Friday 29 June 2012

June Med

29th June - an early afternoon visit on a windy day with some early showers giving way to sunshine.  A Common Sand was new in on the near side of the spit and after a quick scan a second bird flew around to the back of the spit.  The 2 Oystercatchers were once again present along with at least 5 adult LRPs and 3 of the regular 2nd summer YL Gulls were in with the LWHG flock.  4 Shelduck on the back of the spit were the first I'd seen at this site for a while.

I spent a bit of time scrutinising the Common Terns resting on the near spit.  Yesterday evening, Jim R had seen 2 birds wearing faded colour rings that were possibly birds ringed at this site as juveniles.  I have been looking at the terns here frequently and hadn't noticed any before, other than a bird with a single BTO ring, so wondered if I had just missed them or whether they were newly arrived from a failed breeding attempt elsewhere.  Anyway, this time of day was not great for terns sitting on the mud, they usually build up later in the day, but as luck would have it, out of 3 birds, 1 was one of yesterday's colour-ringed birds.  It bore a BTO ring on its left leg and a smaller colour ring on its right.  The top colour was definitely blue, but fading and the bottom colour just looked like a faded white.  This would possibly make it a bird ringed at this site in 2009.

Whilst looking at the tern, I noticed that a nearby Black-headed Gull also had a colour ring - a black one on its left leg with white A2NO, with a metal ring above the knee on the right.  This looks to be from a scheme in Germany and I await further details.  A poor record shot through some drizzle just about shows the code (if you use your imagination!)


A little later, a 1st summer Med Gull arrived in with the increasing flock of post breeding BH Gulls.  It had a wash and brush up and then attempted a quick nap, but was startled by something, though still there when I left.  I always think that this age looks a little scruffy, probably due to the patchy, spotty hood, which was quite extensive on this bird.



A male Blue-tailed Damselfly settled on the foliage next to where I was standing, but every time I tried to take a photo it flew to a different spot - I gave up in the end.

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