Even on a miserable dull day there is always something to see and today it was 3 Firecrests I found between the ruins of St Andrew's Church and the Church Ope Cove beach huts.
In Penn's Wood I came across 12 Long-tailed Tits and the prospect of maybe finding something interesting amongst them. Sadly not, which was a shame as often or not there are a least a couple of Firecrests with them. There were a few crests though and 5 Goldcrests was a good tally. Also amongst them 2 Great Tits, 3 Blue Tits and 2 female Chaffinches. Also here were 2 Siskins and a Song Thrush.
As I headed down to the cove the Long-tailed Tits "followed" me and at St Andrew's Church 2 Firecrests appeared in the ivy overhanging the church walls and then a third below the wall just above the coast path.
The tits and crests headed south and I carried on down to the cove, where there 14 Herring Gulls, a Great Black-backed Gull and a Carrion Crow in the north-east corner of the beach.
Suspecting there might be something washed up here and they were feeding on it, I walked across the pebbles to have a look. There was absolutely nothing!!
As I got closer the gulls took off and so did 8 Rock Pipits. I had a quick look for any ringed birds, but none today. Also here just 2 Wrens and a Gannet just off the beach heading south. No sign of the "Rock" Robin.
A mystery gull passed by and caused me to question as to what it was. More at the bottom of the page......
Here are a few photos from today:
An adult winter Herring Gull and a Great Black-backed Gull
One of the 8 Rock Pipits on the beach today.
An adult Gannet heads south
There's been quite a few Gannets passing through over the past few days.
A Cormorant just off the beach.
Some not so good photos of one of the three Firecrests here today.
Just didn't quite get the focus right.
Birds Recorded were: 1 Gannet, Cormorant, 1 Common Gull, 14 Herring Gull, 1 Great Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, 8 Rock Pipit, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, 1 Song Thrush, 8 Goldcrest, 3 Firecrest, 12 Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, 2 Siskin and Goldfinch.
My mystery Gull
A lone gull passed by and I knew it was different, certainly Herring Gull size and almost the size of the Great Black-backed Gull close-by. I did wonder if it was a 2nd winter Yellow-legged Gull, due to the white rump, but after asking a lot of gull experts it turns out the gull below is in fact a 1st winter Common Gull.
Its certainly the largest Common Gull I've come across before. I know Herring Gulls vary in size, but this one certainly confused me. Thank you to Martin Cade, Matt Pringle and everyone who contacted me to point me in the right direction.
I think I had it far to easy living in the countryside up until now!!
Here are a selection of images of the Common Gull of Church Ope Cove.
