Fri 26th Aug Afternoon tacho break just coming to an end when I picked up an individual in flight around the yard that looked good for a Yellow-legged Gull. It landed on the yard roof out of sight. End of tacho break so no time to relocate it. Went back at tea-time for a quick visit.
- adult type Yellow-legged Gull landed on 384 roof. Smart looking bird with some good looking features, but perhaps the thing that concerned me a little was the bare part colouration of the legs. Not a deepish yellow as expected but more of a fleshy yellow. I think it certainly deserves a submission in my view.
- Herring Gull (?) N:M43 present this afternoon. One of Tim Fraylings birds.
- sub adult Yellow-legged Gull Called in early evening with Lucas on way back from Nannas. It flew in onto the 384 roof for a minute or so then flew off, didnt see it again.
Received a reply from Richard Thompson (RSPCA, East Sussex) who used to ring urban Herring Gulls and did a Masters paper on the factors affecting admission to the rehabilitation centre and subsequent survival rates as opposed to their wild counterparts.
Herring Gull A300 from 3rd August is actually A3GG. Ringed 12.08.05 as a juvenile Released at Pett Level Beach, Winchelsea, East Sussex.
Returned early afternoon on my lunch to see if the red ringed juvenile Caspian Gull was still present but no sign.
I did a quick count of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls c230 adults on BCA roof, c40 on 384 roof, plenty more on yard roofs and in the air, lost count. Well in excess of 300 adults easily, spectacular for here, thats without other ages.
Managed a pass out after work for what was to be a very interesting couple of hours. c100+ adult Lesser Black-backed
Also Lesser Black-backed Gull JE8K Norwegian ringed. Ringed 01.07.12 Byparken, Bergen, Norway Sighted 15.04.21 Kjevikdalen, Lindås, Norway Then its my sighting tonight.
Possible adult Yellow-legged Gull and possible hybrid too, no doubt Ill be put out of my misery soon.
-- Edited by Rob Creek on Monday 15th of August 2022 09:32:55 PM
- Lesser Black-backed Gull, black ring T0XM Manx ringed bird by the looks of it, awaiting reply.
Received reply from Tim Frayling a few days ago for Lesser Black-backed Gull NE60 from 9th July, a mix up with recipients apparently. Bird was ringed as a chick 02.07.19 on Ribble Estuary.
I wont receive a reply for N:81C until end of August as he is on holiday.
- sub adult Yellow-legged Gull Nipped out of work on my lunch and found it almost immediately on the BCA roof. Most of the Gulls had their mouths open trying to keep cool in the hot sun. It was present for the duration of my visit.
Nipped back after work as I had a suspicion Id seen something in flight over the yard but couldnt pin it down, it was a good decision to go back.
- Yellow-legged Gull (another sub adult) Different bird to Saturday in my opinion, based on differences in bill pattern, mantle grey hue, P-10 mirror was slightly different, and Saturdays bird showed a black band on P5 when at rest which could be purely positional stance but looked to be a noticeable difference to me.
Sat 30th July. - Whilst looking for the Yellow-legged Gull I found an Argenteus Herring Gull with seemingly yellow legs but it was distant, light trickery could be a factor.
Sun 31st July. - 2 Canada Geese at the end of Redgate Lane walking into BCA brought a smile - 1 Grey Wagtail - 4 Pied Wagtail
Mon 1st Aug Nipped out from work on lunch early afternoon. - 1 Common Buzzard over 384 / Hyde Rd put up 100+ Gulls and was mobbed by a small group of Lesser Black-backed. - 1 Grey Wagtail - 1 Cormorant over
Different bird to the presumed bird the other day, firstly picked it up in flight as many of the Gulls were swirling around the yard and over Redgate Lane at lunchtime. Then it did the decent thing and landed on the 384 roof where it stayed for around 10 minutes before doing a quick fly round and back on the roof. It was showing well on the rubbish mound for a while up until around 20 minutes ago and Ive not seen it since.
Flew in and landed on the 384 roof, stuck around for a good 15 minutes before flying over the yard. Looked ok in my opinion, seemed to show some good features, will be submitted as always.
Sat 16th July Teatime visit after calling at Tesco Gorton.
- 3CY Yellow-legged Gull Not 100% on the age as a couple of features had me tooing and frowing but Ill stick with 2nd summer. It will be submitted as always. - 25+ adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls - 2 Black-headed Gulls
Sat 25th June. Quick lunchtime visit after Lucas football.
- c30 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls - c20-25 immature and sub adult Lesser Blacks - 2 Common Swift - 1 Kestrel over Hyde Rd
Sunday 26th June. Afternoon visit.
- minimum 41 Magpies - c30-40 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls with plenty of immatures and sub adults around - c30 Carrion Crows - 15+ Jackdaws - some Goldfinch flying around too - then what a sight when a mass of Starlings alighted from all areas of the yard. Probably in excess of 500-600 birds, fantastic.
Day off so took Lucas to nursery and called in briefly.
Magpie chick sat at side of road not looking in the best of shape and not budging when people walking passed. I picked it up and put it just under the railings within the grounds of the 384 building. Within a minute or so it started preening and an adult bird appeared on the roof so probably will have a good outcome, if the Gulls or Crows dont see it!
-- Edited by Rob Creek on Thursday 16th of June 2022 11:35:31 AM
-- Edited by Rob Creek on Thursday 16th of June 2022 11:37:41 AM
A morning dental appointment stopped me from going out delivering, but it meant I had 45 minutes to nip out to Redgate for my lunch. Interesting visit!
- c40 Lesser Black-backed Gulls - 1 LBb with bright green ring - 1 Herring Gull with white ring
As suspected, unfortunately without any numbers or letters I cant even hazard a guess as to where they were ringed, as a quick look on cr-birding suggests either bird could potentially be from anywhere. UK, Spain, Holland, Russia, ???
Couple of visits over the weekend. Plenty of birds look to have bred close by, I observed young of various species in the yard.
- c500 Starling what a site when they all took flight from the mound, mostly young. - a young Dunnock hopping around the yard. - young Carrion Crows adding to the already big numbers. - young House Sparrows dotted around - even a young Blue Tit calling to a parent bird
Also of note - c60 large Gulls (2/3 Lesser Black-backed) - 1 Whitethroat singing from BCA Auctions hedge - 1 Chiffchaff singing from PDSA car park
Couldnt resist a cheeky call in whilst popping to MacD for breakfast, and I was pleased to see that Gull numbers are finally on the up, NOT!
- 15 large Gulls 12 Lesser Black-backed, 2 Herring and a 2nd yr Great Black-backed. - 6 Goldfinch - 2 Dunnock - 1 Robin - c100 Starling incl juvs on the mound
Nothing of note during a few visits over the weekend then a mid-afternoon visit today saw a 1st winter Caspian Gull briefly on the rubbish mound then chasing a Black-headed Gull over the 384 building before giving up and landing on the back side of the new looking warehouse roof opposite BCA and I didnt see it again.
(ps. It was the one with the white wing patch and long grey tertial)
Also - c150 Black-headed Gulls - c40+ Carrion Crows
A first winter Caspian Gull showed incredibly well on and off all afternoon on the 384 roof and in the main yard. Looks to be the individual thats been present intermittently since the 12th Dec. Lots of gulls about today, but little else of note.
Difficult viewing due to bright sunlight and roof reflection, but I just managed to get a decent enough spot to view one of the roofs with most Gulls on when a female Sparrowhawk appeared, started circling and out the whole lot up, and they remained in the air for about 20 mins so I gave up!
The 2nd winter Caspian Gull that I saw in the morning and has subsequently been hanging around is a different bird to the 2w seen in Dec and Jan. Whilst browsing images of the tails, I noticed that the earlier bird already had a white feather in the black subterminal band.
-- Edited by Rob Creek on Monday 7th of March 2022 09:50:48 PM
-- Edited by Rob Creek on Monday 7th of March 2022 09:53:44 PM
-- Edited by Rob Creek on Monday 7th of March 2022 09:55:07 PM
- 2nd w Caspian Gull still present early afternoon. Sat on apex of BCA roof then briefly in flight low over 384 building.
Also earlier on - possible 1st w Caspian but not best views - large Gull with yellow legs but not Lesser Black-backed - 1 Grey Wagtail - 3 Pied Wagtail
On arrival I was told by Miles that the 2nd winter Caspian had just been seen but had flown off. We didnt have to wait too long, I picked up an interesting bird in flight heading towards us and gave the heads up, it turned out to be the very bird. It landed on the yard framework then did a couple of laps before landing on the mound. It remained there for a while mooching around but doing the odd few seconds disappearing act.
After comparing images from January 11th, I think its the same bird, and I think the image I posted this morning is actually this 2nd winter bird.
-- Edited by Rob Creek on Monday 28th of February 2022 08:55:00 AM
A 2nd winter Caspian Gull joined the feeding frenzy in the yard at 15:00 today and was present until 16:15. The same individual was seen on the 11th Jan, 19th Feb and 22nd Feb.
-- Edited by Miles Cluff on Sunday 27th of February 2022 08:46:45 PM
- 1st winter Caspian Gull present this morning. Seen in flight briefly but then decided to rest out of sight on one of the newer warehouse roofs out of sight. All the Gulls were flushed by a Peregrine then shortly after a female Sparrowhawk.
Checking images last night and the 1st w Caspian seen yesterday is the same bird I photographed on 31st Jan and previous to that. It has 3rd left tail feather damage which pretty much matches up. Its the very white headed individual with brown covert tones.
The first winter Caspian Gull performed very well today around the main yard on and off from 11:00am to 1:30pm, but no sign for the rest of the afternoon.
Friday 25th Feb Afternoon visit, nice to see John Raynor on site.
- no sign of any Caspian Gulls - Black-headed Gull T5VC still here
As well as T5VC there was a green ringed Black-headed Gull but I can't quite make out the alphanumerics (?00T, ?08T etc). Has this been photographed before?
Cheers, John
John, its J00T - Norwegian ringed as a chick in 2015, I had it here 03.03.21 (see post), seen in Cork 2015, then I saw a Tweet last year that it was in Cork again less than a month before Redgate. Cheers
Managed a few flight shots of the 1st w Caspian Gull. It landed briefly on the rubbish mound but the mound was roughly the same height as the fence so it made for better viewing in flight.
-- Edited by Rob Creek on Saturday 26th of February 2022 04:33:33 PM
-- Edited by Rob Creek on Saturday 26th of February 2022 04:33:58 PM
Friday 25th Feb Afternoon visit, nice to see John Raynor on site.
- no sign of any Caspian Gulls - Black-headed Gull T5VC still here
As well as T5VC there was a green ringed Black-headed Gull but I can't quite make out the alphanumerics (?00T, ?08T etc). Has this been photographed before?