Another juvenile Caspian Gull

A quick lunchtime visit to Dogsthorpe Tip on Monday produced another juvenile Caspian Gull. This latest individual was particularly pale and distinct, despite scapular moult having only just commenced, and was also a massive bird.

Juvenile Caspian Gull rivalling Great Black-backs for size

The pit here is pretty big and most of the gulls are out of range for the DSLR but birds on the spit show quite well. When gulls take off from the spit and head back to the tip to feed, they tend to fly quite close by - so the views can be quite good with luck.

Caspian Gulls in Peterborough

I'm back in Lincolnshire for Birdfair weekend and have been able to sneak in a couple of fairly brief sessions at Dogsthorpe Tip over the past two days - one on my way back home yesterday and one before work this morning. In total I've seen five Caspian Gulls: two 3cy and juvenile yesterday and then two of those birds plus a second juvenile and a near-adult (4cy) this morning.

Scope views of the pit are pretty good at present but both yesterday and today have been very warm, with an abundance of heat haze making photography difficult. It's a stretch for my 400mm lens to produce anything decent at the best of times here and so the efforts below are really just for documentation. Unfortunately the near-adult wasn't photographed despite doing a brilliant fly-past at about 30m range - I should have nailed it but my camera was on the wrong settings and so all I have are blurs.

Bird #1: juvenile, 17-18 August

I'm a bit sceptical about whether this is a pure Caspian Gull. Plumage is a little on the dark side - not out of range for a juvenile Casp but, when combined with the fairly Herring-like structure (quite big-headed and short-billed) plus quite heavily marked uppertail and undertail coverts, alarm bells sound. However it possesses the typical mouse-brown basal colour as well as the long, drooping lower tertials of a juvenile Casp and does kind of just look like one - if you don't stare too hard! The underwing is pretty pale, too, if not as pale as it can be in cachinnans. Perhaps it's from Germany.

Bird #2: juvenile, 18 August

Unlike the other youngster, no doubt about this one! First shot is with the DSLR, second with my iPhone 5.

Bird #3: 3cy (2s/3w), 17 August

Structurally quite obvious and also showed a small white mirror on retained p10.

Bird #4: 3cy(?), 17-18 August

I didn't realise this was a different bird to the above until I reviewed images this evening! Present almost next to the other 3cy on 17th, hence the confusion.

At least eight Yellow-legged Gulls were seen over the two sessions with the commonest age class being juveniles (four) followed by 2cy (three) and a single 4cy. Weirdly no adults; traditionally I've found them to be the commonest age class here in past summers.

Juvenile Yellow-legged Gull, 17 August

May Orchids

A first outing for me this season last weekend (23 & 24 May), Sword-leaved was a tick while the only Lady I had seen previously was a single plant at Hartslock that was some way past its best. Seeing thousands of both species was pretty eye-opening!

Bigger, better versions on my Flickr pages.

Lady Orchid, Kent

Monkey Orchid, Kent

Sword-leaved Helleborine, Hampshire

Fly Orchid, Hampshire

Burnt-tip Orchid, Hampshire

I also managed to jam in on the Greater Yellowlegs at Titchfield Haven on Sunday:

Day at the dump

Abhorrent weather conditions on Saturday and I very nearly got back in to bed at 6am having had little more than four hours' sleep and hearing the rain splattering against my window. Glad I gritted my teeth and got through it though. Steve Arlow kindly invited me along with him and Rich Bonser for a new experience for me - actually spending time on a dump looking at gulls.

Despite the absolutely disgusting conditions it turned out to be a successful few hours until a puncture curtailed our efforts. Highlight was a juvenile Glaucous Gull which unfortunately didn't perform closely for the camera, but three Caspian Gulls (two first-winters and a third-winter) showed at point-blank range and we also had a few Yellow-legged Gulls. Light was terrible for photos though.

 Big juvenile Glaucous having just swallowed something large and nasty.

 2cy cachinnans with pale, almost whitish scaps.

A pathetically small 2cy cachinnans with tiny bill.

A couple of leucistic birds concerned a Herring and a returning Norwegian-ringed Great Black-backed that had Richard unnecessarily excited, having first seen it on the dump last year. Also a couple of presumed Glaucous x Herrings (or perhaps just pale Herrings).

Rainham on Saturday

This perfect adult Caspian Gull was one of three on the tip at Rainham on Saturday morning - the others being 1cy and 3cy birds. It is quite a bright-billed and dark-mantled individual, and the pale eye can also been seen in the bottom image. My first Waxwing of the winter also dropped in a couple of times as we watched the tip.

Down in the dump

For the first time in a while, I managed to spend the morning at Rainham Tip. Despite a wet forecast, it actually turned out to be an OKish morning weather-wise and, despite the relatively low numbers present, the gulls also produced a few decent bits.

Arriving a little after 08:30, I had a Water Pipit flying around near the stone barges as I made my way along the riverside footpath to the tipping area. This was soon followed by the first Caspian Gull of the morning: a heavy-looking first-winter with really nice scapulars and coverts and a distinct dark smudge behind the eye, which really emphasised the white eyelids.

Over the next few hours, I was joined by a few others including David Bradnum. It wasn't the most dynamic of mornings on the tip with hundreds (rather than thousands) of large gulls, although we did have a further two Casps - a green-ringed second-winter (ring covered in sh*t and thus unreadable) that was a bit retarded on the upperparts and seemed to lack a mirror on p10, and a really smart adult picked up by Dave.

Another Rock/Water Pipit also flew over calling and there were plenty of the expected winter species along the Thames including about a dozen Yellow-legged Gulls (of all ages) throughout the morning. This Rook also showed well on the fence adjacent to where we were stood...

Summer gulling...

... had me a blast.

Great morning down at Coldharbour Lane, Rainham yesterday morning (21st). Rich B and I had originally intended to spend the morning at Cross Ness but, on waking up and hearing news that that bloody torch was in Greenwich, we diverted north of the Thames and headed east for Rainham. What a good decision that turned out to be.

Having grown up gulling in Peterborough, I'm used to larids being challenging to see and, when you finally get in a good position to look at them, you face the probability of flushing the lot as they're inevitably both wary and flighty. As I've said before, you rarely get a good view of the majority of gulls present in a session; most of the sites they frequent are private, difficult to get in to, or both. I would say that in an average session I manage to check less than 50% of the gulls, with this total particularly low in summer when vegetation hampers viewing even further.

So, what of such a rant? Well, I must say I was hugely impressed with the setup at Rainham. Having the pleasure of being able to see hundreds of gulls unobscured and at relatively close range is always great for me, but particularly so in summer. Here you get great views of the birds loafing on the Thames by the stone barges, and also good views loafing within the tip complex itself. Unsurprisingly, I was keen to get stuck in, pulling out this 2nd-summer Caspian Gull almost right away:

3cy cachinnans: note the small white mirror on retained p10 - diagnostic of the species

... and here you can see the retained third generation tail feathers.

It quickly became apparent that there were shed loads of Yellow-legged Gulls around: in the three or so hours we spent at Rainham, we estimated that we had seen at least 40. Many of these were juveniles; some were really blatant but others had us scrutinizing much more closely - experience from foreign trips to e.g. Morocco has taught us both that michahellis can be remarkably Lesser Black-backed-like, and vice versa. The rest of the birds we saw were 3cy+, with plenty of second-summers and adults although strangely, we could not find a single first-summer anywhere. This is something I've noticed in Peterborough; 2cy birds are often present throughout June and early July but slowly decrease in number, being replaced by juveniles and older birds as July progresses. Not sure why this is, but it can't all be down to inept observers!

Juveniles of argenteus (left) and michahellis (right).

Juvenile michahellis having a stretch, juvenile argenteus looking dumb.

4cy michahellis: particularly washed out bare parts on this one.

Juvenile michahellis having a drink on the Thames.

Another juv michahellis; note commenced moult in the scaps.

Pseudo-michahellis, presumably intermedius?

Rich picked out a smashing juvenile Mediterranean Gull (probably the freshest I've ever seen) while, earlier in the morning, I cottoned on to harsh 'kir-iick' of an adult Sandwich Tern as it bombed westwards upriver - had there been a breath of wind, I imagine it would have sneaked by unnoticed. We also had a few locally-ringed Herring Gulls, and a juvenile gull complete with yellow ring. Hopefully report back on this later in the week, as we're a little confused right now.

Leaving the sights and smells of Rainham behind, we headed over the Thames (via a snarled up Dartford Crossing) to Crayford. Very few gulls here, so we continued west to Cross Ness. Again, it was very quiet along the foreshore on the rising tide, with entertainment being provided by four Black-tailed Godwits and at least six Common Sandpipers. After scoring a McDonald's, it was back towards birdless West London for a sleepy afternoon in the sun.