Dipedeedooda dipedeeyay

What to do when you dip? Ignore the dip and move on without mentioning it ever again? Or celebrate, masochistically, the birds that were seen other than the one wanted bird? I choose option B of course.

Yesterday was, as James well defined it, 'the best dip in ages'. 

We set off in the middle of the night towards Dorset - a group of busy middle-aged men. We arrived at Ferry Bridge right on time for the Ross's Gull daily appearence. The temperatures were truly Arctic, but the bird did not do what it was supposed to. We were so bored standing around. I started photographing common birds there.

Not a Ross's Gull

Not a Ross's Gull

Not a Ross's Gull

Not a Ross's Gull

There were quite a few Red-breasted Mergansers and summer-plumaged Black-necked Grebes in the bay, and a couple of Shags, but nobody gave a %$£&. Still I photographed them, and Chris typed them into eBird, because we had nothing better to do.

We then spent the rest of the day in pinky's other favourite haunts, without success. RSPB Radipole Lake carpark was a clear gull hotspot, but the little bugger wasn't there either.

Not a Ross's Gull

Not a Ross's Gull

Certainly not a Ross's Gull

Radiploe, and Lodmoor, held nice numbers of Med Gulls. Not as beautiful as White Angel Ross's Gull, it still is a pretty neat beast.

YAA2 (from Serbia probably)

Lodmoor Med demonstrated well how we felt like

Lodmoor held BIG numbers of Snipe - the largest number we saw at one time was 180 birds, flying around in tight flocks like Dunlin. On a normal day I'd be quite chuffed about this.

Lodmoor was quite alright (see our eBird checklists, religiously typed in by Chris, morning and afternoon). I like this reserve, but prefer it when it actually hosts rarities.

The better end of a Teal

Oh Ross's Gull. I dreamed about you since childhood, when I got Peter Grant's first gull book. The obsession grew bigger with every time I saw the Dutch Birding logo.This was one of my main targets in the UK. I had three previous opportunities to twitch this bird, but I didn't go for various good reasons. How much I regret those responsible decisions now.

Many thanks to Mike (who drove most of the way), Chris and James; despite the painful dip, it was a fun day. Certainly a dip to remember.

Scotland #3 - seabird extravaganza

Back home in Norwich already, but I have some more Scottish tales to tell. On July 31st we went out to sea with my mate Phil from Shetland Seabird Tours. We left Lerwick harbour and headed towards Noss NNR. Phil boat is great - small enough to get close to water level, but sits very well on the water. 

Noss is an impressive rock and has even more impressive gannet numbers - in fact 22,000 pairs breed there. The sea was somewhat choppier than normal but we all did well, especially Libby who fell asleep halfway through the trip...

The gannets there know their duty and showed up when they were invited by Phil. I was so unprofessional and forgot my small lens onshore. At these distances, my 500 was useless, so all these photos were taken with my phone. Phone photos should never be displayed on a computer screen, I know. But all in all they're not too bad I think, for phone photos at least.

Quite a few Bonxies joined the feast too:

As did the local Great Black-backed Gulls:

Most breeding gannets had Masked-Booby-like fluffy chicks still in the nest:

Lots of non-breeders too

Shags, made in 2017

On the way back we stopped for some seabirds away from the cliffs. We encountered some feeding concentrations of puffins and Arctic Terns. Closer views on Sumburgh Head but lovely to see them at sea:

Most Common Guillemots had already left - only few seen

Several Black Guillemots (Tysties) were loafing in the harbour - losing their summer plumage:

 Some more Arctic Terns in the harbour:

And a few Common Eider families: 

Back on land, one of the few Common Terns on Shetland was especially obliging just in the carpark:

Many thanks to Phil for the brilliant tour. Great fun and quality birding. Highly recommended to anyone visiting Shetland. Till next post...

Birding at last!

Wow, this was a long break. But today I finally managed to get myself out of Norwich, courtesy of Jake and Drew. We left early and headed first to Sheringham for a couple of hours of seawatching. **Lesson 1 in UK birding - if the weather is good (like it was today), lower your expectations.** 

No wind resulted in, well, alright birding. Some movement of Red-throated Divers, Common Scoters, Guillemots, one Scaup, one Shag and a few other bits and pieces. Some divers swam rather close in:

Red-throated Diver

Red-throated Diver and Shag

Then we moved on to Cromer. By the pier the long-staying Caspian Gull showed too well at times. It was associating with a Yellow-legged Gull, and most of the time they were both perched on top of Hotel de Paris. Caspian Gull looks a bit different here compared to the more Asian birds that reach Israel. Slightly more black on the wingtip (tiny black dot on P4) and bill shape not quite the same - a bit heavier. Note that now it's growing P8 to P10 so when it finishes growing them in a couple of weeks the wingtip will have even more white.

Caspian Gull

Yellow-legged Gull 

What a brute

FF

We spent the rest of the day at Stiffkey, which was really nice even though we didn't have anything special. Lots of birds both on the scrapes and on the mudflats.

**Lesson number 2: always carry a good rifle when birding to shoot down dog walkers.**

Some highlights included 3 Curlew Sands, 2 Green Sands, 4 Rock Pipits, Peregrine, 14 Spoonbills, 1 continental White Wagtail, 2 Whinchats. Not too shabby.

Rock Pipits

Thanks to Jake and Drew for the ride and company - it was a good day indeed.