14 February, 2009

Hayling Island- !!!Glaucous Gull!!!

My friend David and I spent the day doing a bird walk organised by the RSPB on Hayling Island. About 30 of us set of from Langstone Harbour in the hope of a scarcity (or even better; a rarity).
After a walk around Langstone Harbour, we had already logged Mediterranean Gull and waders such as: Black tailed Godwit, Bar tailed Godwit, Curlew, Knot, Grey Plover, Ringed Plover and Golden Plover. Black bellied Brent weren't very hard to find and there were a couple of Pale bellied amongst them as well.
Then it was on to the oysterbeds where we logged 16 Black necked Grebe (yes, 16 of 'em!), Turnstone, Redshank, Red breasted Merganser and a Rock Pipit.
Bird of the day was a 2nd winter Glaucous Gull that happily fed on a Merganser at the end of the walk. It gave everyone stunning and gruesome views as it fed on the guts and intestines of the duck.
Tasty, leave some for me!


Having a little wash... you missed a spot!

A record shot of some of the Black necked Grebe and Great crested Grebe
3 of the 300 Black bellied Brent present!
You don't get Redshank numbers like that at the London Wetland Centre!
Finishing of with a dash of colour in the form of a little Grey Wagtail
I'd just like to thank John, Roger for the lift and letting me use his telescope, David for letting me use his 500mm lens and everybody else for being so nice!

5 comments:

Benjamin Young said...

Amazing stuff, Billy! Great Glaucous photos too!

David Campbell said...

Good one Billy, brilliant pics. Nice seeing you again.

Daniel Trim said...

Great Glauc shots, beats mine from norfolk. Not made it that far east in Hampshire yet, but from your post it definatly seems worth it! nice job!

Dan

Ashley Howe said...

Just missed out on that Long-eared Owl being their!! Thats always the way, definately worth a trip down their at the moment Dan.

Ashley

Billy Dykes said...

Cheers for the kind comments guys. Yep, Hayling Island is packed great birds at the moment. As soon as I got out of the car I was greated with masses of waders!