An early spring at Leybourne?

It was a lovely afternoon at Leybourne Lakes, still and quite warm. Many of the trees are getting going, while the birds appear to be keener and more forthcoming all round.

I was fooled initially by the size of this Gull - on first sight it looked certainly big enough to be a Herring Gull, but with its dark eye, dark hood and relatively dark back, of course it turned out to be a Common Gull, Larus canus.

Here you can see the broad white trailing edge on the inner portion of the wing, as the bird flies away.

A windy Oare Marshes

Excellent to be seeing fair numbers of Pintail on the East Flood,

There were reasonable numbers of Pintail all around, often giving good views as they upended or just ducked their heads down feeding, or just rested on the bank.



and here is a closer  view of the same photo, showing the beautiful grey vermiculations on the flank and back



There were four or five Common Gulls, Larus canus, close to the road, some with really dark head blotching,

The Black-headed Gulls are quite rapidly developing their breeding plumage now.

There was a Great Crested Grebe on the Swale off the mouth of Faversham Creek, and Wigeon flighted in the distance. No other birds were braving the off-shore winds perhaps?

There were dozens of Black-tailed Godwits on the East Flood, some feeding and some asleep.

Leybourne with Nain

A nice view of one of the two Common Gulls, Larus canus, at the North end of The Ocean, one chasing the second off its buoy. A nice view of the under-wing pattern, with a big white mirror at the tip, and a broad white trailing edge to the wing. The bill might have been yellow-greenish and had the dark sub-terminal band common to most individuals, and the legs looked somewhat yellowish. The eye was dark as always, and the head suitably streaked for winter.

Leybourne at last!

There were a few Common Gulls, Larus canus, on the Ocean, including this one on a buoy at the far end:

Lovely Leybourne

Walked slowly around the first part of the country park with Nain.

1 Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Blackbirds, 1 Redwing, Magpies, Black-headed Gulls, Coot, Common Gulls, Herring Gulls, Tufted Duck, 1 Robin, 

Whoopee at Cliffe!

2 Curlew Sandpipers in breeding plumage, 2 Bar-tailed Godwits, 11 Dunlin, 13 Ringed Plover, 2 Grey Plover, 700+ Avocets, 100+ Great Black-backed Gulls, 70+ Black-headed Gulls, 3+ Common Gulls, Larus canus, 4 Common Tern, 1 Green Sandpiper, 4 adult and 9 young Shelduck, 20+ Pochard, Tufted Duck, Mallard, 1 male Ruddy Duck, 20+ Redshank, 10+ Greenshank.

The Curlew Sandpipers, Calidris ferruginea, were absolutely fantastic. The most obvious feature was the patchy rusty red chests, against a white background as the wind fluttered the feathers.The next feature seen was the dark eyestripe against the whitish background of the face - the white being the clear pale supercilium above the eye, and the whitish area of the cheek below the darker eyestripe. The back was grey-brown in comparison, and I thought I saw the scalloping type pattern. The birds were not there very long, and when they flew I looked carefully for a wing bar, which I did clearly see, about the same visibility as a Dunlin. I thought I also caught the whitish rump above the darker tail tip, bit I must admit I was concentrating on the wings and should have looked at the rump as well. Overall the bird was slender and stylish, and I compared it in my mind to Audrey Hepburn! When I described what I had seen to a very nice chap scoping the birds a bit further up, he named it as Curlew Sandpiper (we agreed that a Knot was significantly larger and chunkier, with a much shorter bill). When I checked BWP it seemed to fit. It was when I checked the images on the internet and the Collins Guide that I was convinced the ID was correct.

This is one of the Black-headed Gulls in flight, showing the dark underwing:

And here is one of the two or three Common gulls I saw in with the other Black-headed Gulls I saw roosting at the estuary end of Flamingo Pool:

This is the one Greenshank up this end of the reserve. Talk about Audrey Hepburn again!

This is a Little Egret and two Dunlins.

As today's new acquaintance drove off from the barrier at the Meadwall, I caught sight of a smallish wader zigzagging towards me low along the ditch to the right of the track. Very black and some white in appearance. My first impression was actually of a dark hirundine with stiffer wings (the RSPB website says it resembles a House Martin in flight). The old PDH field guide refers to rapid flight with jerky snipe-like wingbeats. It settled and vanished so I got the telescope set up. To my astonishment I quickly got on to it, and saw a sandpiper very dark on top and very pale underneath, not small. The throat and chest were dark (no "white peak" between the wing and throat), and I thought "sandpiper" in general appearance but it wasn't bobbing (although Green Sandpipers do bob) and looked too dark above to be a Common Sandpiper.

Later as Monty put it up again I heard a twit-twit-twit (characteristic three note whistly tone) call and saw a bright white rump - it was a Green Sandpiper, Tringa ochropus! This looked just like the bird I saw about 18 months ago on a nearby ditch and the two I saw nearby two autumns ago but misidentified originally, and I was really happy to feel that the mystery has now been completely solved in my head, with a rather excellent view today. The call was great confirmation and a low zig-zagging flight is also a characteristic of the bird's behaviour. The best estimate of the known UK winter population is about 900 birds, together with an occasional breeding pair, but this seems to be a fairly reliable site for them.

The Ruddy Duck on Black Barn Pool 2 was an incredible sight.with a blue bill that looked as if it had just come out of a Dulux Gloss colour catalogue. The bright white face, black cap and rufous body with a long perky tail were like a vision of colour. I only saw the bird for a moment and did not rediscover it despite searching for where it should have been.

Barden Lake

Greylag Goose, Anser anser, Only a few were on the lake today, but I think the main flock may still have been nearby. At one point I heard them on the neighbouring fishing lake.

This cob mute swan has a rather strange looking tip to its beak, and I think it must have suffered a rather traumatic wound to the lower bill and tip: 

A very unusually coloured coot has been around for a couple of days, flocking with all the other waterfowl, including many "normal" coots, near the feeding area.

Just one of the two Egyptian Geese were seen today, which unfortunately I think we disturbed so that it flew off over the lake. It appears to have been eating the grass around the lake.

A drake tufted duck looks seriously at me!

This looks like an adult Black Headed Gull, Chroicocephalus ridibundus, just starting to replace its winter plumage with its brown headcap. As it darkens it tends to look sooty black rather than the brown of the fully developed cap - as do the winter head stripes. I have never seen any explanation of this. The bill is also already darkening up, showing less of a distinction between a redder base and a darker tip. By the time of the breeding season, the bill is often sufficiently dark overall to be almost concolorous with the headcap. This picture shows the very clear "white eyelid" effect

This next must be an immature Black Headed Gull, first winter perhaps. The most obvious feature are the dark-centred tertials, very clear in this individual. Tertials are apparently not true flight feathers but are located on the upper arm, near the body, and are used primarily to cover the primaries and secondaries while at rest. The so called tertial step is an important ID feature in some gull species while at rest - see this blog reference. Note also the orange base to the bill, characteristic it seems to me of overwintering first years and juveniles in general. It is a bit puzzling as there is little in the way of brown along the side of the wing - its all mainly at the back of the wing - but there is so much of it that I think it must still be a first winter. You can also see the dark tip to the tail, if only just, from this angle.

I think this is a different bird, from the other side of the lake taken much earlier, and a slightly worse photograph. However it's a very similar pattern of brown on the wing:

This is a rather more conventionally coloured wing, on a bird on a signpost stuck in the middle of the lake by the main (Western) feeding area, Again note the orangey rather than reddish bill (and legs?) of these young birds:

And another one from the Western side, again with some browning along the wing, although perhaps not quite so much as the previous picture. The small dark smudge to the front of the eye visible in most wintering birds is fairly obvious in this picture:

And here is the one Common Gull, Larus canus I saw, just before I was distracted by a "hooded" Black Headed Gull, and so I only confirmed it for sure when I looked at the photos later.

This is a drake Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos. The Mallard were in small groups across the lake today, but some at least appear to be pairing up.

There were a couple of cormorants, Phalocrocorax carbo, on the lake, diving for quite long periods and distances, so presumably fishing. One took off from the water and flew low across in front of one of the two islands, and the blurry photographs showed the white thigh patch of an adult in the breeding season.

Cliffe warming up and urban flora lecture

A fair walk through the middle of Cliffe to the viewpoint at Flamingo was enjoyable for both Monty and myself at lunchtime, which was followed by a trip up to Birkbeck for a lecture on the wonders of the urban flora to feed the mind, to make another great day!

Common Gulls. On the bridge "over the Kwai", there were two Common Gulls, Larus canus, and two black-headed gulls, Chroicocephalus ridibundus. The two Common Gulls were nicely showing the bright white on the trailing edge of the wings, and the white tertial crescent, as well as the white mirror segments on the black wingtips.

The Common Gull to the right has a darker head, and less clear white spotting on the black wing tips. If it might be possible to persuade myself that there are dark marks on the wings themselves, then perhaps it could be a second year winter bird?

Black-Headed Gulls. The settled bird of the two Black-Headed Gulls here is turning dark on the head as it develops its breeding plumage, nicely showing the white eyelids more visible to the rear of the eye. The flying bird, about to land and decelerating sharply, does not appear to be so well advanced, but does show the wing patterns quite well, the dark "shadow" on the underside, the black-tipped primaries, the bright white triangle and front edge to the wings. There is also a dark mark at the front of the upper wing that might indicate a second winter bird as opposed to an adult bird.

And these other two birds seems to be mutually displaying to the other. According to BWP this could perhaps be "The Forward Posture", bird flat with spread scapulars, neck kinked and head held forward (although difficult to tell if the tail is flattened), generally a symbol of aggression often alternately shown by the two opponents, more commonly on the water (e.g. swimming towards opponent) than on land. A web source from a Dutch "larophile" says that it may also be part of courtship if the birds are parallel to each other, which doesn't seem to be the case here. This display itself may therefore be nothing to do with the season!

In his book The Animal in Its World, Niko Tinbergen characterizes this type of behavior as a ‘spacing-out’ display or ‘threat’ display, directed at opponents with the aim to move them away or to stop their advance.
The last picture also seems to involve mutual ritualistic postures, with spread scapulars retained, a little more like "The Upright Posture" or "The Oblique Posture", although I can't identify it exactly. One thing I can't sort out is that it doesn't look aggressive, and the birds are close together in this last shot.

However that may be, I also think that the birds' beaks are losing their red colour and becoming darker, almost black at a distance. In addition at least one of the bird's head is beginning to darken. Spring, I think, is still on the way!

Urban flora lecture. The wall bedstraw, Galium parisiense, was found in a front garden just by Gloucester Road tube station, and is a rare plant of poor ground and urban as well as rural areas.