WHITLINGHAM: Never mind the fog, here's the Little Gulls

15th April 2018

Sunday was April WeBS count day, and an early morning text from Gary to say that a drake Mandarin was present on the Little Broad sounded promising. As I headed to Whitlingham the fog got thicker, to the point where the far bank couldn't be seen. I couldn't see the Mandarin, but I probably wouldn't have been able to see the Mary Celeste let alone a small duck. My first patch Sedge Warbler of the year was singing from near the watersports centre.

Moving on to the Great Broad the visibility had decreased further - there was no point looking through the telescope and had it continued at that rate I would have struggled to see the telescope. Gary called and told me that he had seen a Little Gull and Common Sandpiper on his way round earlier, so we met up and waited to see if the fog would clear. Eventually, and after a sort of fog hokey cokey of it coming and going, it did and the count could resume. Two Common Sandpipers were seen, along with 3 Common Terns.

Once the fog had fully lifted we walked back along the south shore when Gary noticed his Little Gull. Whilst we looked at it we saw another two, then realised that a large part of the gull flock were Little Gulls! Initially 17, then we noticed 21! An amazing sight as they swept back and forth over the broad in waves. Almost every time we counted we found another one - at the time we thought that we were missing ones sat on the water, but it seems more likely that they were still arriving. Justin arrived about 15 minutes later, and scanning across there were now 29 Little Gulls, thrashing the previous site high count of 9 (back in 2005 - my previous highest count was 3!) Fortunately the flock stayed throughout the afternoon and was admired by many local birders, with numbers peaking at 35. The gulls were also accompanied by two Arctic Terns.

What had started out as an unpromising spring count turned out to be a great patch experience that will live long in the memory.

WHITLINGHAM: Little Gulls

4th April 2016

During the late afternoon Joe and Jim had seen an unringed White Stork flying west over Surlingham, so I headed down to Whitlingham on the off chance that it would fly over. It didn't quite, but was sighted over the A47 just within the Whitlingham recording area before the bird turned and flew south. Whilst Norfolk White Stork records are frequently tarred by the free-flying birds from Thrigby Hall (and to a lesser extent the ringed birds being rehabilitated at Shorelands near Diss), Peter Allard reported presumably the same bird roosting at Halvergate and suggested it wasn't from Thrigby.

Anyway, with no sign of the stork I carried on along the south shore of the broad, hearing and then seeing my first Blackcap of the year. Scanning across to Thorpe Broad there were eight Stock Doves on the spit but not much else. I decided to head back along the south shore rather than do a complete lap, and stopped to look at a Saucer Bug in a large puddle.

I was getting close to the island when I noticed some gulls catching midges close to the water surface. They seemed a bit too nimble to be Black-headed Gulls, but I was still surprised to see they were in fact Little Gulls. There was a nice summer adult and a bird in 1st-winter plumage, and after following them about I saw a third bird, in summer adult plumage (white upperwings, dark underneath) but with a slightly patchy hood. All three were very active, constantly zooming back and forth.

Justin joined me, and whilst watching the Little Gulls a Common Buzzard flew low over, and a Kestrel also flew past. After about six o'clock the gulls were no longer flying about near us. I left to go home, but Justin carried on to the east end of the broad to search for the gulls, which had vanished. On the way back I met Drew, who had heard a couple of Willow Warblers near the west end of the broad, so I diverted there and heard one singing before I got back to the car.

NORTH NORFOLK: Titchwell & Choseley

17th June 2012

In a quick visit to Titchwell we saw a huge flock of Knot, a range of different plumaged Little Gulls and some common waders.  Up at Choseley a pair of Turtle Doves were nice to see, and a couple of Grey Partridges ran across the road near Docking.