Holmethorpe Sandpits - Med on The Mere!

The Ornithological gods had me subconsciously transfixed with a visit to Holmethorpe Sandpits a venue I have not traversed in 2020! I was not up and out too early after a late finish last night and sauntered down to a site which I see having many similarities to what Beddington Farm could look like in a few years time.

I planned on a three stop strategy so that I could cover the site. This plan went out the window when I negotiated the thick swamp of a path which leads to Mercers West and then Spynes Mere. There was no point returning to the car caked in mud so I walked the whole site returning via the swamp!

I have noticed that Mediterranean Gulls have been randomly turning up in parks and other such places in the SVC17 area. A bird had been seen by one of the regular Farm path watchers but had not graced us (Pete and I) with its presence despite inner and outer sanctum visits.

Without much effort I started looking through a gathering of Black Headed, Herring and a couple of Lesser Black Backed Gulls on Spynes Mere and bingo adult Mediterranean Gull without a full summer hood honed into view! 

After a few pictures I contacted Holmethorpe patch legend Gordon Hay to inform him of my find. The bird remained on the lake for around 20minutes before heading over the causeway towards Mercers West.

I heard from Gordon mid afternoon who stated the bird was back on Spynes Mere and had a ring on it. Interesting! Gordon has sent me a couple of pictures (below) and the ring is obvious and is of Dutch origin!

(pictures by Gordon Hay)

I recorded fifty two species including 839 Black Headed Gull, 143 Herring Gull, 18 Lesser Black Backed Gull, 9 Common Gull, and a Greater Black Backed Gull! I am not sure I have seen this many gulls here before but the landfill is still in operation and perhaps this is part of the natural dispersal of gulls that used to congregate some 20,000 in the winter at the Farm!

I have also been persuaded to use ebird again so my full list will be on their along with Birdtrack and Wildlife Recorder. The site is actually an all singing and dancing search engine which can be easily looked at for recent sightings at any site. The county boundaries are not set to the Watsonian recording areas but it does not take long to navigate the information you are after with photos attached! A phone app allows instant data entry as well. One step at a time!

The days of website recent sightings pages may become a thing of the past!

The Wandle Trail - Carshalton Ponds to Beddington Farm - A Return Outing!

I returned to the Wandle Trail yesterday starting at Carshalton Ponds and finishing along the permissible footpath at Beddington Farm. It was a nice crisp sunny day therefore I could travel reasonably light without my PPE equipment.

Carshalton Ponds was surprisingly devoid of gulls until the bread brigade turned up to feed the ducks. This is a time stamped tradition in which I took part in as a child but despite notices indicating that bread is considered harmful to the birds (it expands in the stomach and has no nutritional value) the feeding continued by young and old!

A pair of Egyptian Geese had obviously read the script. They were very vocal in keeping their goslings away from the meal that was being offered! Pete and I saw a Little grebe chick a couple of weeks earlier and I was just as surprised to see two goslings. I overheard locals saying there were eight earlier on in the week! Amazing for February!

As I made my way down the trail I was fortunate to sneak up on a Little Egret that was feeding in what is a regular haunt for it by the bridge opposite the entrance to Beddington Park.

The park was fairly quiet with a lone Mistle Thrush feeding on the sodden ground close to the football pitches. I had a wander around the park looking for owl pellets and any signs of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker before crossing the great divide (the kissing gate) into Beddington Farm.

(Gull fest!)

The task I had set for myself here was to sift through the gulls in the hope that the adult Iceland Gull that was reported at Rainham RSPB the day before might wend its way onto the farm. It is also likely to be the bird that had been frequenting the London Wetland Centre at the weekends.

Species tally’s as follows:-

Beddington Farm 45 (path only), Beddington Park 30, and Carshalton Ponds 19.

Detailed sightings are on Birdtrack under the respective headings. 

The outing was overall very pleasant but with no great revelations to report despite a thorough gull watch. But that is how birding pans out sometimes and what gives me that rush when something good does turn up!

London Wetland Centre - The search for Old Icy!

The subject of gull identification is a complex subject with so much variation within a species not to mention hybridization. Having spent many a winter’s day at Beddington Farm with John, Garry and Pete sifting through some twenty thousand gulls with a feint possibility of finding a Glaucous, Iceland or even a Glaucous Winged gull it can send the mind into gull meltdown.

I carry a kindle with a growing compendium of bird books which includes Gulls of Europe, Asia and North America by Olsen and Larsson. The former I met at the Batumi bird fair whilst I was part of the Batumi Raptor Count in 2018.

During my Surrey Vice County travels I have kept an eye on an Iceland Gull that frequents the London Wetland Centre at weekends. This is probably the only period of the week where soccer commitments taking priority. I have seen adult birds before at the Farm but I wonder why does it only visit the LWC at the weekends. Is it down to observer effort or landfill/incinerator holding areas for our rubbish not being fully operational or is it being disturbed from its usual haunts by recreational humans. The bird has not been picked up at the Farm or at other roost sites so where does it go?!

Yesterday I took a tactical visit (2hrs before high tide) to the London Wetland Centre stopping off at Barnes Playing fields to check the gathering numbers of Black Headed Gulls. There were only a few larger gulls amongst the masses! 

This tale is cut short without a sighting of the Iceland gull on the reserve but an adult Yellow Legged Gull (middle right) did grace the small audience that had gathered in the WWF hide. The picture above gives a good comparison of Lesser Black Backed (Centre foreground) and Herring shades of grey through the saddle and wings. The yellow legs are an obvious feature in adult birds!

This small chapter is not complete with plans to visit the environs of the Wetland Centre in search of old Icy!

The Wandle Trail - Poulters Park Raises an Eye Brow!

I joined forces with Pete Alfrey today to discover another section of the Wandle Trail from Poulters Park through to the collapsed bridge adjacent to the entrance to Ravensbury Park. The objective was to see the Yellow Browed Warbler that had been reported along the edge of the River Wandle. The afternoon would then be spent along the permissible footpath at Beddington farm. 

The Yellow Browed Warbler did not take too long to locate and it was no surprise there were numerous passerines in the vicinity. The winter midges littered the skies surrounding the spot opposite the industrial estate. 

A couple of Siberian Chiffchaff was also seen amongst the numerous Chiffchaff that were hawking the insects in the area. These birds were noticeably greyer than their counterpart with obvious green on the outer primaries. The full test was applied with response to a tape from the birds.

Other Passerines included Blackcap, Goldcrest and a Firecrest which was found during the return journey to the mobile observatory. Waterfowl included Teal, Gadwall, and breeding Little Grebe who appeared to have lost their chick! A Little Egret was also recorded en route. Not a bad concentration of species that would grace any day during migration let alone a winters day which was incidentally calm with glorious sunshine.

The path and public hides added more species to the days total including an adult Yellow Legged Gull which was seen on the site of the proposed wet grassland. The gulls were given another bashing before they departed for their roost sites but still no Mediterranean Gull amongst the Black Headed masses.

A pair of Stonechat was noted close to the hide on the south lake. Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Peregrine were observed from the path. Shelduck and a Wigeon were also seen in a fifty species haul!

As winter bird watching goes today was up there amongst the best outside the period when the Beast from the East bought the county to a standstill!