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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Essex Birding (1 Viewer)

Hi Stewart,

There are plenty of leucistic and hybrid gulls knocking around the Pitsea area, and many of the Iceland / Glaucs which get reported and end up on the various news services are invariably one of these, due to a combination of ignorance and wishful thinking by observers who don't know any better.

I know you do know better, and it's quite clear from your post that you've considered the hybrid pitfall, but there was a hybrid earlier this month on the nearby tip which at first glance could be mistaken for a Glauc, and indeed was when first seen on the tip.

There are 2 photo's here:

http://applerow.co.uk/Photos.asp

You'll need to scroll down to 4th April (after pausing to admire the BwStilt photo's of course;)). Did it look like this?

The main reason this is a hybrid rather than a pure Glauc is the grey feathering coming through on the mantle. The ground colour of the bird is also too dark, having a greyish undertone; I imagine it would look a pale-dirty grey / brown colour at a distance. A Glauc should have a white ground colour with creamy-brown markings, and a 2nd calendar year bird this time of year would probably show some wear and from a distance appear more creamy coloured. The head/bill profile doesn't feel quite right to me in these photo's either, but could be within the range for a small female bird I guess.

Having said all that there were 2 Glaucous Gulls around in January to early March this year with another bird on Bowers last Saturday (which was reported as "cream coloured"), so if your bird didn't look like the one in the photo's then there's a good chance it was the real deal.
 
However it is an odd one, there is the fishing lake there by the church, no issues there, there is also the lavender and lodge lakes up a bit from there in Essex too.

I think there is a ghost in the machine, but the point remains that leez priory lake by church does give some great sightings throughout the year.

Whilst the very nature of migrants is that it has gone, I will have a look at the area after work tomorrow.

Steve - firstly sorry I haven't called you back this week.
Re the above locations i'm a bit confused as to what is being referred to as what so will you enlighten me please?
The only church in any of those locations is Little Leighs church with the Essex way running on the south side of it and the lake next to it O.S. map ref TL 720167 (I know that church well as I married my first wife there back in 1977, BIG mistake!).
The lavender & lodge lakes which are large farm reservoirs used for trout fishing in the summer are a bit further up the River Ter valley at approx TL 710186 and are sometimes referred to as Leez reservoirs ( I think these might be the ones Stewart is referring to) and then Leez priory is west of the upper (lodge) lake at TL 700186, there are a couple of lakes in the grounds there so is that the Leez priory lake you are referring to?

andrew
 
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Does anyone know if it is much of a walk to see the BW stilts at Bowers marsh as I will be in Essex tomorrow but with limited time and the wife in tow !
 
Hi Stewart,

There are plenty of leucistic and hybrid gulls knocking around the Pitsea area, and many of the Iceland / Glaucs which get reported and end up on the various news services are invariably one of these, due to a combination of ignorance and wishful thinking by observers who don't know any better.

I know you do know better, and it's quite clear from your post that you've considered the hybrid pitfall, but there was a hybrid earlier this month on the nearby tip which at first glance could be mistaken for a Glauc, and indeed was when first seen on the tip.

There are 2 photo's here:

http://applerow.co.uk/Photos.asp

You'll need to scroll down to 4th April (after pausing to admire the BwStilt photo's of course;)). Did it look like this?

The main reason this is a hybrid rather than a pure Glauc is the grey feathering coming through on the mantle. The ground colour of the bird is also too dark, having a greyish undertone; I imagine it would look a pale-dirty grey / brown colour at a distance. A Glauc should have a white ground colour with creamy-brown markings, and a 2nd calendar year bird this time of year would probably show some wear and from a distance appear more creamy coloured. The head/bill profile doesn't feel quite right to me in these photo's either, but could be within the range for a small female bird I guess.

Having said all that there were 2 Glaucous Gulls around in January to early March this year with another bird on Bowers last Saturday (which was reported as "cream coloured"), so if your bird didn't look like the one in the photo's then there's a good chance it was the real deal.

Thanks for this information Neil. The bird in the photo is almost certainly the bird I saw. To be honest, I did have misgivings about the background colour of the bird, as well as the build. I had trawled through a few images of hybrid Glaucous/Herring and couldn't find one that fitted. I thought the fit of bill colouration might be a clincher, but I'm convinced now that it wasn't.

Always good to have doubts and ask for information, especially a north-Essex birder with weak gull ID skills visiting the gull hot spot in the south of the county!

Stewart
 
Oh well, better luck next time.

On a happier note, my first Swift of the year was over the causeway at Hanningfield Res this evening with a group of swallows, beating my previous early record by 5 days.:t:
 
3 storks over braintree

There was a report put out that this took place, does anyone have any idea of any more information.

Needless to say I did not see a bloody thing on these and I was out all evening in Braintree.. Did however get a great cuckoo etc....
 
There was a report put out that this took place, does anyone have any idea of any more information.

Needless to say I did not see a bloody thing on these and I was out all evening in Braintree.. Did however get a great cuckoo etc....

Probably the usual suspect who's name appears earlier in the thread and spends a lot of time in the Braintree / Rayne area with a stunning record of finding untwitchable birds!:-O
 
heybridge basin gravel pit 20-4-2015

paid an evening visit to the above on Monday evening with weatherloach, mainly hoping to see cuckoos and found at least 3 and probably 4. Plenty of black tailed godwits in summer plumage, large flock of brent geese landed and then went off again almost immediately. found a sedge warbler, female blackcap and reed bunting on our travels.
Also a couple of unidentified waders which I hope you can help me with on the attached photos, the first I think is just a godwit which hasn't changed colour yet and the second seen as it was starting to get dark might be a greenshank but I'm not over confident with my i.d. abilities!
many thanks for any help you can offer
also pics of cuckoo, black tailed godwit and sedge warbler attached for anybody interested
andrew
 

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Arctic Terns at Abberton today, a shameful lifer for me. First Hobby of the year for me from the centre followed by three more at once on Layer Breton Causeway! Nightingale singing and Grasshopper Warbler heard briefly also.
 
Saw my first Swift of the year today, unfortunately being murdered by a Magpie. No idea how the Magpie caught it though. Bit of a sad way to go after flying all that way. But then again, it was Greenstead Estate, what did it expect?

Phil
 
Saw my first Swift of the year today, unfortunately being murdered by a Magpie. No idea how the Magpie caught it though. Bit of a sad way to go after flying all that way. But then again, it was Greenstead Estate, what did it expect?

Phil

OK - I have a theory. I saw 4 Hobbies at Abberton Reservoir today, so perhaps a small influx took place today. And perhaps one member of this influx happened to pass over Greenstead (I have had them over my house in nearby Parsons Heath in the past). This Hobby located a tired, early pioneering Swift, which it failed to catch but knocked out of the sky. Once on the deck, the Swift must have had difficulty getting back in the air, and was spotted by a hardened Greenstead Magpie, who thought: "I'll have you mate" - a phrase he/she would have picked up locally. Case solved.

Stewart
 

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