Colour Ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull

A visit to Little Marlow late afternoon on 20th March produced only a few hundred gulls, mainly Black-headed Gulls but also some Common Gulls and smaller numbers of Herring, Lesser and Greater Black-backed Gulls.  However a single adult Mediterranean Gull that was perhaps the highlight.  On closer inspection of the Gulls I came across a colour-ringed Lesser Black-Backed Gull with the ring Blue "LRA.V" on it's left leg.  It seems that this bird is almost 14 years old and although raised in Suffolk, it seems to like it across the channel in Belguim.

Both of the photos below were "phone-scoped" hence the poor quality.

Lesser-Black-Backed Gull Blue "LRAV" arrived early for the gull roost.

Mediterranean Gull only stayed a short time.

An Icey Blast at Dorney Lake

I was due to lead the Bucks Bird Club field meeting at Dorney Lake but due to the weather warnings for snow I did indicate that I might not be able to make it.  However the snow was not as bad as I had feared, so I set off from home about 8:45am.  The hill on Blind Lane was not as bad on the steep bends as at the top, so it did not prove to be a problem.

I arrived in the car park at Dorney Lake at about 9:10am and started to don several layers of warm weather clothes.  A layer of snow covered the site and the tarmac/concrete areas were covered in melted snow that had re-frozen and was extremely slippery.  Not surprisingly no-one else turned up so I decided to have a walk on my own.

Before I left the car I was approached by a dog walker who said he had seen a long legged bird with a long bill, walking around the car park.  No sooner had he said that then he pointed to the hedge and there was a Whimbrel sheltering from the bitter easterly wind.  It had some snow caked around it's legs but seemed reasonably alert.  It walked away a bit when someone approached the car park ticket machine!

Wide view of the Whimbrel sheltering under the hedge near the car park.

A phone scoped image of the Whimbrel.

Whimbrel as taken with my digiscoping camera.  Note the snow around the legs.

After a while I decided to walk along the causeway to the 1250 metre point so I could view the seasonal pool.  Along the way I saw a single Grey Wagtail and a good number of Meadow Pipits. Despite scanning the far bank of the return lake I could not see any other birds of note.

Having got to the 1250 point I soon started picking up some passage birds.  Firstly five Dunlin were feeding in a loose group.  Nearby was a single Little Ringed Plover and near to that an Oystercatcher and a Lapwing.  The Little Ringed Plover is certainly quite early but preceded on 15th and 17th by birds elsewhere in the county.

Little Ringed Plover - My first of the year.

Dunlin - Three of the 5 present.

Also seen were 100 Wigeon, about 20 Teal, a selection of Gulls and Corvids;  Two Canada Geese and one Egyptian Goose.

Having returned to the car park I had a good look around for the Whimbrel but could not locate it.  I assumed it had flown off perhaps having being flushed by dog walkers, of which there were quite a few.  However it was apparently seen by another birder, feeding on the tarmac in the car park at 2pm!

Song Thrush by the car park.

Colour Ringed Herring Gull

Herring Gull - A rubbish photo but the best I could get in poor light of this colour ringed bird "Orange PY7T"

This map show the history so far for this bird.

Staines Reservoir Twitch

A quick check on Birdguides about 10am showed that the American Horned Lark was showing on the north side of the causeway.  So with a bright calm morning forecast it looked good to see the bird and maybe get some photos with the sun at my back.  I had previously seen the bird back in November along with Simon Ram but then the bird was over 200 metres away!  I was obviously hoping for something a little closer

About an hour later I arrived on site and found that the bird was towards the east end of the causeway, so a few minutes walking was called for.  Unfortunately the bird had decided to move to the sunny south side of the causeway making light conditions for photography a little tricky as we were facing the sun.  About 30-40 birders were there in the hour or so I was present.  A little surprising mid-week and for a bird that had been around a while.

The bird continued to feed over a 100 metres stretch for the next hour or so.  There was no sign of it moving back to the north side.

American Horned Lark - Light conditions not great but at least only 20-30feet away.

On the way back I was keeping an eye out for the Water Pipits that had been reported but all I saw were a few Meadow Pipits.  However I did find a nice Black-necked Grebe that seemed to be associating with some Pochard.  The photos below were taken through the railings and at an angle!  It was moving around quite a bit so I felt lucky just to get the shots below.

Black-necked Grebe - In the NW corner of the south basin.

Big Garden Birdwatch

Sue and I spent an hour recording the species as part of the RSPBs national census.  We managed 16 species:-
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Coal Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Woodpigeon
Stock Dove
Pheasant
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
Starling
Blackcap
Chaffinch
Goldfinch
Siskin

Enjoyable but frustrating when our regular Nuthatch failed to appear.  Recent daily visitors, a pair of Bullfinches, also failed to show as did Ring-necked Parakeet.  A few weeks ago they were permanent adornments to the feeders but appear to have left the area (for now!).

Great Spotted Woodpecker - A garden regular . WE had two different females and a male in the hour

Blackcap - This female has been a regular for a week or so. 

Long-tailed Tit - One of seven seen.

Siskins - We saw three at one point. 

Add caption

Lesser Redpoll - Too late for the birdwatch but nice to see all the same. 

Add caption

Marlow Area Birding

I was just off out birding when I heard that a Meditteranean Gull hd been found by Mike Mayall at Little Marlow GP.  Having failed to see one here on my last few visits to the site, I thought I might as well change my plans and take a look.

When I got there I failed to see the bird as I presume it was out of sight, but after a while I saw it on the water bathing.  It soon moved onto the sand spit where it stayed for some time.  It was rather distant so the photos are not great but a nice smart bird to see all the same.  There were several hundred other gulls present but nothing of note.

Mediterranean Gull - An adult.  A welcome addition to my year list.

Then a short drive to the west of Marlow to see the newly created flood relief scheme.  This is situated immediately to the north of Marlow Low Grounds, a site that does produce good birds from time to time.  Judging by the extensive shallow water available, I can imagine quite a few interesting waders being attracted to the site in the future!

Mainly Black-headed Gulls, plus a few Common Gulls on the closest group of gulls.
(Click on the images to enlarge)

Again mainly Black-headed Gulls, plus a few Common Gulls on a slightly more distant group of gulls

The furthest group of gulls contained quite a few large gulls, mainly Herring Gulls but also a handful of Lesser and Great Black-backed Gulls.

Colour Ringed Lesser BB Gull

The Yellow ring read "C+F" and was ringed in Gloucester on 30th June 2013.  It has been seen in Leicestershire many times since and also in Maidenhead in March 2016.