Prince (or Princess) Caspian

One of those days that limped along in between bursts of excitement. Almost the first birds that I saw as I walked out of the observatory back door were a skein of 10 White-fronted Geese, that appeared to head straight out to sea. With a handful of Ring Ouzels being the only thing that kept the morning from stagnating, a cup of tea with Mark H on the moat seemed to be the best option. This cued up the next burst of excitement. Between sips of tea, we observed two grey geese heading our way, which soon showed themselves to be Bean Geese (also seen by David W, Gill H and Owen L). Not a common bird over observatory airspace! A calling Greenshank shortly afterwards was just as unexpected. The next quiet interlude was burst when, walking through an area of low broom, I flushed three roosting Short-eared Owls from the open shingle. All quickly settled and were left in peace.

A phone call from Martin C alerted me to the fact that the gull boys, Mick S and Richard S, had lured a first-winter Caspian Gull to the beach through the medium of bread, popcorn and fish offal. This bird performed admirably, settling but yards away as we all acted like hungry paparazzi - my bridge camera modestly performing amongst the assembled big lenses. The results are more than acceptable! I'll post them when I return home. This individual sported a red plastic ring (911P) which, according to the gathered larid-strokers, originates from Poland. To see excellent frame-filling images of this gull, visit their web-sites and blogs.

Comments

Jonathan Lethbridge said…
If you see those two reprobates today, tell them they're both freaks and then see if they can guess who gave you the message!
16 October 2016 at 09:44
Jonathan Lethbridge said…
If you see those two reprobates today, tell them they're both freaks and then see if they can guess who gave you the message!
16 October 2016 at 09:45
Steve Gale said…
Your name was mentioned yesterday Jono...
16 October 2016 at 12:27
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