A mixed weekend

A foray to the wetland centre on Saturday revealed 50 species, with a handful of notable sightings: a winter-plumaged Water Pipit, two Reed Buntings, two male Stonechats a couple of Mandarins in with the captive birds, still two pairs of Pintail, best views yet of the 2cy Yellow-legged Gull with aberrant bill and one of the Peregrines showed fairly well as it drifted over.

2cy Yellow-legged Gull - the regular bird with aberrant bill

Male European Stonechat

The river held comfortably the highest number of Herring Gulls that I've recorded here so far - around 350. Unfortunately nothing could be found among them and the party was ended prematurely when a Common Buzzard went low south-west, flushing them all.

I decided to stay in on Sunday morning in order to get some work done. Bad decision - before I knew it, David Campbell was doing damage at the wetland centre with Iceland and Caspian Gulls. I spent the rest of the afternoon working the river, dodging the at times biblical rain showers, and saw little more than the usual two Yellow-legged Gulls - the aberrant bird was observed on the river for the first time near Hammersmith Bridge while the regular bird at Chiswick Eyot was showing well.

Yellow-legged Gull, Chiswick Eyot, 5 March 2017

A visit to Beddington Monday morning was productive with six Caspian Gulls (four 2cy and two 3cy), including the pallid, yellow-ringed 'X319', which was seen on the Thames in East London by Rich et al on numerous occasions before it became regular at Beddington.

Confiding 2cy Caspian Gull at Beddington, 6 March 2017

A quick check of the gulls along the Thames between Fulham and Chiswick in the afternoon produced very little, aside continuing Dutch Black-headed Gull 'EE5T' and a German Common Gull, 'ALJJ'. This bird was ringed as pullus on Heligoland in summer 2015 and mine is the first sighting of it since!

3cy Common Gull 'ALJJ', Fulham, 6 March 2017