An ex-Kittiwake



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, momentarily entertained by a White Wagtail until I spied a dead gull on the shoreline. A look through the binoculars suggested that it was a Kittiwake, which I confirmed shortly afterwards - a freshly dead adult winter bird. This echoes the demise of a Kittiwake last weekend at Tice's Meadow, also in Surrey. All quite sad but exciting at the same time.

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