MONDAY 4 JANUARY
2016
Well it just goes from bad to worse. Not
content with gripping me off with a BONXIE that lasted only too briefly at
WILSTONE last November, Dave Bilcock managed to successfully well and truly do
the double this morning when he photographed an adult BONAPARTE'S GULL from the
jetty. Apparently, Roy Hargreaves had stumbled upon the bird at about 0850
hours, pondering upon its identification for a while before it flew and revealed
its diagnostic wing pattern. He then telephoned Dave to tell him the bird had
flown towards the Dry Canal but as Dave arrived on the scene, the bird must have
double-backed and joined the Black-headed Gulls loafing along the Cemetery
Corner edge of the reservoir. Dave phoned me immediately and other local
observers while Roy hastily contacted Ian Williams and Rare Bird Alert.
From onsite at 0934 hours, Dave tweeted two images he had just taken through his
'scope on Twitter, at which time I sped over. Unbeknown to me, Dave then had to
leave to take one of his teenage daughters to Brighton, leaving the bird still
on the reservoir edge.......
Francis Buckle and Mike Campbell arrived on
site within 5 minutes and hotfooted it round to the jetty. According to Dave,
who saw both observers arrive, the Bonaparte's was still present in the roosting
gulls. Stuart Wilson joined them very quickly afterwards and within 20 minutes,
I was on site. At one point, the Black-headed Gulls had all flown up but quickly
resettled, but search as hard as we could, the bird had somehow managed to get
out and had disappeared. Disaster! Over the next hour, I grilled every last 173
Black-headed Gull on the reservoir, before relocating to Startop's End to check
the flock loafing over there. I also went through every Black-headed Gull in the
fields south of the Dry Canal, as well as birds in Pitstone Quarry and at
College Lake BBOWT. It had vanished. The Wilstone pre-roost gathering of
Black-headed Gulls gathered pace from about 1430 hours but instead of the usual
1,500 or so birds, less than 250 turned up and despite the best efforts of DB,
IW, WC and I, it was not to be. I rushed over to College Lake before dark, but
could not find it among the 850 or so Black-headed Gulls roosting there. What a
fiasco and yet another dip on a County First - ditto the Hilfield Park/Amwell
Laughing Gull!
Anyway, this is what I did see!
On WILSTONE, highlights included the
continuing COMMON SHELDUCK, 63 Greylag Geese, 115 Mallard, 10 Gadwall, 78
Wigeon, 370 Teal, 155 Pochard, 142 Tufted Duck, a pair of COMMON GOLDENEYE, 348
Lapwing, 153 European Golden Plover, 6 Little Grebe, a 2nd-winter Herring Gull
and Grey Wagtail.
On STARTOP'S END, the adult drake GOOSANDER
of the last few days was joined by a female, both flying off late morning, with
the first-winter drake GREATER SCAUP showing well in the SE corner, 4 Little
Grebe, 231 Coot, 14 Pochard and another Grey Wagtail.
TRINGFORD produced Red Kite and Common
Kestrel, along with a single Little Egret, 9 Grey Heron, 22 Teal, Green
Woodpecker and Kingfisher, while 38 SISKIN and 6 Goldfinches were feeding on
Alders in the 'Rookery'.
Both CETTI'S WARBLER and COMMON CHIFFCHAFF
were on MARSWORTH, while at the evening roost, all 3 EURASIAN BITTERNS were on
view (one performing admirably), with 6+ Water Rails squealing and 16 CORN
BUNTINGS in at the reedbed.
COLLEGE LAKE BBOWT held the 2 EGYPTIAN GEESE
that I had found at Startop's yesterday morning, along with the pair of
RED-CRESTED POCHARD, 125 Coot, 65 Gadwall, 20 Wigeon, 25 Pochard, 97 Tufted
Duck, 72 Lapwing, the Coal Tit and 7+ Reed Buntings.
I could only find 1 of the 3 wintering
COMMON STONECHATS on PITSTONE HILL, where 33 Fieldfare and 2 Redwing flew
west
Let's hope the Bonaparte's Gull gets
relocated - hats off to Roy and Dave for yet another star-spangled find!!
Adult winter Bonaparte's Gull, Wilstone Reservoir, 4 January 2016
(David Bilcock, 0930-0934 hours)
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