Sunday 4 January 2015

Winter Gulling at Bartley Reservoir



A shocking day weather wise to start the weekend off so I took advantage of the situation to watch my eldest play in a storming Under 19 basketball match which they won by nice points.

As the rain cleared Terry Hinnet who watches Bartley Reservoir text me saying that they had seen a couple of nice gulls in recent days and it might be worth a drive up. If you have never been its best to head for Scotland Lane on the west side as that is generally where the larger gulls are. 

On arrival there was still sailing going so the Gulls were fairly close. I always find it amazing to see so many thousands of gulls just bobbing on the water. @midlandbirder was first to find a gem when he located the second winter Caspian Gull. I didn't see a Caspian at all last year so this was a great start to the year. A Common Gull was on the edge of a Herring Gull flock and I then picked up my first Great Crested Grebe of the year.

We then all moved further up Scotland Lane as soon as we had parked Terry shouted "Iceland" however the flock took off and moves slightly north. The good news was we all managed to locate the bird which was a real gem considering the lack of white wingers this winter.

Fair play to all the regular Bartley Gullers who stand up there night after night not like myself rocking up when there is a sniff of a big gun ! These 3 additions took me to 80 species for the year.

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