Little Marlow on an Icy Morning

I thought it would be worth taking a look at Little Marlow given the icy conditions.  It was indeed 90% covered in ice and at first it looked fairly deserted but then I noticed a group of Ducks and Grebes close to the island where the water had not frozen.  There were also more along the front edge of the sand spit and as I walked around I found more Ducks and Grebes close to the north bank. There were a good number of Teal on view with just over 150, plus over 50 Shoveler, the icy conditions making counting easier. The breeding Herons and Cormorants seemed unperturbed by the ice.

I continued around the lake and heard Redwings and a Water Rail and then came across several groups of Siskins.  However the best best sighting was of two Golden Plover that flew overhead as I walked along the footpath to the north of the lake.  If they had not called fairly loudly I would not have seen them.

Grey Herons at their nests on the two islands to the west of the lake.  There appears to be about six nests so far.  In front of them the lake is iced over.

I came across three flocks of Siskins, all feeding in Alders around the lake.  Difficult to count but maybe 30 in all, although double counting is a possibility.

Black-headed Gulls resting on the ice.  In the centre is "Yellow 2TSX".  It was ringed at Pitsea Landfill site in Essex on 12th March 2017.  Then no more sightings until 22nd Dec 2018 and 31st Jan 2019 when seen at Little Marlow GP.

Herring Gull - With colour ring "Yellow 4F7B".  Ringed at Daneshill Landfill Site on 20 Feb 2012.  Interesting to see that it was seen at Sheringham in Norfolk on 24th Jan 2019 and six days later at Little Marlow GP.  It was seen again at Little Marlow the following day and then no sightings until this one. 

January Birding

My birding started with a detour to Marlow Ski Pit to see the four Red-crested Pochards that were found by Simon Hunt the previous day.  The birds were still present but rather distant as they were on the far side of the lake.  Still two smart males and two females was nice.

Red-crested Pochards - A rubbish photo but the best I could do given the distance or quite a long walk!

Then onto Little Marlow Gravel Pit mid afternoon. There was nothing unusual to be found and not even a Snipe on view.  So I settled for going through the gulls hoping for one of the scarcer species.  The roost was a decent size but  lacking very many Common Gulls, which are usually present in large numbers at this time of year.

Sadly no unusual gulls but I did mange to find three colour ringed Herring Gulls.

• Orange F4ZT - presumably a North Thames Ringing Group bird.
• Yellow Y.C45 - This was ringed at Harewood Whin landfill site, to the west of York on 31st May 2017.
• Blue JEE3 - A bird ringed in Tromso, Norway on 14th July 1999.  Also seen in the UK in three previous winters, all sightings in the south of England including Reading in 2006 and sightings at Little Marlow GP in September 2016 and November 2018.  See map below.

Herring Gull - Blue "JEE3"

The journey of Blue "JEE3"

Caspian Gull at Little Marlow

A later afternoon visit to check the Gull roost and to see what else was around was planned.  I counted 12 Common Snipe but there was no sign of the Jack Snipe that had been seen recently.  Near to the main island the drake Pintail that had been present for some time, was showing.  The Herons and Cormorants are starting to take up the old nests from last year and some of the Cormorants look as though they are sitting already!

There were already quite a few gulls of the sand spit but as dusk approached more gulls arrived. After scanning through them several times I came across a first winter Caspian Gull which was the bird of the day.  A bit tricky to ID in among the hoards of other gulls!  It was certainly a fairly large gull and it was rather throwing it's weight around.  Adam Basset believes this to be the same bird that he has seen at Little Marlow and Springfield landfill recently.