Wednesday February 19

As my last visit was a bit of a wash out I decided to give it another go this morning. It was cloudy, but dry, for about two hours. Then the drizzle started, convincing me to leave at 11.00. I later returned for reasons which will become apparent.

A sign at the start of the road implied that the road was blocked so I parked at the church. I was later able to walk back from Netherstead along the road, and found no obstacles.

Down at the flash field three Shelducks were in residence, and also three Wigeon, and 19 Teal.

Shelducks

The walk to Netherstead took me past the pool, still pretty full of water, and got the Coot count up to eight. A Fox was nosing around on the lookout for rodents. Some time spent around garden feeders at Netherstead got me a year-tick, but the Greenfinch was only heard twittering several times despite my best efforts to see it.

As you will probably have gathered, February is not the most exciting month in the wildlife calendar. No insects are flying, and few birds are migrating. But there can be one saving grace here. It is the only time of the year when there is a chance of good numbers of small gulls. There is a Mediterranean Gull-shaped hole in the Morton Bagot list, and I hope one day to fill it. As I topped the ridge I noticed  a lot of white dots on the ploughed field beyond Stapenhill Wood. Could this be the day? Annoyingly, ten minutes later, as I was reaching a point where I thought I stood a chance, the whole lot were flying off. I estimated 540 gulls, and silently cursed as they disappeared and the rain began to fall.

This is why I returned at 14.00. I parked at Netherstead and marched to the spot. To my relief the flock had returned. They were too distant to go through with any confidence, so I decided to sneak beyond my boundary to where I stood a chance.

Two-fifths of the flock

Spoiler alert. For anyone hoping for a happy ending, there isn't one. The whole flippin' lot were Black-headed Gulls (apart from a couple of LBB Gulls). There wasn't even a Common Gull. I did at least manage to count them accurately, and found there were 513 present. This is the biggest flock for several years, but not the site record, which remains at circa 700.

There's always next year.