Couple of days ago I took a trip over to Blashford Lakes in Hampshire to have a look at the large Gull roost present on Ibsley Lake. I arrived at about 11am and already there was at least 150+ gulls present sitting on the spit right hand side of the Tern Hide.
In front of the hide I had smashing views of a Black-necked Grebe, Slavonian Grebe and 6+ Goldeneye floating about 20metres in front of the Hide. One the east side of the lake was a substantial number of male Pochard numbering 20+ ( highest number I've seen in a long time) and vast numbers of Wigeon and Teal.
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| Slavonian Grebe from Tern Hide |
After an hour or so gull numbers increased with significant numbers of Lesser-black-backed Gulls and Herring Gulls appearing on the main lake. Shortly later after scanning the Gull roost I spotted a 1st winter Caspian Gull sitting on top of the spit ridge showing very well. The gull roost is quite distant from the hide, hence the poor record shots achieved through digiscoping. Got to love Caspian Gulls!!!
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| 1st winter Caspian Gull |
After watching the bird another two 1st winter Caspian Gulls and 5 Yellow-legged Gulls ( 4 adults & 1st winter) dropped into the roost, when shortly after an adult Ring-billed Gull joined alongside!!! Incredible gull watching and really enjoyed the identification challenges of the various ages of gulls present.
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| intermedius/fuscus type Lesser-black-backed Gull |
Also present was this very dark Lesser-black backed type Gull roosting with standard graeslii type Lessers.
The bird was extremely long in appearance, long primary projection over the tail, very dark black mantle & wings ( dark as Great black-back), short stubby legs, lightly streaked neck collar and was much smaller in size compared to other Graeslii type gulls present. I obtained a few digiscoped shots before the bird flew off. A good candidate for Fuscus (Baltic Gull) but need to obtain better images if the bird hangs around.
The bird was extremely long in appearance, long primary projection over the tail, very dark black mantle & wings ( dark as Great black-back), short stubby legs, lightly streaked neck collar and was much smaller in size compared to other Graeslii type gulls present. I obtained a few digiscoped shots before the bird flew off. A good candidate for Fuscus (Baltic Gull) but need to obtain better images if the bird hangs around.
After taking notes and photos of the gulls I went to the woodland to spot some Bramblings which have been seen recently around the feeders. Straight away before I even got to the hide, a male Brambling was feeding on beech mast on the footpath right in front of me with some Siskin & Chaffinch. Few moments later in the hide, I had 6 Bramblings together feeding away in the mixed seed feeder right in front of me.
A few hours admiring the vast numbers of Siskin, Redpoll, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Goldfinch and rechecked the Gull roost one last time before heading home with a notebook full of gull notes and a great encounter with Bramblings
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| Siskin showing the vibrant colours in afternoon sun |
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| Lesser Redpoll |
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| Male Brambling from woodland hide, Blashford |
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