Still very cold over the last two days though signs are that its getting milder with gales forecast soon. Yesterday was -5 in the freezing fog.
At lunchtime yesterday a short stop at Castle Island to see if the Iceland Gull was there drew a blank but there were about a couple of hundred assorted gulls on the frozen river. In with the Commons and Black headeds were 2 Lesser black backed Gulls, my first of the year. LBBG's are very scarce in the county in winter with only a few remaining to winter. When they do, they are usually at inland spots like tips or country parks and even Cramlington town holds the odd one occasionally. Any inexperienced birders out there checking your gulls double check any LBBG's between November and February. They usually return any time after Valentines day...
Today, I stopped twice, once on the way to work and again on the way home to scan the gulls in the fields at New Moor Tip ( between Ashington and Ellington). Although this will be the source of the Linton Glaucs I didn't see any during a short stop, but there must have been a thousand Herring Gulls, so I didnt really do them justice.
An early finish and I was home in time to walk Bunty around the Boulmer North End. Not much doing , 18 Dunlin, 3 Grey Plovers, 101 Curlew, 1 male Goldeneye, 2 Wigeon, 4 Shelduck and 2 Shags flew N.
I see that there is a Lunar eclipse tonight. Unfortunately the cloud is the thickest its been for a week.
7 comments:
Sod's Law isn't it - only cloud we've seen for ages coincides with an eclipse....although I doubt I'll manage to wake up for it anyway.
is this a hint, ta much like.
i thought i was the gull spotter at castle island 2 lbbgs eh ill have to get up there.
Good to hear the LLBB are returning north. With this quiet weather in Somerset 2 Barn Owls in 4 days, one last night as drove home at 11pm first for this area for me. Ssadl cloudy here too, partial eclipse at 4am...don't ask, 4 hours sleep isn't enough.
Thought you all may be interested to see this from mate http://pub13.bravenet.com/forum/1065729998/show/758350 After posting 4 of us then had an e-mail discussion and it seems like there's an awful lot of big gull migration happening at the moment here as they travel up north - keep an eye out
Now you have me wondering how many different types of Gulls we have around here. Will have to take a look around one of these days. I do like Gulls and there are lots around the fish plants and in the bays.
BB - Its not too bad we had a good eclipse last year...
ST - Come on you don't need me to boost your patch list;)
BR - Now is the time for a lot of gull movement, all the Scandinavian and northern birds slowly drift back up north so look out for the Glaucs and Icelands with them...
OC - You WILL have some good birds there ( for us anyway). Icelands, Kumliens, Thayers, Glaucs, etc
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