Thursday 27 July 2017

Grasshopper Warbler at Geltsdale this morning ... singing ... and showing uncharacteristically well ...

My walk by Tindale Tarn was brightened by a juvenile sinensis Cormorant and Lapwing numbers of 150+ were good ... intermittent rain kept on coming ... then heading north past White Tortie a singing Grasshopper Warbler came within earshot ...

... scanning across the swathe of juncus seemed almost futile ... until ... there it was on a fence ...


... turning its head in typical style to give a confusingly ventriloquial effect ...



... there have been reports that this species sings better out in the open after rain ...




... this Red-listed species has done particularly well at Geltsdale where 57 pairs were present in 2011

... many parts of southern Britain have seen significant losses since the 1968 - 72 Atlas but northern parts of the country have fared better ...

... Cumbria seems to represent a microcosm of this situation ... and Geltsdale shows up as the largest area of gains ...

... the sonogram showing a constant range of frequency while changing in intensity with each turn of the head ...









Tuesday 18 July 2017

More Med. Gulls ... they're on the move ... Workington & Hauxley NR ...

It so often happens that going in search of one particular species results in finding something else ... and perhaps something more interesting ...

... and so it was two days ago ... while looking for Roseate Terns at Hauxley, a juvenile Med. Gull showed up ... and it was colour-ringed !



... just time to read the ring ... and off it went ...




... 2X8H ... black characters on a Yellow ring made it rather predictably a British-ringed bird ...

... and today word came back that it had been ringed on 22nd June on Coquet Island by Chris Redfern ... one of three chicks in a nest ... 

... today at Workington a small group of adult Med.Gulls was visible from the pier ,near the outfall pipe ... then from the footpath more flew in ... there were four adults a first-summer and a lovely juvenile ... an age group I don't see too often ...


... the regular Workington Med. Gull was flying around and another adult was on the far side of the harbour .. a total of eight birds ... later in the day a colour-ringed adult Med. Gull was at Anthorn .. the ring was white with black characters ( probably French ) but flew off too soon to be read ...

... after contacting my long-standing and endlessly friendly, enthusiastic and prompt contact Andreas at Hamburg, I got updates on two other gulls ringed on the same day but arriving on opposites coastlines of northern England ...

AAEJ ... a returning bird to the Workington area ...

... and AAJR ... which favoured the Northumberland coast ...



... despite AAEJ having returned regularly to Workington, it has continued its autumn journey to winter in Iberia ...


... in my quest to discover the breeding season whereabouts of the Workington Med. Gull aka Stumpy I sent photos to Andreas ...


... we may yet discover where she goes ...



Thursday 13 July 2017

The Workington Mediterranean Gull ( aka Stumpy ) is back ... for its ninth year ...

There were three Med. Gulls at Workington Harbour yesterday ... two adults and a second summer ... and all looking pristine with jet black hoods showing crisply in the sunshine and that clear air created by the northerly breeze ... and one of those was the regular wintering bird ...





... it was on 30th July 2009 that I first found this bird, then in first-summer plumage ...


... it had been ringed as a nestling at Kieldrecht, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium on 27th May 2008 ... and here it was 429 days later and 641 km from the ringing site, direction NW.

... it has been reported only twice at locations other than the Workington area ... once on 15th April 2010 when it was at Seaforth NR, Merseyside ...

... and then on 3rd July 2015 at Dawlish Warren, Devon ...

... this was 2593 days after it was ringed and 540 km away ...

... there are no reports of it during the breeding season ... perhaps it returns to its natal site ... but who knows ?   the reports of it in NW and SW England would certainly be consistent with that ...




... while Workington is a site that often hosts Med. Gulls numbering into double figures in early autumn, it is not a major wintering location ... some individuals with colour rings have passed through Workington in successive years before going on to spend the winter in Spain ...


Monday 3 July 2017

Some early passage waders on the Solway ... Whimbrel & colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit

On the falling tide today four Whimbrel called as they flew in and fed at Port Carlisle ...


... associating sometimes with Redshank ...


... and also with several of the Common Sandpipers present ...


... one came in high ...



... before joining the others ...

... a Curlew came by uttering the characteristic three-note call of migrating birds ...



There was plenty of water in Campfield Scrape ... obviously benefitting the grassland behind where ten Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits were variously feeding and roosting ... one was colour-ringed ( details hopefully to follow ) ...



... among the Lapwings a single juvenile with its subtly scaled mantle and delicately patterned buff face pattern ...





Sunday 2 July 2017

Back on the old patch ... Nosterfield Quarry ... Sabine's Gull now in its seventh day ...

This is a great record for Nosterfield ... a great record for any inland site ... and a good record for anywhere in Britain ...


... it was also one of the wettest days I've known ... luckily this first-summer bird was on the near shore so a few 'phone-scope shots were just about possible ...



... it walked along the shore in wader-style as it fed ...

... as I had previously had only flight views and often distant ones of this species of gull, I was particularly keen to see it ...

... there is always something about a high Arctic breeder ... and one that winters far away in the oceans of the southern hemisphere ... and normally lives a highly pelagic existence ...


... Nosterfield is a great reserve and one that has continued to change and improve over the four decades that I've known it ...