Kittiwake

I have been out gathering year ticks over the past week. That is, see the bird and move on, rather than stand and wait for the right picture opportunity. However, I have still ended up with a few pictures that are worth putting on the blog.

One of the key birds I was looking for was a Little Gull. I was standing in the right place, just by Southsea pier, a juvenile Little Gull had been seen a few minutes earlier, and this bird was sitting just off the beach. The risk is that we see what we are looking for and not what is actually there. It looked good, but then, the bill was the wrong shape, the dark collar on the back of the neck looked wrong, and it should have had black cap of some form. It's actually a juvenile Kittiwake but it had me fooled for a while and I had to spend some time delving through books on gull identification once I got home to be sure.

Therein lies the real benefit of bird photography. You get a second chance to check the identification. Without that I could easily have made a mistake.

Juvenile Kittiwake

Juvenile Kittiwake

Fortunately we caught up with a Juvenile Little Gull a couple of days later on Climping Beach. It was too far away for a picture but at least that time I had a lot clearer idea of what I was looking for.

It's hard work but I think I could actually get to like juvenile gull identification.

Other gulls spotted whilst we were out were Common and Mediterranean. The first at Arundel Wetland Centre and the second on Climping Beach. However, with Waldo failing to return to Gosport, there is no easy Ring-billed Gull this year.

Common Gull

Mediterranean Gull

The Wetland Centre also gave us ticks for Goldcrest and Firecrest. As you might expect there were a couple of decent Goldcrest shots but all the Firecrest pictures were blurred.

Goldcrest

Farlington Marsh gave us distant views of Bearded Tits but there was no chance of a picture. Fortunately the ever present Stonechat popped up to have his picture taken.

Stonechat

And, finally a trip to Church Norton didn't give us the views of a Spoonbill that we were looking for but we did get to see an overwintering Whimbrel that was hunkering down out of the wind.

Whimbrel

It has not been a bad start to the year but there are still a few of the winter birds that I would like to find before they head off to their summer grounds.

2014 and a New Birding List

2014 is with us and for those of us that keep year lists it brings a fresh start. The need to hunt down those last few birds that you know you should have seen in 2013 has disappeared. You start again with a clean sheet and every bird counts.

We had planned to get the year off to a good start by being out birding on New Years Day but, given the poor weather, we had to defer it to the Thursday. We were after quality not quantity and had a list of target birds that we wanted to pick up early in the year before they disappeared. Top of that list was the Lesser Yellowlegs at Lepe Country Park, so we started our day there and worked our way back along the coast.

Lesser Yellowlegs in early morning light

Redshank and Lesser Yelowlegs

Although not chasing numbers we did still manage to see over sixty different birds on the day. It seems odd having to look out for the more common birds such as Tits, Robins, and Sparrows but this time of the year they all count and are all greeted enthusiastically. Although, having missed one earlier in the day and fearing that he had fallen behind, Dave's cry of joy at finding a Mute Swan was perhaps a bit over the top.

Long-tailed Duck was on our list with a possible stop off at the Hayling Island Oyster Beds on the way back. However, we were lucky enough to find one in the entrance to the Beaulieu River and it gave much closer views than you normally get with the Hayling bird.

Long-tailed Duck

With crab for lunch

The only real disappointment on the day came when we stopped off at Stokes Bay but could not locate the long staying Yellow-legged Gull. However, we had better luck with another long stayer at Walpole park in Gosport where the Ring-billed Gull "Waldo" has returned for what must now be its eleventh or twelfth year.

Waldo

There is always a bit of initial confusion in picking the Ring-billed out from the Common Gulls at the same location. The clincher is the yellow eye and slightly more aggressive look.

Common Gull

We spent the afternoon at Pagham North Wall ticking off some of the usual waders. There were thousands of birds there although with the tide high in the harbour and with the fields north of the wall flooded the birds were often distant. We were just starting to think of going home when we were tipped off to a pair of Whooper Swans on Ivy Lake Chichester. This is a bird that I missed completely last year so it was worth the quick diversion on the way home. We got there just in time to get a record shot before the light faded completely.

Whooper Swans and Canada Goose

After a couple of weeks away from birding due to the weather and Christmas commitments it was great to get out again. There is so much I want to see before the end of the month - I just need it to stop raining.





 

Ring-billed Gull

Various people had told me about the Ring-billed Gull on Walpole Lake in Gosport. It appears to have been returning every winter for a number of years and when I checked on the web I found reports going back to 2003. Given that the bird has a life expectancy of 10 to 15 years I thought I had best make the effort to get down there to see it before it was too late.

The day got off to a good start when I came across this Kestrel sitting by the side of the road. Not brilliant lighting conditions but on a cold January morning its nice to be able to just stick the camera out of the car window.

This looks like a regular perch so there may be better pictures to be had in the future.

I arrived at the boating lake at Walpole Park and spent about an hour searching the area without any sight of the Ring-billed Gull, Waldo as he is called. Thought I was on to him a couple of times but they were both Common Gulls which look very similar.

Getting cold and bored I resolved to move on to Titchfield Haven and return for Waldo later in the day. Titchfield was very quiet. A few birds mostly Lapwings and Oystercatchers on the islands in the middle of the lake and very little moving. I spent an hour staring at some reeds where there was supposed to be a Bittern, but if it was there it had decided not to show itself. The only picture I took at the site was of something that should not have been inside the electrified fence.

As I walked back to the car looking for movement in the trees I managed to cap my session at Titchfield by walking off the path into a hidden gully and filling both boots with water and soaking my trousers to the knee. At least I did not drop the camera into the water.

So back to Gosport and the search for Waldo. No luck again and after an hour I retired to the car to warm up before returning home. Switched on the engine, started to drive out the car park and then thought I should give it one final try before leaving. Glad I did as Waldo was standing at the far end of the boating pool.

Ring-billed Gull

I had hoped to get some pictures in flight but he did not seem very active. Even when all the other gulls were spooked he only raised his head for a casual look around.

Ring-billed Gull

 Interesting to compare him with a Common Gull.

Common Gull

 The heavier beak and yellow eye are the key identification points. The upper parts are a paler grey than the Common but this is not obvious unless they are seen together as shown below. Apologies for the Common Gull being out of focus.

Ring-billed gull in the foreground with Common Gull behind

Overall a poor days birding that was rescued by luck in the first and last half hours.