The weekend was a bit of a wash-out - Saturday was more torrential rain and strong winds and I picked up a heavy cold (Man-Flu) which wiped me out on Sunday. Today looked as if we would get a few hours of dry weather so I dosed up with cold remedies and belligerently headed out.
Species of Gulls have never been my favourite birds, but the white winged gulls which originate from North of Iceland, Greenland and beyond are always worth a look when they appear in Winter. Sussex normally has a very occasional one, so when 2 different species (Glaucous and the Kumliens race of Iceland Gull) were reported over the weekend in one location at Littlehampton, it was definitely worth a visit.
The river Adur exits to the sea at Littlehampton in a very narrow channel, I arrived on the East side where there is a promenade and found a group of birders in the shelter looking out to a large group of Gulls on the shore, none of the white-winged gulls had been seen yet, although the tide was just reaching a high point and about to turn. After about half-an-hour of browsing through the Gull flock I caught sight of an adult
Glaucous Gull on the wing, which unfortunately drifted further East and eventually out of sight but at least all present had seen the bird.
After a further hour things were looking slightly less hopeful, a
Guillemot just offshore was becoming the most interesting bird on view, the Gull flock in front of us at the River entrance had dispersed . Another small group of birders were on the West side of the channel and eventually with a bit of gesticulating we worked out they had seen the juvenile Kumliens Gull on the River groyne but it had disappeared, presumably on the Beach out of view on the West side. I decided to drive around to the West side of the River (about a 10 minute drive) and again no sign of the bird. A further half an hour passed then a small number of Gulls started to move into the River entrance, shortly after the juvenile
Kumlien's Gull appeared and loafed around for the next 30 minutes. This bird was quite mottled, had darkish primary wash, with similar darkish wash on the inner-part of the secondary feathers and a distinct brownish tail band and black bill tip, which are presumed to distinguish this from a standard Iceland Gull. (Neither species breed in Iceland - The Iceland Gull in Greenland Canada and the Kumliens from Arctic NE Canada).
Headed back fairly content with the gulls, a brief stop at Coldwatham didn't show any Shrikes, although the water levels here worryingly continue to rise leaving little territory left for any shrike.
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| This is my Whelk.... and I'm not sharing |
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| juvenile Kumliens Gull |
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| The wing and feather markings can be crucial in ID'ing large gulls |
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Kumliens un the middle with Adult, 1st and 2nd winter Herring Gulls
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| A few final shots |
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