Monday 17 May 2010

A hint of the mediterranean at the warren

15/05/10


a very quiet time at the moors with the darke gadwall remaining, a water rail was heard sqwarking from within the reeds adjacent to the causeway, and an unsesonable cormorant, a pair of pied wagtail were flitting about, and a pair of common tern were about.

after an hour it was so dire we left for the flashes



as we walked across the southern shore of the sailing pool a flock of 8 greylag geese landed and swam to the NW corner of the pool.

a slow walk to the hide didnt add anything, we walked into the hide and was greeted by upton regular dave walker who did very little to raise the spirits ''rather quiet''

we chatted for a bit, he decided to go and have a check of the moors and we stopped.

he had walked off when my dad told me to get onto an odd gull on the sticks at the back of the flash he didnt recognise, a slow pan from the 1st flash to the sticks, a BHG was perched on the sticks, but i knew my dad well enough to know he can ID a BHG so i carried on and a few sticks later


OMG


i ran to the door, then turned around to look throgh the scope again to check i wasent stringing, then bolted out the door down the steps and along the boardwalk, dave was at the bench area, a simple call


''dave, MED GULL''


we(I) jogged back to the hide and took a look at the 2nd summer MEDITERRAIEAN GULL perched on the sticks, we both started takeing photos of this amazing looking bird, but i will admit, the first load i took were rubbish(but identifiable)




The 1st 2nd summer i have ever seen and what a looker, it was amazing, we had just enough time to savour this unusual midlands plumage(the least common age to be seen in the midlands apparently) and then the bird was harrased by a BHG and was forced to take flight revealing its distinctive pattering and very white impresion. after a few 'is he coming back' moments it eventually flew off east at 18:18.

we both text a few people to pass the news on and later we were joined by another upton regular(gordon greaves) and later by steve whitehouse(a med gull fan, like me), steve had somewhere to be at 7, and he kinda left at 7:05 so a bit late then...........


another 20 minuites passed and at 7:25 the reward came the MED GULL was flying back in from the east(the bird had a missing primary in its right wing, first noted when the bird flew off), the first thing i picked up on was its giant white eyelids, then its missing primary, and then it wing pattern, it swooped in front of the hide and circled the flash before landing on the stumps between the 1st and 2nd flash, again i started snapping away, the photos were a little better but still pritty dire, it was at this point that gordon sudgested that the gull would be viewable much closer from the path near the bench, i was soon there and watching the med gull at point blank range, an amazing specticle of a frame-filling med.














(before anybody says, the word in the film is see-you or see-ya, as gordon left, had me a bit stumped what i said when i first heard it)


after a good load of photos, i returned back to the hide where we watched the med gull swimming around the 2nd flash, it then took flight at 7:45 and flew north, in total we saw the bird for less than 30 mins but it was a real cracker of a bird......



a BHG with a yellow leg ring was seen on the stumps also and on scopeing it was ringed as 2Y32, this has been submitted to the ringing website and i await details on the bird, but untill then


good birding


MB

8 comments:

Martyn Yapp said...

We currently have a second summer in Staffordshire (site withheld) and it's primaries are much much paler (in fact pale silver looking)than your bird, in fact I would like to be that it is adult and has not moulted the outermost feathers.

Nice bird there, I still think Meds are ugly in summer plumage, give me a first winter anyday.

midlands birder said...

mart-
did i just quite read that right,med gulls in summer ugly, pha

i think i may know where the med is but i do know that med gull 2nd summer primary's wear away about this time to reaeal an adult like pattern.......
i think all ages of med are nice incl that winter plumaged bird at chasewater that cold smewless day :-)
MB

Matt Griffiths said...

Hi Craig,
Thanks for the text about the gull - smashing bird!
Matt

midlands birder said...

matt
pleasure to share such a good bird with other birders, thats one for the countless reports youve sent me :-)
p.s. mart- the med gull's primarys from ceratin angles were a silvery colour, but from the angle the pics were taken from though they look black, saying this though, they did appear black from most angles.
MB

Robs Birding said...

Hi MB, great pics of the Med gull , they are one of my fav. gulls too :)

midlands birder said...

Rob- mine too :-)

David Campbell said...

nice photos of the Med Gull, always nice birds to see.

midlands birder said...

thks devil birder (david aint it?????) they are one of my favorite bird so to self find one was nice :-)
MB
p.s. soz 4 v. late reply, have been bery busy recently