"You shoulda been here five minutes ago"

The Safari had arranged to meet GB from the tram for a jaunt out with CR but before his tram arrived we had half an hour up n down the prom with Monty. The wind was a howlin and the drying sand was being whipped around the top of the sandbanks in a myriad of infinite ever changing patterns. We really like watching this, we find it mesmerising, could stand there for hours - not so pleasant to walk through though; unless you like your boots filling with sand that is.

From the top of the cliffs below us along the bottom of the cliff along the Lower Walk we saw a few Meadow Pipits, fewer than in recent visits when there have been over a dozen, less than half that today. A bit too far away and the wind was buffeting us all over the shop.

The tram arrived and GB alighted and off we went to pick up CR for the day's adventure to the south east.

An hour or so later we were dashing from the car to the first hide at Pennington Flash desperate to get under cover before the latest batch of weather landed.

It was rough out there!

Most of the wildlife was hunkering down out of the way of the ferocious squalls, a few Lapwings and a herd of Canada Geese stood out braving the weather as did three Herons although they did wimp out and tried to find some cover. 

It took a while but eventually the torrential rain  eased giving us enough time to dart round to the shelter of Bunting Hide and once there the rain started again. The place was heaving with most of the usual subjects, Blue and Great Tits, Moorhens and Magpies, Robins and Chaffinches, and a Grey Squirrel or two. A couple of pairs of Bullfinches dashed in and out, always good to see but there were no Long Tailed Tits, Wrens, Water Rails, Goldfinches or Greenfinches and only one Stock Dove.

Looks like it's worn the fur off its nose trying to stick its beak through the anti-squirrel mesh around the feeders

 A couple of Reed Buntings were around too.

The main event soon turned up, the site's speciality a couple of Willow Tits. Always good to see this sadly increasingly scarce bird and here is probably the best place there is especially outside the breeding season...like now! This one had found a stash of food in a crack in the feeding 'slab'.

If there's a way of telling them apart from Marsh Tits from a photo here's a more typical view of a Willow Tit down a hole.

Again a gap in the weather allowed us to scarper quickly round the trail to the next hide hopefully escaping a drenching. 

Gadwall, Shoveler, a few more Canada Geese and a couple of Goosanders were on the next pool but we saw very little on the walk round there. GB spotted a bit of movement in the rough grass at the edge of the pool and closer inspection revealed a sleeping wisp of Snipe - are they a 'wisp' when they are on the ground or does the expression only apply when they are in flight?

Still not a Kingfisher to been seen on the conveniently placed posts and perches though. Time to high tail it round to the next hide. Very little there apart from a Heron and a couple of Teal but the wind was rattling uncomfortably through the windows bringing driving rain with it. Time to escape to the next hide where the wind was taking the rain over the top from behind us so it a good deal more comfortable. "You shoulda been here a few minutes ago, the Kingfisher was just there", said the lad we sat next to. "Don't worry, it'll be back, it's been back and forth several times this morning"

No we didn't see it - sat thee for well over half an hour - not a sniff of the little Bobby Dazzler. Half a dozen Herons lazed around doing very little, occasionally shifting position to another vantage point but not really doing  any fishing.

By now our butties were beckoning us back to the car park. We opened the car got our butties out and were just about to take a chomp out of our doorstep cheese n pickle when we saw the unmistakable translucent white wing tip of a Mediterranean Gull land about 100 yards away among a gaggle of Black Headed Gulls and Mallard ducks waiting for any punters to launch the tail end of their butties or a few chips from their car windows. Temporarily abandoning our butty and walking closer we found it in the middle of the group. What a beauty! as John Wilson would say. We were saddened to hear of his passing (even after our anti-fishing rant in our previous post) as we spent a lot of time (probably too much) in his shop in Norwich when we were at uni in the late 70s.

What a beaut!!! There's not a better bird in the book

We thought about edging closer to try to get a 'frame filler' and see if we could get some detail from the ring but a bloke got out of his car skirted carefully around the flock, he didn't disturb them but five yards from the bin he launch his bag of rubbish into the bin like a basketball player and flushed everything...dohhh.

There's that translucent white wingtip

Result though - wasn't expecting to find one of those.

After butties we were back out on the trails and went to the Bunting Hide again, this time it was deadly quiet, all the food had been eaten and didn't all the birds know it. CR tried chucking out some seed he'd brought but it only brought in a couple or three Magpies and a Grey Squirrel. We soon moved on. The Herons were now trying to see how deep they could wade without floating. There were two of them doing this for no apparent reason.

On a strategically placed perch but not a Kingfisher. Only pigeons can drink like this as no other birds can suck!

A flock of Long Tailed Tits flew in front of the window and in to the shrub on our left. Always a joy to see these tiny tots.

A couple came in and told us they'd been watching a Kingfisher not five minutes ago back at the first hide we visited. We had to go - - arriving a few minutes later after a scurry down the trail we got there; "you shoulda been here five minutes ago" greeted us as we came through the door. "It's been coming and going all afternoon". Nothing for it but to sit and wait. And then at last a flash of blue! There it was sitting on a conveniently placed branch right in front of us. Trouble was the wind was blowing the branch around like something off Strictly Come Dancing. Luckily Kingfishers have gyroscopic heads and it was stone dead still even though its body was wiggling around like a maggot on a hook. We totally missed the second bird that GB saw which made our bird fly off only moments after this pic as taken.

Not perfect but our best Kingfisher pic so far by far

We had a look at the gulls coming in to roost but the light was poor and against us. One stood out as being a Kodiak Grey Scale darker than the others no matter what angle it was at, so definitely darker than the others around it. Take your eye off it for a few minutes and look away and you re-find it very quickly again it was that different.

Not sure what it is, those little white primary tips (and is that a bit of the end of P6 or a worn tertial?) bill looks dull too so we're guessing at a sub-adult Herring Gull possibly with a more Northern lineage - any thoughts anyone.

The nearest buoy had a very pale headed gull sat on it. Again 'only' a Herring Gull judging by the speckly coverts.

And that was the end of the light. Time to head back to Base Camp - - and we didn't get wet all day - how did we manage that???.

A great day out on safari with great mates.

Where to next? Safari's will be very weather dependent this coming week. No doubt we'll be out somewhere sometime during the week but where we'll be is another question altogether.

In the meantime who's doing the Bobby Dazzling in your outback.

Where'd they all go?

The Safari has a little quiz for you first up today, two screen-grabs from Stealth-cam, can you ID the LBJs? They may or may not be the same species. Not the Blackbird silly!

Same or different? - what do you reckon?

Sensibly we didn't bother with the mothy last night so had a lie in listening to the wind hammering rain against the bedroom window hoping Frank wouldn't wake up and ask to go out until it had passed - he didn't wake up...phewwwwwwww!

Mid-morning gave us the chance to get down to Chat Alley and have a look at the rising tide - we were very optimistic about seeing something as reports of unprecedented numbers of Manx Shearwaters from further south were being posted on Twitter all morning.

As soon as we put eyeball to eyepiece a Manxie shot through the field of view...this was going to be a good session!

Oh no it wasn't! We struggled to find another dozen in the next hour and a half, our grand total was 10 north and four south along with four Kittiwakes, while others almost within view to the south - just over the horizon - had QUADRUPLE figure counts along with Gannets, skuas, Fulmars etc. No-one seems to have had the hoped for Storm Petrel yet today, maybe tomorrow but we won't be able to get an early Patch 2 watch in unfortunately.

It was a bit rough out there...

The Beach Patrol guys weren't too impressed with this cyclist, they'd been stopping people thinking about going down to the lower level and even had a word with us while we were getting these pics advising us not to go down to 'nearer the action'. There's usually at least a couple of casualties/fatalities a year in conditions like this.

Back in the safety of  Base Camp the wind was still wrecking the garden so we decided to take a look at the now empty Wren's nest by taking a pair of scissors to the defunct and rotting hanging basket they were living in.

Lovely - about the size of a tennis ball.

Whilst doing all this surgery we noticed that the feeders were low so went to fill them up when we spotted this little lady struggling on the ground.

Apparently we should have given her a drink of two parts sugar to one part water in a saucer and place scrunched up kitchen towel on top so she doesn't fall in.

We struggle to get good pics of bees with their dark unconstrasty faces and their often Frank-like nose down posture - might need a ring flash or something to highlight the minor dimples.

Patch 1 got a new tick for the list this arvo. We were doing nowt in particular just looking out of the window at the garden being ravaged by the wind when two terns flew over just beyond our airspace so unfortunately can't count as a garden tick under this year's rules. They whizzed by that fast we didn't get a decent look and we were so taken aback at them but if we had to plumb for any species in particular we'd go for Common Terns on their slender jizz.

Where to next? Only a slim chance of an early look at the sea tomorrow and the high tide is a high one at lunchtime so we'll probably be sprayed off. Might have an evening look somewhere at Chat Alley after picking Frank up from his minders.

In the meantime let us know who's struggling in the wind in your outback

Slip slidin away

The Safari reckons you can't beat a bit of Mr Simon.

We looked at Patch 2 for no more than 30 seconds today - total haze with no hint of horizon and in the absence of waves and/or ripples we couldn't tell what was sky and what was wet water.

To infinity and beyondddddd

We were on the beach to see if we could see the Limpet. we asked DB where it was found to narrow down the search area. She said it was somewhere here.

We slithered around on the extremely (dangerously) slippery slope with absolutely no success what so ever. The slipperiness is provided by this little Hydroid. It's an animal (or at least a colony of tiny animals)

How hard can it be to find one of the most common shoreline species in the country?

We asked again if it was a small immature animal but no apparently it's an adult. Narrowing the search area further led us here.

Tomorrow we'll find it even if we need help from DB. We'll be on the beach anyway as it's our second Love my Beach beach clean between 1 and 2pm when we'll be heading northwards towards the pier this time. Please join us if you can.

After our slip slidin session we headed off to the nature reserve to add our support to the Public Consultation Event for the lottery bid we are helping develop. Good to see a decent turnout on a weekday afternoon. The next one is tomorrow evening after work so no excuses for not putting your four-penneth worth in - see link on right for details.

After the event ended we met up with some of the birders and had a mooch round. We'd just missed the Bittern and there weren't many gulls on. To be honest we spent more time chatting about the future of the reserve than doing any serious birding. The weather was superb, the afternoon light making the ducks positively glow. The Coot were good value, starting their territorial disputes and have a right old do at each other, sharp clawed yellow feet flying everywhere!

A wander up the top end had Young Un AB beckoning us to hurry. we didn't and saw the briefest bit of a Bittern drop into the reeds at the far end from where we'd just come from. 

Again we hung around and chatted and would you believe it a second Bittern popped up out of the reeds and flew across the mere not far from where we were stood! Very nice to have more than one on site again.

Great to see everyone out enjoying the birds and the sunshine; not so nice to see the handiwork of an unknown number of drunken yobs who had totally trashed the Feeding Station and its hide - arsewipes the lot of em.

Where to next? Some gardening jobs with the Young Uns in the works garden for the first time this year and then back on the beach tomorrow.

In the meantime let us know if summer snuck in to your outback today.

Talking of summer two reports of Small Tortoiseshell butterflies came in today...must be summer!

A draw torn from the jaws of victory!

The Safari wasn't able to follow the footy last night but it appears the after leading 2 - 0 'Pool gave a way two goals to hang on for an aggregate 3 -2 win over the two legs - now we want to go to Wembley, but sadly that's not going to be  possible as it clashes with something we can't get out of....something to do with someone's birthday...

This morning the weather was truly awful and we didn't go more than a few yards on Patch 1, R'ouzel Puddle had doubled in size but was still devoid of life and we didn't dare venture on to Patch 2. But thankfully the rain had stopped by the time our school group arrived and on to the beach we went.

All the usual suspects were found...you've seen them all before so should be able to name them now...

This sizable Dab was found close to the shore.

 Also sizable was this large Green Shore Crab, one of the largest we've seen here

 This was one of the biggest Baltic Tellin's ( at least that's what we think it is)

One of the teachers tried to winkle out a Starfish but it was too well trapped in the rocks, fortunately three more were found, we think they are both Common Sand Stars.

Where to next? More beach tomorrow and hopefully the sun will be shining so our pics will be a bit better.

In the meantime let us know what wedged in a cleft in your outback.
Was thinking of entering this competition; you gonna too?

More gully stuff

The picture is the answer to the question - 'which is the UK's most numerous breeding gull?

D'yer know what it is yet?

Answers please......I'm not telling you you'll have to write in.

Surprisingly it is the species that most people see the least due to the fact that it only breeds on northern sea cliffs and spends most of the year out at sea. There are a few pairs nesting on buildings in ports, particularly Newcastle. They are almost never found inland.

Best bird in the book is the Mediterranean Gull. This is an adult showing the full black head, big white eye brows, bright shiny red beak and pure white wings. A real beauty. Most of the world's population actually live in the Black Sea not the 'Med; but if I said to you that 's a Black Sea Gull you'd think I said black seagull and then you'd think I was bonkers! So I think it's OK to call them Med Gulls.


Their young look like very pale versions of Common Gulls. But just to confuse the issue so do young Ring Billed Gulls - a rare but increasing visitor to Britain from America. I've not seen one for a while now. First picture is a young Med, dark bill and legs and a pale brown panel in the wing, the second picture is a young Ring Bill with a stout black tipped pink bill and a paler panel in the wing. You've got to admit they are similar and despite being much paler on the mantle than young Common Gulls are still quite tricky to pick out, being out-numbered several hundreds, if not thousands, to one.


Below is a Little Gull. The only British species to be darker - almost black - on the underwing than above, which you can see is silvery grey. The best place to see these is Seaforth Nature Reserve in spring when often well over a hundred are present. The are a very dainty small gull with an effortless buoyant flight. They nest in eastern Europe but many years ago I was lucky enough to warden a nesting pair in Norfolk in the late 1970's.


Now we come to them more regular species. This is a Black Headed Gull in adult winter plumage. Thin dark red bill, dark flesh legs, little splurge behind the eye.


In flight the white leading edge to the wing is a give away. You can see it on the upper and under wings.

Unlike the Mediterranean Gull there is some black in the wingtip and the underwing is smokey grey not pure white.

The white leading edge can be easily seen even if the bird is coming towards you.

Just a couple more shots of Black Heads to make sure you've got your eye in.

The other species most regularly seen is the Herring Gull. This is the gull of seaside sound effects and stolen ice creams, sandwiches, etc. Large powerful, bold with a silvery grey back, pink legs and a strong yellow beak with a red blob - the gonyal angle. Very easy to identify in flight - look for the clean underwing with the translucent patch. Lesser Black Backs seen from below have a narrow black band along the trailing edge and no translucent patch.



The translucent patch is evident in all age groups as this first winter bird shows.




Even on a grey day like today the wing appears translucent, in sunny conditions it is very easy to pick out if if the gulls are soaring at great height.

Below is the bully boy of the shore line. In our part of the world the biggest bird normally seen on the beach; the Great Back Backed Gull. Very big, very powerful and very belligerent. They will fly over the top of feeding gulls disturbing them to see if there are any easy pickings. I have seen them kill Rabbits and Herring Gulls at Seaforth Nature Reserve.

This magnificent specimen is an adult Lesser Black Backed Gull. same size as the Herrings but significantly smaller than the Great Black Backed Gulls and subtly paler too. A nice tone of dark charcoal grey rather than totally black.

Below are some annotated beach scenes from this afternoon. I really must get some digiscoping equipment. But if your down on the beach with your binocs or even just the dog these are the views you will get so the pictures are quite relevant.

Enjoy your gull watching whervere you are - there's far more to them than just 'seagulls'!

This is the sort of thing they were after on the beach. Lots of shellfish washed up after the recent storms. This one is a very fresh Prickly Cockle.

Where to next? I might have some more gull info about the 'white winged' gulls. but then there'll be a safari to report on over the weekend.

In the meantime don't forget to let us know what you have found in your outback.

And just in case we've upset any Australians with our multitude of gull species - here's a crackin' picture a Silver Gull.

Well worth the wait don't you think?