Another slice of the cachinnans pie

Returned to Dogsthorpe Tip today with John Saunders in an attempt to relocate yesterday's juvenile Caspian Gull and hopefully show him the ropes with a few immature YLGs. The weather was very disappointing, being cold and rainy throughout the three hours I spent on site. Nevertheless, within an hour I had located another Caspian Gull - this one being a massive 3cy bird looking for all intents and purposes like a 3rd-winter. However, it was still moulting it's primaries and one or two other bits looked like they were yet to be replaced. Big, bulky bird with a huge conk - must be a male:






In the third (open wing) shot you can also see the white spot on the old P10 feather - a classic feature of 2nd-winter Caspian Gull if any confirmation was really needed.
In addition to this, yesterday's juvenile dropped back in mid-afternoon for 10 minutes or so allowing John some nice views to compare the bird to the surrounding juvenile Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, as well as the couple of juvenile/1st-winter Yellow-legged Gulls we had observed earlier.

Despite the rain, a most rewarding afternoon.

Juvenile Caspian Gull

Fresh juvenile Caspian Gulls are a pretty rare sight in Britain - most 1cy birds appear a little later on when they have undertaken quite a bit of moult. Today (17th), I had a stunning juvenile at my local gull mecca of Dogsthorpe Tip, Cambridgeshire. I've put a few photos below - click for larger versions:






I think this is probably only the second juvenile I've seen, and definitely the freshest. Even at such a young age, a juvenile Caspian Gull is a wonderfully striking beast, as the images above illustrate.
In addition to the obvious structural features - ridiculously long legs, long parallel bill and long body giving a gangly, rangey appearance - the plumage is most striking. At rest, the remarkably pale (white) underparts are immediately apparent, particularly when viewed head-on. The tertials are plain and dark. In the final image (a composite of several videograbs), the underwing and upperwing patterns can be seen - unlike other juvenile gulls, the underwing is virtually white, even this early in the season. Note also the pale window in the inner primaries. The upperwing has a distinct and striking dark secondary bar. Although it can't be seen well, the tail possesses a dark and sharply-demarcated black band at the tip, although is predominately otherwise white with very limited flecking.

Brilliant bird!

Turkey in late July...

... is incredibly hot, sweaty and hard work. It appears that by the second half of July, alot of birds (for example Upcher's and Olive-tree Warblers were notable in their absence) have already cleared out. However, I had twenty new WP birds; the highlight a magnificent family of Brown Fish Owls watched at point-blank range for an hour or so. A few photographs below:







Adult Brown Fish Owl (pics 1 & 2), juvenile Pallid Scops Owl, juvenile Iraq Babbler and a gaggle of Armenian Gulls.

Caspian Gull, 22nd July

Had my first Caspian Gull of the summer today; a lovely (near-)adult that appeared for a few minutes on the 'ridge' at Dogsthorpe Tip before all gulls were flushed and it was lost to view once more... hence the rubbish photos below:




Also at 'The Dog' were six Yellow-legged Gulls (adult, 2 third-summers, 3 juveniles) though birds very difficult to view today and I suspect there were plenty more than this. There were also 5 michs in about 500 gulls at Tanholt, including the second-summer below:

Juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls

I had five juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls in the Peterborough area today (four at Dogsthorpe, one at Tanholt), making it the most common age-class of the day. I guess more and more will appear as the month wears on. The only other michs seen today were the Caspian-like 1st-summer (from last week) again at Dogsthorpe, and an adult at Tanholt.
A couple of juveniles are illustrated in the images below:

Back on the tip, 12th July

I had an hour spare this afternoon, so headed to my favourite of all birding locations - Dogsthorpe Tip. A fair selection of gulls were present; probably c.500 or so on the tip, but only about half of that on view. Amongst the 'large' were four Yellow-legged Gulls (2 adults, 2 juveniles). Adult:


... and juvenile (note scapular moult already commencing):



However, my highlight of the day (they usually are when they look this good) was this adult Mediterranean Gull, which dropped in with a group of LBBs:


I'll be back on the tip with more time later in the week.

Quail, 11th July

I hear quail most years, either locally or somewhere in the UK when on my travels. Until yesterday evening, I had never seen one in this country - most of the local birds I hear are usually miles away in the middle of agricultural fields, and often after dark. So, spurred on by local reports of at least one Quail singing (and apparently even showing) near Ryhall, I decided to go and check it out last night.

I arrived at around 17:45, and spent a fruitless half an hour listening for birds singing up and down the road. Eventually, a male Quail started singing at around 18:15 in the same spot as one was heard and seen on Saturday evening. I rang Will Bowell to let him know, and he soon joined me. Over the next hour or so, two males were heard singing in the near corner of a pea field. Perhaps spurred on by one another, their song became louder and more regular after 19:15 and, eventually, Will picked up one bird sat out in the field edge singing.

Even abroad I have only seen Quail scurrying or flying for cover. It was a truly wonderful experience to be able to watch this bird singing and feeding just 20 metres away along a furrow, and finally appreciate the fantastic intricacy of their subtly-beautiful plumage. I was even fortunate enough to take a few half-decent images:





A really special moment that will stay with me for a long time...

Straight gullin'

Another day, another visit to Dogsthorpe Tip. Today, I had eight Yellow-legged Gulls on and around the tip, despite only managing to get to check around half the birds present. Six of the eight were 1st-summers; the other two were 4cy/5cy type things - some of these boys can be a bit indeterminable in terms of age, particularly when at distance through a few fences. Here are some first-summers:


Big male


Another classic & v. striking bird


Quite a dirty-looking individual with streaky head



Caspian-esque


Scapulars almost fully-moulted but shitty-looking coverts and tertials.

And below are some older birds; note the first-summer though in the first shot:




There were very few gulls at Tanholt. Guess most must have been using 'The Dog' as they were actively tipping here.

Booby - an alternate perspective

This fantastic image puts in to perspective how I took the photos below...

Red-footed Booby, S France

Yesterday (5th), day-tripped the adult Red-footed Booby at Lac de Sainte Crox, Alpes-de-Haute Provence, some 100km or so northeast of Marseille. The bird showed wonderfully well (see the photo of it with me swimming behind!), although to us appeared a little ill - for example, it spent alot of time sat about closing its eyes and shaking! However, in-the-hand examinations seem to suggest it was actually in rude health(?!), and it is still there this afternoon.

All the above photos were taken with a point-and-shoot camera only; the image below is digiscoped.