Thursday, 9 June 2016

9th June 2016

Had a look at Sutton Bingham this afternoon which produced a female Pochard and male Tufted Duck together. Also of note were singles of Kingfisher and Mistle Thrush and a couple of Common Whitethroats.

Pochard - Sutton Bingham Res

Tufted Duck - Sutton Bingham Res

Also found this distinctive-looking gull from the causeway. It had a caspian-like appearance, being larger than the other gulls with a obvious long bill, long neck, a white head, sloping forehead, a dark eye, a shawl of brown streaks on the nape and back of neck and extensive white tips to the dark tertials. Also it had a high tendancy to point its head and bill downwards.


I'm not sure if the time of year is a bit dodgy for caspian. I'm definatly no expert with immiture larids so I've decided to upload these record shots and get opinions from others whether it's caspian or just herring.. Unfortunetly I didn't get any in-flight or on-deck views of the bird.


Edit: Seems that it is likely to just be a Herring Gull afterall. I need to work some more on my larid ID skills!

6 comments:

  1. Hi Oli. Can you let me know of any sightings at SBR however common please? I year list the site and keep records for Wessex Water. Pochard is a patch scarcity nowadays. Many thanks. Tim

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  2. Alternatively if you're on Twitter pm me.
    Many thanks, much appreciated.
    T

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't currently have Twitter, but been meaning to get it to cut down on my really short blog posts about bits and pieces.

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