14 July 2008

Ooooh! A Gull!

A visit to Willington Gravel Pits yesterday morning rewarded me with yet another new bird for my “10-Mile List”, a Yellow-legged Gull. Now, gulls are not my favourite birds and I have to say that I was none too impressed with this bird. I gave it just enough attention to be certain of its I.D. and moved on to more exciting tasks - such as counting Cormorants, Tufted Ducks and Lapwing! Seeing as you asked... 37 Cormorant, 40 Tufted Duck and 35 Lapwing!

Four hours of birding gave me a total of 51 species with Buzzard, Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Dunlin and Kingfisher being the most noteworthy. A count of six Lesser Whitethroat was the highest I’ve ever recorded, so I guess that makes it noteworthy too. A single Grasshopper Warbler doesn’t deserve a mention due to the fact that it sang its head off all morning, but refused to show itself. Skulking little warbler!

The sun actually showed its face for a while yesterday and that brought out a few brave butterflies. Meadow Brown, Small Tortoiseshell and Large White were seen in the lane whilst a single, but gorgeous, Comma was feeding near the road when I returned to the car. Try as I might, I could not get any photos of the butterflies so I snapped away at a few easier targets instead.

My “10-Mile List” now stands at 131 species.

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