After another mammoth sleep I awoke and checked on the
weather and bird news RBA and #RBN. There had been Sandwich Tern and Turnstone reported in the London area and
after a peek out of the curtains to see low cloud I hot footed it to the Farm.
I was surprised I was the only one on site and walked to the top
of the mound to “Kojak’s corner” and set up and waited. I didn’t have long to
wait as I could hear Sandwich Tern calling. The cloud was low and initially I
could not locate the birds. Then two birds appeared out of the clouds and began
circling lower around the North Lake.
Gull numbers aren't as high on a Saturday therefore there
was a chance these birds may even land on the furthest island. A few shots
later and the birds landed with a handful of Black headed Gulls (BHG) on the
far end of the North Lake. Fantastic!!
 |
| (Sandwich Tern) |
I knew some of the regulars needed this species for their
Farm lists so I pinged out a group text then put the news on twitter!
Everything was looking good with the birds settling down on the island until a
BHG got the hump with one of the terns and started pecking at it with its bill.
 |
| (Sandwich Tern) |
The birds took flight but stayed low and were clearly
looking to come down again. The handful of gulls was now becoming agitated at
their presence and took to flight. The lead tern obviously thought “I’ve had
enough of this!!” and off they both flew circling before leaving high SE.
Pinpoint had also secured some shots from the Observatory
window. What a garden list he has!! Once again news services had provoked me into action resulting in seeing
good birds. The best by far were the three Gannet a few years back.
No comments:
Post a Comment