Psilos Bird Journal
Thursday May 8th 2008
     
"A twitcher...not I!"
 
I am often asked if I am a twitcher and the simple answer is no as I do not chase rare birds. However on occassion if one should wander onto my patch I may go and take a look. This week a Ross's gull has been seen around Fairhaven so I thought I would see if I could find it. Sadly my knowledge of gulls is sadly lacking so I would be relying on the presence of others hopefully with telescopes to point it out to me. In all honesty I wasnt that bothered if I didnt find it. Gulls are not really my thing but Fairhaven is always a nice place to visit.
     
Herring gul jvenile
     
On the lake there are alot of Juvenile Herring and Lesser black backed gulls. As usual they are being noisy and looking for opportunities to pick off undefended ducklings. I scanned them all looking for a dainty small gull but there was none to be found. Out on the sea there were even fewer birds. The occasional redshank were feeding and a small flock of Grey plover resplendant in summer plumage were flying up and down on the tide line far out.

Herring gull adult
Back on the lake and I am delighted to see a pair of Mute swans with two cygnets. The first cygnets I have seen this year and I can never resist an opportunity to photograph them.
 
 
 
Getting a good sharp focus on these beauties was quite a challenge. At times the waves were very rough and they bobbed around like corks in the ocean.
 
Over on the grass banks the Canada and Greylag geese were resting amongst a sea of daisies.
Greylag goose

There was even a lone Barnacle goose feeding amongst the Canada geese. He was very tame. I imagine it is an escaped or feral bird.

After much certain we did not find the Ross's gull and checking bird reports later it seems it was the first day it wasnt recorded so had probably moved on. How very typical! Anyway not to worry it had been an interesting day.