, a bounding mutt broke the spell and the tiercel sprung to the air and away.



  

Brassneck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9DjDh3yjSM

 

Bold as brass this Ring-necked Duck appeared amongst the feeding frenzy outside the main observatory at Welney.  I have been willing one of these to join the Pochard for years now - well worth the wait.
 

 

 



 

New Years Day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LpIuPbUKvM

 

Having seen 2019 in I got swiftly to bed as we planned a full days birding in Cambridgeshire to start the New Year.  I picked Mark Hawkes up as the Robins started singing and once in the wilds one of the first birds of the year was a surprise as a male Long-eared Owl did a hoot in the last of the darkness at Woodwalton Fen.  We hoped to see a Woodcock flying in to roost in the woods after feeding in more open areas but were left expectant.  However once the light broke Redpolls and Marsh Tits were pretty evident and a huge Peregrine hammered low through the dawn. 

At Holme Fen it didn't take too long to catch up with the Rough-legged Buzzard and Red Kites were dotted across the skyline.  Ferry Meadows was busy with dog walkers and we found the female Scaup, a flock of Goosander, a drake Red-crested Pochard and a 1CY Mediterranean Gull in a half hour visit.  Down to Needingworth Lakes where  a couple of smart male Smew, White Nuns, were accompanied by 3 redheads and a Chiff-Chaff flicked around the sewage works willows. 

At St Ives bus station we took a little while to locate the very fine male Black Redstart which shivered it's russet tail and flashed it's white primary shafts like a good un.  At Fen Drayton a hoped for gull roost failed to materialise and it too was heaving with visitors out to blow the cobwebs away as the curtain falls on another festive season.

 

 





Xmas Steps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrxeFflN738

 

After a pre-Xmas look around the Washes I headed north with the family on 23rd.  We headed to the coast on Boxing Day and strolled back and forth along the beach at Filey interspersed with mugs of hot tea.  Off the Brigg the winter plumaged Black Guillemot drew attention to itself in flight with it's dazzling white wing patches, it pitched on to the sea and fed amongst a large raft of Alcids.  On Carr Naze a trio of Snow Buntings beguiled the children and adults alike in their flurries of flight and confiding bouts of feeding, allowing approach to just a few feet in the gloaming.  In the bay a couple of Great Northern Diver drifted in on the rising tide as the sunset in pastels over the town.

 

 

 

The next morning we headed north again, stopping at McDonalds in Blaydon, Tyneside for lunch with a Waxwing.  An obliging bird and a lovely bonus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were aiming to get out for a walk on the beach at Bamburgh before dusk and enjoyed the last hour of light in the shadow of the great castle.  The sea was mill pond still with an throbbing swell proving very attractive to the dozen hardy surfers braving the north sea, the Farne Islands an iconic backdrop.  On the sea there were plenty of Eider and Common Scoter and a pair of Long-tailed Duck close in.

 

 

 

 

 

Next day we headed up to Lindisfarne, with Curlew trembling the air with their sub-song and light bellied Brent Geese out on the mudflats as we crossed the causeway to the Holy Island.

 

 

Then started a slow potter southwards through Yorkshire taking in Whitby and a morning out birding with Rich Baines enjoying Goosander and assorted wildfowl at Castle Howard near Malton and another Waxwing in York town centre.

 

 

 

 

 

Another stop, on what really became a Xmas road trip, was to the RSPB Visitor Centre in Sherwood Forest where a Woodcock, Redpoll, a small flock of Crossbill and this Tit were pleasing distractions on our leg stretch to the Major Oak on our way from York and our homelands of the Fen.

 

 

 

 

 

  



 

 



  



Nearly not a bird anymore.

Flappy Janet crouches- invisible thanks to her camouflage, and waits for her moment to strike.

TAH_DAH!!!!

"HERE I AM!!!! HELLO!!!"

Janet just loves saying hello to people- and every day she waits to see who comes along. it's always the same few people, but she doesn't know that. She loses focus- as you can see, her head is always slightly blurry- and she greets everyone anew with enthusiastic flamboyance .

She talks to the hand, and then bounds away- she's suddenly remembered she left the gas on.

She hasn't. Her cooker is electric. Fan assisted.

birds you didn't know about.

The Wazzock is plagued by deep vein thrombosis, which prevents it from taking long haul flights. 

Instead, the Wazzock just stands about on its swollen leg sticks, which are operated by some sort of hydraulic piston system that leaks oil everywhere.
It often gets its head stuck because it forgets how big its body is.

It hasn't got a clue which way it's facing, and doesn't know how to make noise. As you can see, it is continuously drunk.

Flamingos is an island near Torremolinos where Mick Jagger records most of his text messages.

Ducks, Ducks, Ducks, Ducks, Ducks, Ducks, Ducks, Ducks, Wazzock, Ducks, Duck, Ducks, Ducks, Ducks, Godwit, Ruff, Lapwing, Ducks, Ducks, Ducks, Ducks, Ducks, Mega Cranes.

Happy New Year.