Sunday June 14 - Morton Bagot and Lower Bittell Reservoir

This morning I was back at Morton Bagot with Dave. Considering we are now in deepest June it was a pretty successful visit. Most birds are mid-breeding season, which means that recently fledged juveniles abound. But there is still room for the odd surprise, and the oddest of these being a female Gadwall which flew past us apparently accompanying a male Mallard. The Gadwall was the first here for a couple of years.

This was close to the nearest flash, where we went on to hear Cetti's Warbler and Sedge Warbler. More surprising was a party of 34 large Gulls, mostly Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and with them six Avocets.

Although there was virtually no muddy edge, up to three Green Sandpipers and a Little Ringed Plover appeared from time to time, mainly in flight.

Continuing with birds, as we returned to our cars we located a pair of Stonechats. This suggests a pair may have been present this spring in one of the less visited fields.

There was no sign of any juveniles so I suppose their breeding attempt had been unsuccessful.

New butterflies and dragonflies for the year comprised several Marbled Whites, a Ringlet, a Small Skipper, and a Black-tailed Skimmer.

I also spotted a new moth for the site as a Scarlet Tiger hurried away over the dragonfly pools near Netherstead. Unfortunately I couldn't get Dave on it.

Speaking of moths, my moth-trapping in the garden on Friday night produced 60 moths of 29 species headlined by my first ever Obscure Wainscot, one of a number of reedbed specialists which are hard to find and harder to identify. I'm guessing the gusty wind on Friday night may have blown it towards our garden from Arrow Valley Lake, the nearest reeds.

Sorting through the moths in the trap took much of Saturday morning, and I was soon ready for lunch. Preparation of which was interrupted by a message that there was an Osprey at Earlswood Lakes. Evidently it hung around just long enough for Joe and Yvonne to see it (John had found it of course), but it was soon seen gaining height and heading north-west.

That's why I decided to pay a rare visit to Lower Bittell. It was a long shot, but perhaps it had gone there. Well it may have done, but I didn't see it. Instead my constant scanning produced something else.

Several Black-headed Gulls were flying over the reservoir, and a pair of Common Terns chased anything that came close. I presumed they were nesting, or thinking of nesting, on a purpose-built raft which the Bittell birdwatching group were presumably responsible for. After about half an hour I noticed two pure white black-headed Gulls high above me. They chased one another briefly and circled away to the west. They appeared to be adult Mediterranean Gulls, I could see no trace of any black under their primaries at any stage. Unfortunately when I say high above, I really mean high. Too high to attempt a photograph? Well I had a go, literally seeing nothing but sky through the lens. Two shots were of just that, but one did contain a gull. 

I think I can see a tiny smudge of grey near the tip of the left primary which possibly indicates the bird in the shot is a second year, rather than adult Mediterranean Gull.