Oops!

7th November - the green colour-ringed 1st winter gull reappeared on the spit this afternoon.  I'd had my doubts on Sunday that this was actually a rather pale Lesser Black-back rather than a Yellow-leg, but had convinced myself it was YLG - for one thing, the scaps always looked a bit odd for YLG and it was also tiny - almost the smallest LWHG present.  Seeing it again today, it looked more like LBBG than YLG.  Luckily Neil W turned up as I saw the gull - I told him of my doubts on the original ID - and through his zoom lens we were eventually able to read the ring.  The letters looked yellow on green, which made them very diffcult to read, but we both agreed on KATH.  The CR website didn't list any schemes with this combination of colour codes, but a Dutch scheme did fit if the letters were white and we had missed reading a dot after the K.  So I tried this one and bingo it was one of their's and it was indeed a Lesser Black-backed Gull - judging by the size I'd say that it was also probably female.  Apparently the white letters get stained which makes them look yellow!

Almost illegible yellow code!

The scheme had monitored this bird from a day old chick on 13th June 2012 at a colony at Valley, Kelderhuispolder, Texel, NL.  It was last noted here on 19th July and no other records until now.

Also of note today was the reappearance of a female Tufted Duck with a nasal saddle coded BFK.  See http://littlemarlowgp.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/some-spring-movement.html
It seems to use LMGP as a staging post to another wintering ground, but it will be interesting to see whether she hangs around this year.

Wintering Green Sand?

6th November - a Green Sand was seen on the spit today and has been reported sporadically over the past few weeks.  It might well be wintering in the area, as 2 did last year and might even be one of these birds.  It seems to spend most of its time in the STW area, but comes over to the spit occasionally.

BHG black R34A was seen again this morning having not been seen since 2 records in late July and early August.  This is a Pas-de-Calais bird.  White 507 also made its 4th or 5th appearance - this is the bird from Copenhagen.

6 Common Snipe were in close proximity on the near spit, but I made no attempt to count the other wildfowl.

Colour-ringed Yellow-legged Gull

4th November - had another opportunity to visit the roost.  Unlike the previous Sunday, there were quite a few LWHG coming in, maybe 500 plus birds.  On the near spit, my attention was drawn to a 1st winter Yellow-legged Gull that was sporting a mid green colour ring on its left leg and a metal ring above the knee on the right.  I was able to decipher that there were 4 digits in the code, the second being an A and the last probably an H, though the first could have been R, K or even X and not much on the third.  At this point it tucked this leg under its belly and remained resolutely standing on one leg for the next 45 minutes! Unbelievably, when it wanted to move it hopped and when it flew a short distance it kept the left leg tucked up, dangled the right and landed on this single leg!  Eventually, a Peregrine came over and flushed everything and this bird disappeared, so I'm hoping it makes a reappearance.  It is possibly from a Dutch scheme.

Not a great angle

Better - shame it's blurred!

A Little Egret came in to roost, as one had done the previous week.  Otherwise, no other scarcities noted.

Finches

29th October - a walk around the southern bank found a small group of Siskins feeding in alders.  Amongst these were at least 3 Lesser Redpolls, which had eluded me earlier in the year and were actually a patch year tick!

Pochard numbers had swelled to 53 and a 1st winter Great Black-backed Gull had joined the regular adult.

Some Autumn Arrivals

I've only made a few visits recently, the following being the (high)lights:

Oct 21st - 4 Common Sands - a late flock found by Alan S in the morning.  I popped down in the afternoon optimistically hoping to turn 1 or more into a Spotted, but they were all very obviously Common!  A regular adult YL Gull was also present.

Oct 23rd - My first Fieldfares of the autumn, with 2 birds flying over NE calling.  I haven't mentioned Redwings on here, but small flocks have been seen over the past couple of weeks.  There has also been a noticeable influx of Blackbirds along the railway bank and Goldcrests are also fairly obvious.  Flyover Siskins have been noted for a while, but a flock has been seen around the car park area and about 30 birds were feeding in trees near the church today.  Swallows seem to be around quite late this year - today a flock of 9 birds flew through east over the car park as I arrived.  Duck numbers have been slow to rise, but are creeping up - today I counted 27 Shoveler and 18 Wigeon.  The regular adult YL Gull was present again as were 3 Snipe.

Oct 26th - Decided to try the gull roost and wished I'd wrapped up better as it was freezing!  No scarcities noted, but Common Gulls are building, with over 50 birds now present.  3 colour-ringed BHG were noted - 2 seen before and the third couldn't be read.  White 507 from Copenhagen seen twice before in October and black P430 from Lithuania, seen twice before but both of these were in July.  4 Swallows appeared from the east late on and departed south.  A count of 27 Wigeon and 3 Snipe still.

Oct 28th - Tried the gull roost again in the hope that the previous night's small passage of 1w Kittiwakes in the region might produce one here.  The roost was actually quite poor, probably due to the lack of activity at Hedgerley landfill and most of the BHG and Common Gulls that had arrived were departing to the west.  I watched these as they flew past my view point and picked out an adult Med Gull with its clear white primaries that I hadn't seen on the deck.  I've had a couple of flocks of 30 odd Meadow pipits flying over S/SW at this time over the past week, presumably to a roost somewhere near the river.  There had also been a small influx of Pochard, with 19 birds around the viewpoint.  I keep checking the large Goose flocks for migrant scarcities, but no luck as yet.

Late Hobby

16th October - a bright day bit with quite a strong westerly wind blowing.  All the usual suspects were present, but I was pleased to see a juvenile Hobby hawking over the NE side of the pit mid morning, which is getting a little late.  I watched it catch a few things (not sure what) and transfer them from talon to beak before it gained height and drifted off high to the ESE, probably being taken by the wind.  I guess that will be it for this species now until next Spring.

On the way back to the car, a Coal Tit called and flew out of the cottage gardens and was then quite vocal for the next few minutes.  For a species which is generally scarce here, I have now had quite a few sightings over the past few weeks - very possibly the same lingering individual.  It might well be coming to fat balls put out in the cottage garden.

I paid a quick early afternoon visit prior to school pick-up.  I've mentioned before that this time of day seems to be good for picking up the scarcer gulls, as they seem to drop in about this time.  Today, my reward was a nice adult winter Med Gull.  I'll have to tot up how many of this species have been seen at the pit so far this year, but it must be getting on for 10 different birds.

Some Recent Colour Rings

To add to the collection of European rung Black-headed Gulls seen since June, a Danish bird turned up on October 12th.  It had a white ring with black 507 on its right leg.  It was ringed as a 3cy+ female on 27th March 2011 at Svanemollebugten, Copenhagen.  5 subsequent sightings in the same area preceded this one, the last on 7th April 2012.

Slightly obscured!

This joins ringed birds from Lithuania, Poland, Germany and France - but still none from Britain!

That was until today! White 507 was present again and so too was white 27J4.  This bird appears to be from the Cotswold WP - details awaited.