Another blustery cool morning, even worse than yesterday, as showery rain came in around 08:00hrs, then heavy persistant rain around 10:00hrs.
I had to rush my walk a bit in the end, spending just 3 hours walking round, but a total of 48 species was quite respectable in the conditions. No Red Kite or Reed Warbler today, but CORMORANT, CANADA GOOSE and GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER were seen, that were not recorded yesterday. When I got home I was soaked, and a bit fed up that another May morning had slipped past, ruined by the weather.
Around noon, it brightened up, and after a sunday roast I took another walk out around Migrant alley. I thought I try to track down some of the easy species that I missed this morning, Long Tailed Tit, Lesser Whitethroat, and House Martin. It was very blustery, and none but the HOUSE MARTIN was found, but I did add KESTREL to the day list to bring up the 50. A most pleasing sight was a lone LAPWING - the first seen this month, this addition to the May list brought the total to 68, equal to the highest ever May total, I needed just one more new species for May.
I took my seat at Migrant Alley, and scanned the sky, fields and large mounds of earth, the wind blew stronger and spits of rain were again in the air, it felt cold, and I wondered to myself why I do this! The answer came back to me, when I spied 2 Gulls coming over from the NE, I got my bins on them and thought Black headed gull, but as they neared I could see they were in fact MEDITERRANEAN GULLS (125 - 100) ! Yessssssss!!! A new species for my patch, and a rush of adrenaline to make me forget the rain and wind - THIS IS WHY I DO IT!!!
Not only does this species bring me to 125 for my patch, but it's the 100th species this year - and the 69th species this month, setting a May record. I have only reached 100 species twice in the now 8 years of watching my patch, last year was the other, when it took me until October. What a weekend birding Ive had!!
Below are 4 photo's of the Med. Gulls
Also rans today, but none the less beautiful birds were this SONGTHRUSH
......and this SWIFT, relishing the windy conditions
........Also the SPOTTED FLYCATCHER
16 comments:
Hi Warren.
It looks like today hasn't turned out too bad after all. Well done with reaching your 100 species for the year, and 69 for the month, and there is still time for more.
Hi Warren. Records being broken day by day despite the conditions. Well done for sticking at it.
Great stuff Warren, and well deserved. You are definatly the most dedicated patch worker I know of!!!
Warren ,
I just knew that blue touch paper would be just a short fuse , but the next day !
Well done .
Feet up for the rest of the year ?
Simply amazing the variety of species you see on your patch! Congrats on the new find and reaching 100 so early in the year, also amazing!
Way to go Warren, Med Gulls, you are on a real roll this year.
You certainly deserve it with all the hours you put in . I envy you, wish I could manage it. Keep up the good work, makes great reading from someone who is just over 2 miles away as the ........ flies. (Name your species) !!!!!
A good day then Warren,even though the weather was absolutly terrible.
Well done Warren,and there's still a lot more of the month to come. I see you got the Meds as well. Had 4 Swifts over the house early this morning, but none while I was out.
Belters too, they are, Warren. Told you you`d have no probs reaching the ton.
You sure that's a Med Warren? ;)
Wow Warren, Congrats on the 100 species!! That's cool! And you got nice shots. Just to tease you, indeed I have seen more than 74 species this year. I traveled to France in March and saw 42 species there, all different from the one we do have here in Iceland, so for the year it makes it to 116 ;-), but only 74 here. But you are right, in the last two weeks I saw so many species, mainly because I was very often out!!!
Well done Warren , it was a tough day today but well worth braving the elements, what a fantastic year well deserved.
Wow, 100 already! Well done mate.
Whoa...that gull is crazy beautiful! Yeah! for the new patch bird. You are breaking all of your records and are so far ahead of the game--and that's a very good thing!
Great stuff Warren, I admire how you brave the elements! Congrats on the gulls and I loved all the photos especially the Song Thrush.
Warren: Excellant photos of the black headed gull.
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