Blyth estuary - Leucistic Herring Gull

Another visit to Blyth Estuary this time I got the tide right and it was heaving with birds , Teal I roughly counted out at 300 , with Mallard ,Gadwall, Shellduck , c10 Goldeneye a single Long Tailed Duck , Dunlin , Bar Tailed Godwit, Redshank these all in good numbers and this was just east of the bridge , in between the bridges where about 15 Moorhens and about 30 Mallard , the Mallard look so much more impressive feeding in the river amongst the flow of small torrents , a bird caught my eye as it flitted through the trees behind the new workshops it looked like a Chiff but it was gone before I could confirm . walking further downstream both sides of the river where alive with waders the Dunlin and Golden Plover  feeding on the far bank in an area I see them often it must collect  food between tides consequently they are a bit far away should anything turn up amongst them ,in the field a large flock of Fieldfare dropped down to feed , c8 Grey plover which mostly stayed on the far side  of the spit but one fed beside the outfall. Bar Tailed Godwits where well spaced out making counting harder but there had to be c30 . I picked out  the Leucistic Herring Gull again on the far side its been around for awhile  it is mostly white but does have faint brown on the wings tips and a smudgy mark on the tail although I did not see it in flight , the bill appears all dark so it should be a first year bird . I thought it would be an Albinistic bird being mostly white  but apparently  the presence of Melanin which in this case is being blocked from most of the feathers but not the eye ,bill or tail. But in Albinism the Melanin is blocked from bare parts as well hence a  true Albino  has pink eyes because the only colour present is the blood vessels behind the eye showing through . I have over simplified it so it's worth reading up on 

 Goldeneye another one that is hard to digiscope

 Herring Gulls pair bonding

 I tried taking so much video of the LTD that I ran out of batteries and  trying to get this bird side on took ages , I put one of the dead batteries in my pocket and the warmth revived it enough to get a few more shots

Short video of the Long Tailed Duck ,if you have ever tried to even view them while they feed you can forgive the jerky video trying to keep it in view was a nightmare.You can just hear it calling faintly towards the end which is why I left the sound on

More Meds 27-30 -7 2010

Spent most of last week Cycling to St Mary's and Holywell Pond

27th St Mary's circa 400 Golden Plover on the rocks below the prom,30+Sandwich Tern & 2 Common Tern adults with 1 Juvenile. I Juvenile Med Gull below the prom, and a further 2 reported near the Adult at Briardene (per T.C.)

28th Adult Med Gull Briardene Carpark.(no sign of juveniles )

29th 250-300 Golden Plover ,12 Sandwich,1 Common tern. Female Tufted with 7 young on the wetland , which actually does not seem to get more than a couple of gulls bathing. 1 Summer plumage Grey Plover Colywell Bay.

30th Another run to St Mary's Tufted still with 7 young.

Holywell Pond had very little on my visits , only bird of note a Black tailed Godwit.

March 3rd ...........on your bike

I decided to cycle to St Mary's island via the tracks very uneventful as it happens ,the only few birds I saw was a few Sanderling and a Grey Plover at Collywell Bay , a Kestrel near the butts and a couple of Fulmars sitting on the sea ,when I got to the wetland still about 40 Teal present , looks like I miss timed the tide as it was already fairly high a flock of Knot 160 in total near the causeway , the tide coming in seems hardly moving at times but today it was pushing in fast ,I had to keep moving so as not to get swamped, but as usual as the causeway covered someone came around from the lighthouse paused in horror as he saw the water his only option to wade through ,with the inevitable onlookers .

Wild Weekend (but only the weather)

Saturday was a wild day to say the least,it was intention to go to Linton Pond to check out the gulls if around, I called in at QE11 lake but no Meds for me plenty of Black Headed & a few Common, the message of the Glossy Ibis near the Budge screen and showing well ,so I thought it would be in the small pool to the left, a good opportunity to get some decent photos, I was there in five minutes but the bird was way over to the right and had been there all morning , it showed briefly but you needed a scope to get a view till it went behind some vegetation, so I headed off to Linton instead.
Going through the small woodland it was like another world being sheltered, opened the shutters to find the pond covered with Geese a couple of hundred Pinkfeet soon lifted and dropped into the field out of sight before I could get a count , 536 Canadas present these must surely be increasing rapidly, perhaps the NWT could take some Christmas orders, about 100 Greylag but a lot just out of sight in the corner & good numbers of duck also here.
I have bought the Gulls book and having read at least the introduction fully I stated to sort out the gulls and successfully ID'd and aged all the gulls there ,but as there was only 3 it was not much of a problem.
Sunday a lazy morning till we decided to go up to Amble again to check out the gulls in the harbour ,no Meds for me here either, and the larger gulls over the far side ,they still have not started to repair the quay so you cant get fully along.
A drive around to the braid to have a scan with the scope on the rising tide , hundreds of waders across the far side mostly Redshanks with a few Bar tailed, Knot and 3 Grey Plover , large gull roost with the majority birds being adult Great Black backs , loads of Wigeon feeding on the edges.
Called in at Hauxley just for a walk around , but the west hide has been removed , to be replaced according to the notice (end October) to me it was along with the Ponteland hide the only ones worth visiting , the large hide is useless in the afternoon as you look into the sun, so it was a walk to the beach and back to end the day.
Monday just a ride on the bike to St Mary's via Blyth harbour there are gates and fences up everywhere, although at the moment open, there could be no access to any of the jetties.
St Mary's quiet the adult med still at the Briardene carpark odd how it has returned to the same spot (presuming it is the same bird) an adult used to hang around the Blyth beach area but no sign of late. Looking through the Sanderling(links) I picked out three colour ringed birds ,had some last year in the north bay ,actually my last three visits to the north bay I have had no waders. Sent off the details and awaiting a reply, also noted still some Turnstones with colour rings ,sent numerous records in a few years ago and still waiting a reply, I think it should be a condition of use of colour rings that birds be at least monitored or good notice given that the study has ended.

Two colour ringed birds ,second left and first right

Another bird 2nd left and one centre

This bird looks like a differant study, not sure if thats a double or large red ring