NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Two bouts of sea watching, in the company of Martin C, Tony G and Paul T were lively affairs, dominated by Kittiwakes (over a thousand heading west), Gannets and auks, but also boasting a trickle of Mediterranean Gulls, 2 Pomarine Skuas and a Black-throated Diver. Rarest bird of the day was seen on the RSPB reserve with Mark H. A couple of weeks ago, while at Hookers, he saw a leucistic Bittern fly over the reed bed. This morning I was fortunate enough to see this milky coffee coloured apparition. The Met Office are suggesting a period of SSE to E winds well into next week. There are no complaints from me on that forecast!

I started the morning at Canons Farm, but it was hard work. David and I were distracted by a phone call from Gordon Hay, who had been experiencing a far better time than us over at Holmethorpe, what with him having seen Little Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Redshank and LRP. However, being slaves to the patch we soldiered on. After I parted company with David I roamed more empty fields and found myself back at the car... Before I knew it I was pulling up at Holmethorpe where, after meeting up with Gordon and Ian Kehl, I was soon scoping an adult winter plumaged Little Gull that was feeding over the surface of Mercer's Lake. Both of my fellow birders then had homes to go to, so I strode out to check the gulls that were following a tractor ploughing the fields on Mercer's Farm. Gordon had earlier seen an adult Mediterranean Gull here, so I was pleased to confirm that it was still present. I later saw it on Spyne's Mere. I ended up at the Watercolours Lagoon, mom...