Thanks to a text from Mark Bailey, about an osprey seen earlier this afternoon off the Warren, I kept my eye on the river from the back garden. Just before 6pm a commotion among the gulls, oystercatchers and curlew drew attention to the bird heading purposefully upriver. I took some shots but as you can see it was always distant. It seemed to head towards Lympstone before being lost to view. Also on the river this afternoon a sandwich tern and 28 brent geese.
Earlier, after work, I'd nipped down to the Quay for yet another look at the glaucous gull. The novelty of seeing this species close up still hasn't worn off!
On the photo below you can see the true colour of the iris and a banana-yellow flush is starting to appear on the bill.
I thought I'd show a herring gull head shot, taken on the Quay a couple days ago, by way of a comparison. Note the orange orbital ring and white bill tip. I think gulls are fantastic-looking birds but a lot of birders really don't like them.
Wrens are very vocal at the back of the garden at the moment. A chiffchaff has also been singing today and the siberian chiffchaff was still present on 26/3. Also on the 26th, 15 black-tailed godwit on the river plus 2 eider and two long-tailed duck distantly off the seafront.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the message Matt but as my phone was on charge picked the message up half an hour to late!!... As it was a wet day i spent most of it at home and noticed in the garden a male black cap visiting the peanut feeder. The Crows have finished building in the Pear Tree and now chasing anything that comes to close! Several Greenfinch and Goldfinch busy around the garden to which is great to see. A pair of Blackbirds have also finished building next door...plenty going on.
Orcombe Point tomorrow morning, then Braunton and a visit to the Taw Torridge estuary on Sunday. See you soon