200 up thanks to a Yellow Legged Gull

EUREKA !!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday 10^th September.   Do you remember that line from Only Fools and Horses when Del Boy’s son was born, and Del came out of the delivery room and said to Rodney (Dave?) and Uncle Albert “I’ve done it, I’ve only bl***y done it”.   Well to-day so have I – to-day, Sunday 10th September 2017, 10.45 am, I saw my 200^th species for the year – a Yellow Legged Gull.

This sighting was particularly pleasing, because my only previous 200 count was in 2010. That year finished with 206, and I did not hit the magic 200 until October. So, I’m ahead all round.

Just in case you are not conversant with this bird, it is only in recent years that, because it has yellow legs, it was split from the Herring Gull, with pink legs. In my experience, the YLG is bigger, as we knew in recent years from the Little Grebe eating YLG called Hannibal.

In recent weeks, I’ve been watching the net to see what has been reported locally, and I kept seeing reports from Carsington Water of one or two Yellow Legs. So, I decided this morning to go to check the good Gull spotting area, the spit in front of Sheepwash hide.    

Alone in the hide, there were a good number of Gulls visible, mainly Lesser Black Back Gulls. Then Jon Bradley, a Carsington Bird Club member came in and I told him what I was looking for, and how he could “make my day”.  He did, instantly, and pointed out what I saw as quite a fine difference between the YLG and the LBG, but it was enough (with the aid of my bird guide) to be sure.

As a nice bonus, and with the water down to about 77% full, it was good to see a pair of Greenshanks, a pair of Redshanks, a single Ringed Plover, and a good group of Dunlin plus a pair of Shovellers. So worth the visit all round.

Nuthatches were in and out of the feeders in the Sheepwash car park (and unusually one on the bird table at the Wildlife Centre), and a squirrel in the feeder was very promptly sent on his way. (No doubt to return when I had gone.)

What else? Well not a lot, but I do have to apologise for an error in my post last week. I referred to the birding cruise from Bridlington harbour, and I incorrectly called the Cruise Ship (!!) the Bridlington Belle. It is in fact the Yorkshire Belle.

Bit of news on the 200 club progress (apart from me!). Amanda is on Anglesey and texted that she had added the predictable Choughs to her 2017 list, a nice addition. With a few rare exceptions, you must travel west to tick off Chough (Either West Wales or Cornwall. I like the fact that the Cornish coat of arms includes a Chough.)

Lorna Lomas, another of the Severn Trent volunteers and a keen birder, has declared her interest in joining the 200 club, and tells me that with the addition of Yellow Wagtail this week, she is on 191.  

Right, I’ve just had a look on the Bird Guides website and I see 3 species at Rutland Water today that I need for my year list, so I’m off tomorrow morning.  Two of them are in the North Arm so I have high hopes of at least a 50% success.   I’ll need to have the Full English to sustain me for the journey, with of course the obligatory Black Pud.

Culinary news – I’m doing a survey on Black Puddings; managed to have 2 different makes last Saturday. One Mary bought at Sainsburys, with a slight apple flavouring, from Scotland, and at a Brunch for a friends 50^th W.Anniversary at Morley Hayes one of unknown origin. I mean you can’t ask the waitress “where did the Black Pudding come from?” can you?

In pole position in the popularity stakes is one from farm Foods – (“It’s a Ten from Ben”) followed by an Irish pudding, which after cooking, falls apart when you put your fork in it, a bit like Haggis - lovely. 

Ed: Slim – please no jokes about Haggis hunting.

TTFN   BFN

How could the Dipper be predicted??

Funny how words come back to (haunt?) you.  I was in Derby on Tuesday, and as I walked passed the City Hotel, one of the Peregrines dropped off the letter Y and flew away.

I was looking skywards (a la David Lindo) and could see the Peregrine circling rapidly high over the river Derwent, and within the 5 seconds of looking back to where I was walking, and then up again he had gone. So that was Tuesday lunch taken care of!!

Saturday 2^nd September. I know I’ve mentioned that I was booked for the RSPB bird trip out of Bridlington, to go out beyond Flamborough and Bempton, hoping to see Skuas and Shearwaters.

A good journey to Brid took 2 hours, and then one hour to find a parking place. Brid is currently chaotic traffic wise, and signs saying, “The Harbour”, send you to roads now closed, with diversions which put you back in the queue you started in. Manic.  Anyway, parking NOT at the Harbour, but at the Coach Station solved matters, and 12.15 saw me visiting a small friendly caf, for an All Day Breakfast (having already had one at home!) and again with Black Pud. But with a pot of tea, £4.50.. don’t knock it.  I even noticed male OAP’s get haircuts for £3.50 in Brid… may only be a mixing bowl and a pair of scissors, but who cares when you put a hat on!!

Sorry I’m rambling.. must be the sea air.

I found myself sitting on not a full boat for the bird cruise at 4.30pm, next to a chap from Anglesey who had the same plans. The difference was that his YTD count was 245 !!!!, so the anticipated additions were important to him.

Well the swell was good, and only one instance was noted of the deck hand getting sea water to swab down (you can guess why!). But boy was it cold, and as a consequence I made my first, and only, mistake.. I went to the Galley for a hot chocolate, exactly at the moment that a Great Skua (a Bonxie) chose to fly over the Bridlington Belle.

By the way, a Great Skua is also known as a Bonxie, a name which is probably of Scandinavian origin and from the Norwegian Bunke meaning something dumpy, which is probably a fair description of such a big aggressive bird.

However I was shivering to death when I did get a good view of the only Arctic Skua, flying towards us and over the ship’s bow, so I did add one for the trip = 199. Mr 245 added nothing, and said he would return to Anglesey on Sunday via Martinmere, and hope to add the Purple Heron. 

Sorry, but this was my 3^rd cruise trip, with trips that were Good v Bad at 1:2, so I think it’s off my future schedule.

Sunday 3^rd September was the usual Carsington walk, and having said I would not be back from Brid, my regulars were surprised to find me at the helm. For a change, we had a small number this week of only 12 people, with 2 newbies from Buxton.

We hit the obligatory 30 species, 33 actually, and a largish flock of Goldfinches got the BOD vote. It was also nice to find a group of 11 small waders off the tip of Stones Island including 9 Dunlin and 2 Ringed Plovers. A distant Great Black Backed Gull got one vote.

 

I may have mentioned that I now do a 5-minute talk at the start of each walk about one selected species. So far, I have talked about Swift, Blackcap and Cuckoo, and today it was the turn of a Dipper, a species never seen at Carsington, mainly because there is no rocky water courses that Dippers favour.

UNTIL TO-DAY !!!!!  Within 5 minutes of my talk, Full time Ranger Dave Drury doing a fun-time litter pick stopped and asked if I had heard about a Carsington Bird Club expert spotting a Dipper at Tail Bay. I said I had seen someone with a scope on the dam wall as I arrived and wondered why.  So, you just never know.

And just in passing, a Dipper is so called, not because it dips into the water, but because of the way it bobs, or dips it's body, much like Wagtails.

I’ve been checking on progress for new entrants to the prospective 200 club, and Mike McDonald (ST Wildlife centre volunteer) and Rob Chadwick (regular on BWB) are both on 171. Rob is booked for the Boston river cruise shortly, so that should help. Mike pops up everywhere, as readers will know.

This is the Boston Belle - a bit different from the Bridlington Belle!

They have got 4 months to go, but it doesn’t get easier.

Happy Birding