A day trip to Scarborough is a must to see the over wintering Mediterranean Gulls and often there are divers and grebes sheltering in the fishing harbour.
On 4th February we made a day trip to Scarborough and managed some superb views of a juvenile Great Northern Diver and of course the “Med” Gulls. A loaf of bread always comes in handy.
Missed the Hoodie – drat… but a new tick – an Ivy Bee – NOT – Miss Identified !!
You can't win em all, as they say. We missed out today (18th Nov) on the Hooded Merganser at Pagham Harbour, apparently seen to fly off late afternoon on Saturday 17th November. Well it had done this before, so we saw no reason to think it had gone or worse, may be the local Peregrine took it, well, we will never know.
One of the most interesting observations at Pagham was a small colony of Ivy Bees (Colletes hederae). I'd not seen this species of bee before. A recent colonist to the south coast of Britain, with the first sightings coming from Dorset in 2001. The bee has now spread across Southern England and into South Wales. Easily identified, as it is on th ewing well into October and November. The banding on the bees abdomen has a distinct orange hue but this fades with age. These bees were frantically pollenating on Ivy Flowers in the warm sunshine and a nest must have been close by.
UNFORTUNATELY I HAVE RE-IDENTIFIED THE SPECIES AS JUST HONEY BEE – (Apis mellifera) WITH THE HELP OF BWARS.
Honey Bee – Apis mellifera
Several other good birds were in the area. So after several hours at Pagham, we decided to cut our losses and head off to Farlington Marshes for a Red-breasted Goose. After a hell of a walk out along the tidal foot path, we eventuall got good but distant views of the bird amongst a huge flock of Dark-bellied Brent Geese. Stacks of birds in the area as it was high tide. A pair of Marsh Harriers flew high over the area and there were many Red-breasted Merganser in Langstone Harbour, along with vast numbers of roosting waders. What a superb area. Also three Black-necked Grebe from the car park.
Adult Red-breasted Goose
Dark-bellied Brent Goose
On our way back north, we called in at Gosport for the adult Ring-billed Gull that has returned to spend yet another winter on a small lake in the area. Also here an adult winter Mediterranean Gull. Plenty of opportunity for some good pictures. The year list has moved on to 247.
Adult Ring-billed Gull
Adult winter Mediterranean Gull
Adult winter Black-headed Gull
The North East Coast of England provides some great birding opportunities.
With the Farnes and Coquet Island not too far away, Sand Haven Beach at South Shields is a great place for watching Terns. We had a great morning here photographing the rare Roseate Tern, and fortunately we discovered a pair feeding two juveniles just off the rocks along the causeway. Plenty of Common Terns, a couple of Sandwich Tern, a juvenile/1st winter Mediterranean Gull, couple of Eider and numerous Guillemot in the harbour mouth. Not a bad day. A great place Glyn, thanks for the company. My year list has been static for a while so moves on to 217.
Juvenile Roseate Tern
Juvenile Roseate Tern
Juvenile Roseate Tern
Juvenile Roseate Tern
Common Tern – Adult & Juvenile
Adult Roseate Tern
Adult Roseate Tern
Adult Common Tern
Adult Common Tern
Adult Common Tern
Juvenile Common Tern
Common Tern – Adult & Juvenile
Juvenile Common Tern
1st Winter Mediterranean Gull
Juvenile Sanderling
Sanderling – Moulting Adult
A day out in North Norfolk provided some real cracking birds with 9 species of Raptor being seen during the day. Hunstanton seafront is always a good place to start and we soon found a single Snow Bunting, 5 Mediterranean Gulls and after a tip-off, a fine Purple Sandpiper. Plenty of common waders and several Eider off-shore. A few Fulmar off Hunstanton Cliffs and thousands of Pink-footed Geese moving off the Wash inland.
Below – First winter Snow Bunting – Snettisham, Norfolk.
Moving on to Titchwell RSPB Reserve, a fine adult Whooper Swan in fields by the entrance and also numerous Brent Geese. On the freshwater lagoon a good variety of waders including Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Snipe, Ruff and Dunlin. Also a Water Pipit, numerous Pintail, several Marsh Harrier, a Little Egret and I managed to find a 2nd winter Mediterranean Gull in the large flock of Black-headed Gulls, that had not been discovered at the time.
On the sea a Red-necked Grebe, several Red-breasted Merganser, numerous Goldeneye and several hundred distant Common Scoter. A single Sanderling on the foreshore amongst Bar-tailed Godwit, Knot and Oystercatcher.
Black-headed Gull – Titchwell, Norfolk.
Redshank – Titchwell, Norfolk.
Finishing off at Titchwell we had 45 Twite and a Lapland Bunting. The purpose of this trip was really to see the long staying Juvenile Male Northern Harrier (the American race of our Hen Harrier). This bird was first identified as the race hudsonius back in November 2010. I first saw this bird over Burnham Norton on the 7th November but never had the courage of my convictions to call it.
After seeing the bird on surfbirds later in November I realised from the photos that it was the same bird. We eventually had excellent views as the bird flew across Thornham Harbour towards Titchwell in the middle of the afternoon. I managed to get the following record shots.
You can just make out the pattern of barring on the underwing which is a perfect match for Northern Harrier and also the bright Coppery Orange hues to the underparts, tail and wing coverts and contrasting dark brown head and neck “Boa”. Not having had any previous experience of this species, I was impressed with how distinctive it looked in flight. Seemed smaller and more compact than Hen Harrier and even at a distance the striking coloration of the bird could easily be seen.
Also at Thornham several Barn Owl and Marsh Harrier, Merlin, Peregrine, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel. We finished the day at Burnham Overy and had superb views of a Rough-legged Buzzard.
The day finished on 32 year ticks and the year list moved on to 124.
