Ah well, the bird I saw was no tundra so must have been different and best left unidentified... I'm on a very slow learning curve with geese but the conditions that morning were atrocious so I am blaming hypothermia :-O.
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Lothian Birding (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter markgrubb
- Start date
Ah well, the bird I saw was no tundra so must have been different and best left unidentified... I'm on a very slow learning curve with geese but the conditions that morning were atrocious so I am blaming hypothermia :-O.
Any further news on this - bit gutted to read about it as soon as i was down south for the weekend...
Birdspotter
Well-known member
Hi Stephen,
Yes I had heard about these Bean's from a friend, he suggested, quite correctly I think that these may have been Taiga's en-route to their breeding grounds from the Slammanan area as they are known to leave around this time.
I still think mine was a Tundra though as having seen literally dozens of Tundra's this winter it fitted well with this form, other than the bill colour though.
I had a look this morning for it but no sign.
Birdspotter
Well-known member
I only heard second hand about this apparently seen by one bloke who thought it may have been one, other than that I know nothing.
I was there briefly that day but the tide was in resulting in very few gulls, and have been back three times since and havent seen it. Ad Med & 2 Iceland's was nice though.
Had a look in Alnwickhill today after work - not just a lack of Iceland Gulls, but a total lack of water as it is now drained... So ends my local gulling :-C.
Can't think what possibilities my local patch has now... maybe Ring Ousel on Braid Hill... but after 18 months of peering into Alnwickhill in the hope of a YLG or Caspo I'm struggling to muster any enthusiasm for land birding!
Ah well, the Hermitage, Braid and Mortonhall Est might produce something if worked hard enough - any ideas/suggestions/predictions?...
Geoff
Can't think what possibilities my local patch has now... maybe Ring Ousel on Braid Hill... but after 18 months of peering into Alnwickhill in the hope of a YLG or Caspo I'm struggling to muster any enthusiasm for land birding!
Ah well, the Hermitage, Braid and Mortonhall Est might produce something if worked hard enough - any ideas/suggestions/predictions?...
Geoff
Birdspotter
Well-known member
Another cracking Hen Harrier straight past me whilst sat in the car this avo:t:
Birdspotter
Well-known member
Today was rather quiet but had a nice walk round some excellent looking forestry plantations looking for Great Grey Shrikes but none were seen. Perhaps another day.
Finished off at Cramond for the gull roost but birds were too scattered over a very large area so nothing other than the usual suspects seen.
Finished off at Cramond for the gull roost but birds were too scattered over a very large area so nothing other than the usual suspects seen.
david kelly
Drive-by Birder
Went to Musselburgh this afternoon, not much unusual. Three Snow Buntings were present but I got a brief glimpse before they disappearedsomehwere around the first lagoon. Dogwalkers had dispersed the gulls at the rivermouth.
David
David
turkish van
Number 1 celebrity badger
Another quality pic of a Nuthatch again at cammo on friday. Yellowhammers and a Sparrowhawk along the river Almond, plus all the usuals in the woods.
Also attached the hard work of a woodpecker in a plantation somewhere in Midlothian today, one of a few similar trees.
Also attached the hard work of a woodpecker in a plantation somewhere in Midlothian today, one of a few similar trees.
Attachments
markgrubb
Leading a life of quiet desperation
turkish van
Number 1 celebrity badger
Have you been getting photography lessons from Dr W?
If I did mine would be a lot better...! Blame the equipment. Anyway, there are too many good photos around these days. Either be really good, or be bad-but-identifiable.
Birdspotter
Well-known member
Spent the day looking at gulls,gulls & more gulls:t:
Interesting to see that Lesser black back's are now coming back as I had a few in the west today, including a very nice adult intermedius alongside two graellsii for direct comparison.
Also a couple of adult argentatus as well as a nice 3rd w bird present.
At Cramond a very interesting bird was present. The bird was an adult, and on structure looked to be a Herring as well as it having pink legs, however the mantle colour was mid way between argenteus Herring & graellsii LBB, but was paler than an argentatus Herring Gull; ie it fitted Yellow-legged Gull more (although it was clearly not this species).
However, birds that are very similar to this individual are often seen here & at nearby Barnbougle bay during the winter months. I see from reading an earlier thread on Birdforum sometime ago that other observers throughout Britain have come across such birds with opinions ranging from hybrids to argentatus Herring Gulls.
Anybody else have similar occurences?
My own thoughts that at least some of the birds I have seen over the years there are argentatus.
Interesting to see that Lesser black back's are now coming back as I had a few in the west today, including a very nice adult intermedius alongside two graellsii for direct comparison.
Also a couple of adult argentatus as well as a nice 3rd w bird present.
At Cramond a very interesting bird was present. The bird was an adult, and on structure looked to be a Herring as well as it having pink legs, however the mantle colour was mid way between argenteus Herring & graellsii LBB, but was paler than an argentatus Herring Gull; ie it fitted Yellow-legged Gull more (although it was clearly not this species).
However, birds that are very similar to this individual are often seen here & at nearby Barnbougle bay during the winter months. I see from reading an earlier thread on Birdforum sometime ago that other observers throughout Britain have come across such birds with opinions ranging from hybrids to argentatus Herring Gulls.
Anybody else have similar occurences?
My own thoughts that at least some of the birds I have seen over the years there are argentatus.
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Birdspotter
Well-known member
On Sunday evening, as well as a few other times this winter I have done the gull roost stretching between Portobello & Musselburgh from Eastfield.
Despite the huge numbers of birds present (inc several thousand Common.s at the moment) there was a distinct lack of large gulls in the roost. I know Musselburgh holds quite a few LWHG but why the lack of any off Portobello!
Do LWHG go into Leith Docks perhaps, anybody know?
Despite the huge numbers of birds present (inc several thousand Common.s at the moment) there was a distinct lack of large gulls in the roost. I know Musselburgh holds quite a few LWHG but why the lack of any off Portobello!
Do LWHG go into Leith Docks perhaps, anybody know?
Can't answer that specific query but for the general case the large gulls always take the prime positions. At Seton if the tide is low and the Long Craig rocks are accessible the larger birds (GBB/HG) will hog them with the smaller species (CG/BHG) initially all on the shore, then on the shallows waters, though ultimately all go onto the sea at last light, I have never seen birds remaining to roost on dry land. Even within the small gulls there are sometimes zones, with the Common Gulls over the burn outflow but concentrations of BHG sometimes occurring further east over the sandy shore. The Meds prefer to associate with the latter, though of course are often first picked up when they come into the burn itself for the fresh water. All this you already know I'm sure, but I wonder if there's something similar at Musselburgh, the "prime" spot is the burn mouth (with fresh water) where the large gulls will be dominant whilst the small species have to make do with the adjacent areas then onto the sea. I do recall seeing the LWHG still concentrated nearer the Eskmouth even late on when on the sea.
What proportion of the large gulls actually stay to roost is another question worth considering, I have very rarely confirmed this at Seton, often they are apparently just pre-roost concentrations that steadily dwindle as the light fades, I believe many continue on towards the North Berwick islands; I have not checked those out much myself though I do recall seeing 200 Herrings gathered in the Bass Rock (16:30hrs, 15/11/08, i.e. 25 mins after sunset) and would be interested to know more about if this is a regular roost, or other islands used. A further point is whether those LWHG have actually gone to roost at all when you are looking, last week there were still 80 feeding in Seton harbour, using the lights, half an hour after sunset whilst the bulk of the main roost at Seton was settled long before that - and of course can be feeding well into the night or even foraging in urban areas, even in winter (Herrings still at Macdonalds, Kinnard Park well after dark back in early Jan).
I could probably ramble on some more but it will get boring, if anyone has any hard evidence of where the Edinburgh LWHGs actually go I'd also be very interested to know...
[Naturally I'm interested in your other post too but I have nothing particular to add on what these darker birds might be; given the frequency of known LBBxHG occurrence and I recall some knowledge of their typical appearance in literature do you think it is possible to definitely exclude these?]
I asked Maggie Sheddan, of the Seabird Centre (incidentally starred on "Dick & Dom Gone Wild" on CBeebies ystdy morning!) and she confirmed the Bass is a substantial roost for Herrings, she did the WinGS gull roost survey a few years back and found only one Herring on the water. There are some counts of up to 1800 at dusk on Craigleith for early 1990's, just a handful, and a record of 1300 from Fidra from same survey on 15 January 1996, this appeared in the LBR but was not labelled as a roost count. Apart from that seems we have no other counts from these islands and despite the Bass itself being a "known" roost there has been nothing logged since 1991, save for my record above. In conclusion, the bulk of our birds probably do roost offshore on islands but these roosts are badly underrecorded - we could certainly do with some more counts and info on them!
Message to all members : Forum members interested in seeing Hawfinch at Scone Palace ( near Perth ) may not be aware that Winter access to the grounds has changed . Lord Stormont is happy to have visitors to the grounds during the down season, but only after applying for an access form from the Estate Office . This has become suprise suprise a Health and Safety issue .
Please don't get caught out .
Rik
Please don't get caught out .
Rik
Birdspotter
Well-known member
There is one near Penicuik although I dont know exactly where that is, it had 3-4 Iceland's this winter, I have been doing one out in West Lothian which is 30 minutes out of Edin that has had quite a few also.
Most/all of the Lothian gull watching goes on at the evening roosts around the city.
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