Greater Yellowlegs

I have had a couple of trips down to Titchfield Haven looking for the Greater Yellowlegs. They were both dips. The first, I think, was a false alarm triggered by a Greenshank and for the second visit, the bird, whatever it was had just melted away into the reeds.

With further sightings being posted yesterday and this morning I thought I would give it another go. The weather was poor with strong winds and steady rain so I thought there would be a good chance of it staying in place until I could get there.

I had a good feeling this time although my confidence dropped a bit when I saw a lot of people walking back along the track to the road. Fortunately the news was good - still showing well from the Spurgin hide.

Black-tailed Godwit and Greater Yellowlegs

The Yellowlegs was feeding with a small flock of Godwits. It was much closer than I had expected but was behind some reeds for most of the time that I watched it. It was a case of focus on the bird, then wait for it to face the right way, take its head out of the water and, if you were lucky, have the reeds blow out of the way at the same time. It's a technique guaranteed to give you a lot of failures but if you take enough pictures there will be a reasonable one in amongst them somewhere.

 I had great hopes of the bird coming over in front of the hide but every time it moved towards us it was chased back behind the reeds by one of the Gulls. Interesting that it only did this to the Yellowlegs and left the Godwits that it was feeding with alone.

I had expected to see a more pronounced upturned bill

I watched it for about an hour, then something flushed all the birds on the scrape. The Godwits took off, wheeled once over the scrap and then headed off north, possibly going back to the Posbrook Flood. 

I would have liked longer with the bird and also the chance to get some better pictures but, with it having flown off, I could at least head for home without worrying about what I was missing.

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.