Marmite

This blog post is mostly about gulls - so if you are in the section of naturalists that dislike them and have no interest in them, please leave this page now!


Gulls are what I like to call 'marmite birds.' You either like them or don't really care at all. Rarely do you get the ones in the middle. (ironic that Dante's Little Gull involved a marmite sandwich!)
It took me a little while to get into them, but since I started birding properly a few years ago I have found I'm in the like section, and would happily look through the thousands at Beddington for a couple of hours, seeing which species are around and trying to identify the Caspians, Icelands, Glaucous', Herrings, Meds, Commons, LBBs, GBBs, Meds and Black-headed Gulls. Although not lucky in the sense that I live in Surrey, one of the county's that gets the fewest rarities, I'm lucky enough to see the 'common' species in a very different way. Every Kingfisher is exciting - even seeing a Meadow Pipit nearby gives me a sense of achievement, while for a birder in Norfolk a day out with a Mipit being a highlight is likely to be quite a disappointment! 
So at school I'm slightly lucky as I normally get just under 1000 gulls on the playing fields in the morning, after roosting overnight. By 12 they are gone. 
It does offer a decent opportunity for practising my ID skills. The majority consist of the expected Herring and Black-headed, with 1cy and immature Herrings making up 40%, adults around 15% and Black-headed Gulls near 40%. There are also another 30 or so Common Gulls which prefer to roost on the buildings, and a few weeks ago a fine 1cy Common was eating scraps of chicken in the playground. There are also often up to 50 LBBs, mostly adults, which spend most of their time sleeping, as well as sometimes nearly 10 GBBs which have a whole section to themselves, bullying any other gulls which venture into the area. And sometimes I get a rarity - my skills are raw and are nothing to the Beddington birders, so I miss a lot too. I am about 75% sure that there is an adult Yellow-legged Gull sometimes with the LBB crew - I saw a 1cy at one point in November or so, which flew straight over. But this bird is quite a regular. (With binoculars not strictly allowed it's not easy to tell!) I'm hoping I get a good view soon.
This is all a cover up of how much I want to see some of the rarer gulls - Caspian's and Iceland's are at the top of the list, as they aren't exactly rare. However the one that has caught my eye is none other than the Ross's Gull down in Dorset. This individual has been there for nearly 3 weeks, in the area around Ferry Bridge and RSPB Lodmoor/Radipole, and the tiny gull has created quite a stir, with many hundred flocking down to see it. Obviously due to school I can only dream of seeing it, and I have to continue to remain patient - tough though it is. 


I'm also being frustrated by another 2-4 birds that are making me feel excited. The headline for the week has been the discovery of an awesome adult female Snowy Owl on the Norfolk Coast on Scolt head Island, with hundreds twitching it today. Hopefully, permitting there are no idiots chasing it, many more also find it. Elsewhere I continue to see dozens of pictures of the American Horned Lark at Staines. Though it may not be one of the American subspecies, I haven't even seen the British Shorelark, so it would be great if I could go - any birders going up at the weekend from around Croydon next week onwards a lift would be awesome! Meanwhile London birding is looking good for the next few weeks - Sand martins have just started arriving, and the Walthomstowe Serin is causing a chase - just while the Little Bunting shows off. I predict that something good will turn up at some point, another real rarity for London, like an Alpine Swift blown off course or perhaps a lost american Wader like Spotted Sandpiper or Long-billed Dowitcher. 

Who knows - may good birding continue...

(apologies for stupidly long post - camera-less posts are tiring!)