BEDDINGTON ICELAND GULL VISITS HOLMETHORPE

While I didn't get to venture around the local patch for too long yesterday, a message from Graham James mid-afternoon let me know that Gordon Hay had discovered an Iceland Gull on Spynes Mere.

While the weather had taken a turn for the worse – the temperature had dropped and the rain had started – I went out for a look. I met up with Gordon as the wind picked up and the rain got heavier, and he pointed out the Iceland Gull on the sand spit.

New Whitey at Holmethorpe

Gordon was certain this was a different bird to the other two he'd seen at Holmethorpe this winter and it looked remarkably similar to the one I saw briefly at Mercers Lake on Wednesday.

I later sent the photo above to Johnny Allan to check whether it was a bird that regularly visits Beddington. And sure enough, Johnny rang to say it was 'New Whitey', a first-winter bird that I had seen at Beddington on Friday, that has the look of a second-winter bird but with a dark eye.

New Whitey at Beddington

The bird has flown around the local area quite a bit recently, apparently having been seen roosting at Queen Elizabeth II Reservoir the night before.

GLAUCOUS TOPS GULL GLUT AT BEDDINGTON

A tweet from Johnny Allan yesterday morning meant gulls were going to be the order of the day. 1w Glaucous Gull on main lake. With work on the quiet side, a first trip of the year to Beddington was well overdue.  

Beddington – part birding paradise, part refuse tip – is famous for its gulls, especially during the winter months. This winter has been exceptional, with up to five Iceland Gulls, plus a number of Mediterranean Gulls, a few Caspians and the odd Yellow-legged Gull regularly seen at this exceptional Surrey site. Then, to add to the list, on Wednesday a Glaucous Gull arrived.

I don't normally get that excited by gulls but my attitude has recently changed. This is part due because I found a Med Gull and an Iceland Gull (I now know it definitely was one) on my local patch at Holmethorpe this past week.

With so many gulls at Holmethorpe it seemed a bit daft not to search through them just in case something interesting grabbed my attention. The trouble with gulls is they go through so many stages of moult during their early years before they are recognisable as the species in question. Throw in the subtleties between the big gull species and you're in for a bit of a headache.

I had to get to Beddington before the end of the winter, just to garner more gull birding experience. With all the 'white-wingers' I wanted to see showing well on and off during the morning, I was hopeful it would be a good visit.

When I first arrived, I wasn't so confident. I could only stay for about an hour, and there must have been about 10,000 gulls on site – the place was teeming with them – so it was going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack. With the remarkable help of Johnny Allan and Frankie, however, I got to see what I came for.

The five Iceland Gulls that had been seen earlier in the morning were not apparent at first, but Frankie, amazingly, found the first winter Glaucous Gull (105) on the tip in amongst the throng of black, white and grey birds. I don't know how he did it – one gull in amongst a sea of gulls. I have to admit, though, that once I found it, it stood out a mile. It was a big brute of a bird, squarer and bulkier in shape and, at a distance, very pale grey in colour.

We then focused on the main lake and I managed to find one of the Iceland Gulls, a first-winter almost totally white gull, known by the Beddington group as 'New Whitey'. 

At the same time, the group of birders also on site found the Kumlien's Gull, to the left of the first-winter bird, with its back facing us. I viewed it through Johnny's scope and then soon after the birds all took off. 

The first-winter Iceland Gull was easy to see amongst this cloud of gulls and eventually most of the birds landed again. It was then Johnny spotted the handsome Glaucous Gull was on the water right in front of us. Fantastic. What a bruiser this fella was. An impressive bird to look at, we got great views of it as it toyed with a chicken leg, which it must have found on its recent visit to the tip.

I only had limited time, but with the feeder close by I also had excellent views of the Beddington Tree Sparrows (106) and about ten Reed Bunting that were migrating around the seed.

All in all, a cracking session at Beddington with a species of bird that, up until now, I hadn't really got to grips with. From now on, I'm ready to focus on the local patch to see what I can find.

THE HOLMETHORPE PATCH BLOG

As of tomorrow morning I will be managing the Holmethorpe Sand Pits blog and keeping it updated. It was originally set up and hosted by Graham James, the Pits patch birder extraordinaire, who lives in Merstham. Graham is one of the vital group of birders in Britain who keep a very detailed record of the birds that are seen on his local patch, but due to a situation out of his control, he felt it was time to hand over the reins.

Without this dedication most birders wouldn't get to see half the species they do, particularly now with Twitter, pagers and the like keeping everyone updated by the minute.

So, it is a privilege to be given the responsibility to look after the blog (see side panel for link) – and to be part of the British birding scene at the coal face. Holmethorpe is developing into a cracking birding area. It has a bit of everything - waders, ducks, geese, raptors, rails, owls, finches. Oh, and plenty of gulls.

Currently, the patch is going through a purple patch with Smew, Scaup, Goldeneye and Curlew currently featuring, while on a brief visit to Mercers Lake this afternoon I'm 99.9 per cent certain I saw an Iceland Gull (104) with some Herring, Lesser black-backed and Black-headed Gulls. It stood out a mile amongst all the other gulls. It was all white and it had a black tip to its bill.

This was another situation where I was just about to take a photo, when a helicopter flew over instigating a mass take-off of all the birds on the lake. I follow the Iceland Gull for as long as I could, but lost sight of it and couldn't relocate it. Pretty sure it was one, though.

I'd gone to the lake to find the Scaup, which I did successfully. It was sleeping in amongst some Tufted Ducks. Also swimming around were four redhead Smew.

I'll be patch birding more often this year - it's more satisfying than dipping Tundra Bean Geese like I did at the weekend. Talking of the Goose, it looks as if it has moved on to another area not far from Thorpe. It was seen roosting at the Queen Mary Reservoir late this afternoon with some Greylags and White-fronted Geese. It will be interesting to see if it ventures further south.

We get a lot of geese down on the Pits, and also in the fields along Rocky Lane - a road that links the A23 with Gatton Bottom. I'll be keeping an eye on these flocks just in case the odd scarcity decides to hang out with them.