Cliffe Pools on a nice day, but after low tide

Little Grebes, Great Crested Grebes, Cormorant, Lapwings, Redshanks, Shoveller, Mallard, Pintail, Gadwall, Wigeon, Teal, Coot, Common Gull, Larus canus, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull. 

Black-headed Gulls adults

Head patterns

Head patterns of adults are quite variable over the winter. Here we are getting the double headphones pattern.

Same bird, head turned partly towards us with both headphones still visible.

This is the same bird again, this time looking more directly in our direction. The first headphone is quite clear, the second is now on the reverse slope of the skull, except for both its lower ends.

The beak colour here is as in Ohlsen and Larsson, going towards the "concolorous maroon" of the breeding season as discussed below.

It is worth remembering that the moult into breeding plumage is only partial - relating to head and body only. The bird has to rely on the wing and tail feathers formed the previous summer for its successful performance during the breeding season.

"Those individuals who moult their hood early apparently do so every year. What is interesting though is that their moult takes place over a much longer period of time than for those individuals who acquire their full hood during the regular moult stage. Those who have a normal moult do so very quickly, up to 10 – 15% a day. This means that a full hood can be acquired in around a week. The individuals that I have seen with early head moult (see examples below) took weeks before their hood was anywhere near completion." from the excellent "Gulls to the horizon" blog.

Beak colours

The beak colour seems to be generally orange in younger birds, ranging from yellow-orange to a more reddish-orange, and always with something of a dark tip (see non-adults page). In adults the beak colours seem to vary, being a bright to moderate red in late summer through to mid-winter, and then darkening to a dark blood red (maroon) as breeding approaches, often getting as dark as the dark tip of the bill, which itself slightly lightens until the beak can be described as "concolorous maroon". However in the mid-autumn it is often really quite a bright red, perhaps much more highly coloured than the winter mid-red. This could admittedly be an effect of higher light intensities.

This is a bird in mid-autumn seen at Barden in late October 2013, showing the moderately bright red colour to the bill:

This is a bird seen near Saint George in January 2014, and you can see how the tip is getting browner from the original black.

Weblinks for Black-headed Gulls

http://bhgullsni.blogspot.co.uk/

http://guernseygulls.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.ridibundus.gull-research.org/01cymay.html

http://gullstothehorizon.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/the-p9-conondrum/

Sunny Cliffe Pools at low tide

Telescope views are wonderful in these well lit conditions and I quickly found the Black-necked Grebe in among the Little Grebes, Great Crested Grebes, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Goldeneye, Clangula bucephala, Black-headed Gulls and Coot at the back corner of Radar Pool. There were good numbers of duck overall with hundreds of Shoveler and Teal, and dozens of Pintail and Wigeon.

On the new beach there were hundreds of  Lapwings and no other waders. Some Wigeon and Teal were on the shoreline, but surprisingly few Gulls. A few Herring Gulls and Black-headed Gulls were scattered across Radar and Flamingo.  

Leybourne again

Trying out the monopod today I did think it made a difference, until I forgot to point the autofocus spot directly onto the birds concerned. However, here is a fairly sharp Greylag, Anser anser, from quite close-up,

There were also about 60 Canada Geese, Branta canadensis, Mute Swans, Cygnus olor, many Black-headed Gulls, Chroicocephalus ridibundus, some Herring Gulls, Larus argentatus, and at least one Common Gull, Larus canus. Also Mallard, Anas platyrynchos, Tufted Duck, Aythya fuligola, one Drake Shoveller, Anas clypeata, several Great Crested Grebe, Podiceps cristata, Cormorants, Phalocrocorax carbo, Moorhens, Gallinula chloropus, and Coots, Fulica atra.

This is a one year old Black-headed Gull, as indicated by the brown on the wings, and the slightly orange bill

Whereas this is an adult bird with a much darker red bill and perhaps a tendency to achieve breeding plumage a bit earlier.

This is an adult Herring Gull, only just in focus,

Herring Gull calling, much more heavily cropped:

Moorhen:

Tufted Duck:

Leybourne on Boxing Day

Very enjoyable walk through to Brooklands, quite mild and sunny.

The pair of Muscovy Duck were still at the feeding area of the Ocean. The colour of the water has been slightly enhanced here by reducing the brightness/exposure of the photo. I hadn't realised these ducks originate from Central America, and are escapes from captivity in UK or Europe. This pair have been around this corner of the Ocean for about a week. Their colouration is very variable within the taxon, but their overall jizz is quite characteristic, and the black/white pattern with the reddish colour and bumps on  the bill are diagnostic. The tail feathers of the other bird that I assume to be the male have a mallard-like quiff, so this should be the female.

This Black-headed Gull is probably an adult because of the colour of its bill, good grey back and just visible) half moons on the folded primaries, due to their white tips.



 This Black-headed Gull is probably a 2nd cy bird. It is the yellow-orange bill of a young bird. but its tail feathers are in partial moult, with the two outer ones new: now with no dark tips and perhaps still just growing into place. The two middle ones have been moulted as well.



The Black-headed Gulls are always ready to be fed, and to fight noisily over the proceeds. Its a bit tricky to get the action shots, but here goes.

The bird below, probably an adult from the colour of its bill clean white tail and wings, has a good dark outer edge to the outer web of the primary P9 feather, echoing the this dark edge so often seen on p10 - the last feature might be universal, I don't know.

There is a good range of other birds, including this Mute Swan,

And this heron was a long way away when the picture was taken:

There are woodpecker holes in the trees where I saw woodpeckers nearly a year ago I think.

There is also quite a lot of downed timber around, and here is a close-up of some of the moss on a fallen tree trunk. There is a pleurocarpous species, perhaps Hypnum cupressiforme, and a solidly acrocarpous species, apparently with old setae from previous fruiting, and possibly some other species.

The area here used to include some ornamental trees and shrubs, perhaps part of a large garden. Here are the odd old inflorescences of Rhus typhina, the Stag's Horn Sumach.

On a big tree by Brooklands Lake I suspected these tiny whitish mushrooms growing on the bark of what I think must be an old willow may be Mycena pseudocorticola

Black-necked Grebe at Cliffe Pools

Well it would be nice to say that this was a bird that I had found, but sadly it had been seen for a number of days and I just hunted for it until I finally saw it on the far side of Radar. a very neat little grebe, certainly not much larger than a Little Grebe, and spending a lot of time diving, making it even more difficult to pick up.

I just missed 12,000 Dunlin apparently, quite a sight according to the two who did see them!

Lots of lapwings, Curlew, Golden Plover (some Grey maybe), Ringed Plover, Dunlin, maybe a few Black-tailed Godwits. Where are all the Redshank??

Teal, Wigeon, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, Clangula bucephala, Pintail, Mallard, Shoveller, Shelduck

Brrr Barden

I think the weather is now starting to get wintry, and among the waterfowl at Barden today was a drake wigeon. A Cormorant was hunting among the Coot in the angular bay by the wood, and the usual Coot, Yufties, Canada Geese, Mute Swans and Mallard were seen with one moorhen. A single herring guill was seen chasing one of the many black-headed gulls.

Equally pleasant were the couple of calling Redwings in the woods between the lake and the river, and the singing Song Thrush by the railway bridge over the path.