I was up before the
crack of dawn and the area was not fog bound (unlike the day before) so off I
trotted to the Farm in the hope that the previous days Glaucous Gull would make
an appearance before the landfill shut down at mid-day.
In fact I was there
so early that I had a 45min wait for daybreak which was delayed due to fog that
was rolling in! I was joined by ex school classmate Frank Prater and the
sifting through the gulls began. The search paused for a coffee break accompanied
by some nonsense talk which was interrupted by my words “There it is?” Frank
looked at me blankly for a split second and it was hands on the camera to seize
the Glaucous Gull moment as it flew from the North towards the South Lake.
That seemed easy
enough but it was not until the heavy gull artillery arrived in the form of
Pete Alfrey that the gull action turned red hot! A juv Iceland
Gull was first up in Pete’s scope and what I fine individual it was right up
until all the gulls went skyward and I lost sight of it in the melee in the skies above the sand martin bank!
Pictures will
be on Pete’s blog. http://peteralfreybirdingnotebook.blogspot.co.uk/
A 1st and
2nd winter Caspian type Gulls were next to be spied on the lake
which increased the chances of a Farm full set of gulls by the close of play!
Matt and I decided to go to the lagoons to see if the Glaucous Gull had
relocated where it had been found by Devilbirder the previous day. The short
expedition soon became four but unfortunately all that could be relocated was
the 2w Caspian type Gull.
I returned to my
corner and Bulldog had a Yellow Legged Gull on the North lake. All we required
now was a Med Gull which seem to be as rare as rocking horse.... these days!
Tomorrow a New Year
begins and the listers will surely turn up something to feast eyes upon. 2017
will be an European Campaign for me starting in Bulgaria!
A very prosperous
Birding New Year to you all. 2016 was not bad at all!!
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