Near the end of 2022 we saw a beautiful and extremely confiding juvenile Sabine's Gull in Kent. We had only had a couple of previous sightings of Sabine's Gull before and that was our first juvenile. You can read about, and see photos of that bird here (scroll down past the Pied Wheatear to reach the Sabine's). It had also been over twenty years since we had a really good view of an adult Sabine's Gull, at Farmoor in August 2001, and I now longed for another. The opportunity to see another adult Sabine's Gull finally presented itself when one was found in Langstone Harbour near Portsmouth in early January. Amazingly it was in full breeding plumage too, birds in that state are only usually observed high in the Arctic regions of Northern Siberia and North America. What a bird in that condition was doing on the South coast of England during our winter was a mystery and frankly mind boggling!
It just had to be seen though, so at the earliest chance that I had, on Friday the 13th, we travelled down to Havant and parked next to The Solent to join a dozen or so other eager twitchers to observe the Sabine's. The Gull had taken to feeding and resting on a small brackish lagoon that had been created by a breach in the sea wall about 400 metres east of the carpark. It was a sunny but also very windy morning with small waves breaking right up to the sea wall. I spotted a small bird clinging onto the top of a fencepost facing headlong into the stiff breeze. My initial thought was a Wheatear so I rattled off a couple of shots with my now two week old camera. While I was firing away the thought entered my head that Wheatears shouldn't really be in the country in January and if it was a Wheatear then it could well be rare. My excited review of the images showed that I had mistakenly jumped to a wrong conclusion and the bird was actually a Stonechat! I blame the wind and Friday the 13th gremlins, both of which were making viewing anything through binoculars or camera very difficult. We did get a year tick a few moments later with two Rock Pipits that fed along the strand line. To photograph those would have entailed pointing the camera directly into the strong side-wind and would have been totally futile. I'd wait until better views later in the year.
The whereabouts of the Sabine's Gull was obvious even from two hundred metres away because we could see the attendant birders. The bird itself was obvious too, lit up by the low sun and shining as brightly as a white star on the muddy shore of a small island. We reached the breach in the sea wall and after a careful bit of navigation over some old wire fencing and a big muddy patch, we were able to wade out, we had thoughtfully donned wellies for the walk, onto a shingly patch of land to where the other birders were standing. The Sabine's Gull was in repose on the other side of a small break of water no more than sixty feet away. This was the close views that I'd craved for those twenty odd years since the Farmoor bird. What a beauty the Sabine's gull was too!
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| Sabine's Gull (Xema sabini) |
I spoke to a chap I knew from previous twitches and he told me that the Gull had been resting like that for over an hour since he'd arrived. They had been concerned for its welfare and wondered if it was sick. However, it must have been waiting for us because just a few minutes after we arrived the Sabine's got to its feet (point about that later), flew a few metres and plopped into the water. Even with my rudimentary knowledge of how to use my new camera, I couldn't miss.
For the next ten minutes the Sabine's gull was active, flying in a loop around the brackish lagoon. Its direction was primarily into the stiff breeze, right to left as we watched, when it would fly closely above the water, occasionally dipping down to snare a food item. It would use the wind to fly rapidly back to its starting point then repeat the careful scrutiny of the water again. With every flypast a dozen or so cameras would go into overdrive including mine although you couldn't hear it of course.
There wasn't much time to study the bird owing to it being so active but I did my best to just watch it for a few minutes but in the end couldn't resist firing off more photos. What a belter of a bird too! Shape and jizz was akin to a Little Gull but it was a trifle larger although not Black-headed Gull sized as could be seen when it got too close to one and found itself a target of abuse.
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| Sabine's Gull & Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) |
The standout feature was the head and bill which for my money make the Sabine's gull the best looking of all the Gulls that I've seen. The head is a beautiful slate grey colour with a well defined black border at the neck de-marking it from a pure white collar and nape. The iris of the eyes is a dark red as is the gape of the bright yellow-tipped bill. The rest of the Sabine's was standard fare, a light grey back combined with black flight feathers. When unfurled the upper wing shows a grey-white-black pattern while the underwing is almost pure white. The tail is also completely white. This bird unsurprisingly looked a bit tatty around the edges but that didn't detract one iota from its overall beauty. The legs were pinkish-grey but the left foot appeared to be damaged and was turned to an unnatural angle and that injury may explain why the bird was here on the south coast of England instead of being much further north.
My new Canon R7 is capable of taking up to thirty frames per second but I had opted for a mere six. After just twelve minutes of photographing the Sabine's Gull I had taken almost five hundred photos. Afterwards I would reduce the speed to just two and half frames per second because I spend far too much of my life editing photos as it is. If I was a tad critical then I would admonish myself for over exposing the images a little, in the bright sunshine the white of the bird was gleaming but the finished results were a few steps up from what I would have achieved with my last camera so I was generally delighted with the images. We all have to learn how to use new tools. It had been my first workout with a bird in flight which the camera handled well although at times I did have focusing issues when the lens would "hunt" for the subject.
The major improvement with the R7 is the amount of "keepers". Apart from the frames where I had captured empty sky because the Gull had moved too quickly or was carried erratically away from the viewfinder on the wind, almost every image taken was in focus. I actually began dumping perfectly fine photos if they were near duplicates of others and at times, because of that fast frame rate, there would often be half a dozen near identical images. The increase in editing time required was the main reason for me slowing down the frame rate for next time. If I ever get the chance to take photos of Hummingbirds then I will increase it again.
After just twenty-five minutes since we left the car we decided that we'd seen enough and had become bored of being buffeted by the wind plus it was Friday so it made sense to head for home before the A34 became a big long carpark. It was also becoming busier and noisier by the lagoon with more and more birders arriving. The Sabine's Gull had risen higher and flown over us and out to the harbour anyway and although it was still visible, it was now further out over the water and viewing was directly into the sun. We took one last look at the fabulous Sabine's Gull and walked off.
On the way back to the car we did have a good look around and added a few more birds to our year list. Brent Geese were present in good numbers and the shore was busy with various wading bird species. Viewing into the sun wasn't easy however, and holding binoculars and the camera in the wind was very difficult so I never bothered to take any photos. I got briefly excited by a Pipit that was feeding along a small ditch on the marsh, a Water Pipit had been reported here but I was convinced that it was just another Rock Pipit. Water Pipit is definitely a bird I want to see well this year but this bird just wasn't one.
Year List additions;
69) Rock Pipit, 70) Curlew, 71) Sabine's Gull, 72) Oystercatcher, 73) Brent Goose, 74) Redshank, 75) Dunlin, 76) Ringed Plover, 77) Turnstone
Another Gull species that I wanted to see well was a Laughing Gull. My desire to see one wasn't as great as it had been for the adult Sabine's Gull but after a tale of woe back in March 2020 (read here) when we had a very unlucky weekends twitching in the south-west, and ended up almost empty-handed, with just a distant view in near darkness of a roosting Laughing Gull to show for it, I certainly wasn't going to turn down another chance at seeing one. That poor view had been my only record of the species to date.
So when a second winter Laughing Gull was discovered in South Devon a few days previously, I ignored the fact that it was a long way from home and my doubts that we could dip on another long distance twitch for a rare Gull, and made plans to travel down to see it. It would make a nice double after seeing the Sabine's the day before. We left early on the Saturday morning, heading out into a windy and wet morning. The motorway drive was quite hairy at times with some sections deluged after heavy rain but once we'd cleared Exeter and turned off the fast tracks the weather abated although great care was still required on the roads owing to many large puddles remaining. The drive took the best part of four hours but we finally reached Slapton beach a trifle before midday.
The Laughing Gull was reported as favouring the beach by the memorial carpark so we pulled in and parked the car at the quietest end, away from a gang of around twenty Landrover enthusiasts who were busy looking under the bonnets of their respective motors. There was no sign of the Gull at all, we looked both ways up and down the sands, so maybe the disturbance of the assorted engines being revved had sent it off elsewhere. There were lots of Gulls on the Ley, on the land side of the beach , but as far as I could tell they were all Black-headed Gulls. Knowing that the Laughing Gull had first been found on Beesands Ley a few miles away, we decided to go and check there, not realising what an arduous short drive that would turn out to be owing to the narrow roads being totally flooded in places. It took us half an hour to reach the idyllic little hamlet that clings to the edge of the sea. I took the short walk to the Ley but again couldn't find the Laughing Gull, or the Ring-necked Duck that was also supposed to be there. We returned to Slapton beach, stopping briefly to study the Gulls that were bathing in the inlet at Torcross where again there was no sign of the Gull in question. We did discover later however, that if I'd looked a bit harder at the Lower Ley, then I would have seen the fine drake Ring-necked Duck cavorting with the Tufted Duck flock. The day wasn't going well.
The minute we parked up at the southern edge of the Memorial carpark, thankfully it was now deserted because the petrolheads had gone for a drive, the heavens opened again and we could barely see the sea fifty metres in front of us, luckily though we didn't need to see that far because the three Gulls that sat resting on the shelving sands just half of that distance from the car contained the Laughing Gull. Just as we were beginning to fear the worse and that we'd made another ill-fated attempt at Gull twitching in the south-west, the Laughing Gull had reappeared as if from nowhere. Not that I was complaining. As soon as the squall had passed over I took some record shots of the Laugher, and laughed.
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| Laughing Gull (Larus atricilla) |
Whereas the Sabine's gull the day before was a spectacularly marked bird, the Laughing Gull's plumage was much more subdued, made up primarily of the typical Gull plumage of soft greys and white with black restricted to the wingtips. As with many Gulls it was the bill that was the standout feature, which is sizeable and dangerous looking. This Laughing Gull wouldn't be taking any trouble from the Black-headed Gulls like the Sabine's had to endure. Of course in full adult plumage the Laughing Gull transforms into a much better creature with a jet black head and that dagger type bill turns blood red.
We had a good view of the approaching weather from the south and it looked fine for a while so we decided to don the sou'westers and get closer to the Laughing Gull which had followed a dog walker along the beach and was now being fed by a bread dispenser who was walking along with them. The couple were having great fun throwing the bread for the Laughing and two Black-headed Gulls to grab and gulp down and I had just as much as fun photographing them. The Laughing Gull could comfortably dispatch half a slice of bread in one go. Whatever your feelings about feeding bread to birds, I'm pretty sure that the Gulls didn't mind and were grateful for the handouts. I was grateful too, since it was probably because the Laughing Gull was getting fed that it was staying faithful to the beach and allowing birders like us to twitch it.
Another birder was walking along the top of the beach towards us and I thought I recognised him. It turned out to be our friend and fellow Oxon birder, Simon. Small world! Funnily enough on our last twitch to Devon, to see the Olive-backed Pipit (see here) at Exmouth, we had also bumped into Simon. The Laughing Gull, having had its fill of Mighty Wholemeal, was now loafing (ha) on the sand barely able to move. Until it spotted another piece of bread near the incoming tide which spurred it into action again to ensure that it got to the food before the Black-headed Gulls. This time it flew along the surf for a short way before dunking the bread into the sea to soften it before swallowing. Having taken its fill the Laugher then flew over our heads and on to the Ley presumably for a wash.
We could see another shower incoming so we ran (almost) for the car leaving Simon alone to take more photos. The shower was heavy but short lived and when I emerged from the sanctuary of the car, Simon had gone. The Laughing Gull was back on the beach so I headed out to take more photos. The Laugher treated me to some terrific fly-arounds too, maybe it knew that I needed practice with my camera and photographing flying birds. At times it hung on the wind so close that I couldn't fit the whole bird into the frame. The R7 performed superbly too.
The Laughing Gull landed back on the beach between me and the car, where Mrs Caley sat comfortably and wisely in the warm. On the beach it was sunny again but far from tropical. I decided to walk down to the waters edge and track back, taking photos of the Gull as I did. My complete concentration was centred on the bird which resulted in me getting a wet boot when I didn't notice a bigger wave hit the shore. I was able to creep up fairly close to the Laughing Gull and gained some very nice portrait shots. I was delighted to have had the views that I had and, in complete contrast to the day before for the large part it had been just me and Mrs Caley there which is always bliss.
Dog walkers use the beach though and a whole gang of them were approaching from the carpark end. I moved away from the sea to the top of the beach and waited until they'd passed. They were noisy and disruptive enough to frighten the birds off the beach and the Laughing Gull had flown out onto the sea and was resting there. It flew almost straight back to the beach however, once the "danger" had passed, this time landing at the edge of the surf. Maybe it thought I had some bread to share. The birds new position gave me some more photographic opportunities with it paddling in the foamy water and it staring plaintively at me in the hope of some handouts.
Another approaching squall ended the fun, there was another bird that we wanted to see, so I rejoined Mrs Caley and we drove away very happy to have had such excellent views of another scarce Gull. It had been a good couple of days.
Year List addition;
78) Laughing Gull
Our usual go-to place for Cirl Buntings is Labrador Bay about thirty miles up the coast from Slapton. But I'd heard of a place where they are fed during the winter at Broadsands between Torquay and Brixham. I asked a birding friend who lives nearby for site details (thanks Steph). Even though Steph had warned me that the carpark at Broadsands, and the bay and beach which it serves, can get very busy, I wasn't prepared for the sight that greeted us. The whole place was heaving with people and for every two-legged visitor there appeared to be double the number of four-legged friends with them. We like dogs, we had an adorable and much loved Cocker Spaniel once, but the amount of them that roam untethered in this country is becoming ridiculous. Why folk have to walk their dogs, or rather let them run amok, in nature reserves and other scenic spots mystifies me. The lockdown changed the lives of many and now the walk around the block with the dog twice a day has been replaced by an endless battering of beauty spots that should be tranquil and calm places, not blighted by uncontrolled and noisy pets as well as the large groups of people and cars that come with them. It can't be too far away now before the exercising and even ownership of dogs is more controlled. If local councils see an opportunity to make money from dogs then they will readily take it. Yes, I know I was also in a car, but I was quiet and there to observe nature not disturb it.
The area of the carpark where the birds are fed is actually closed off from vehicles and away from the madness of the beach and sea. The birds still get given a hard time though because the empty tarmac area provides a perfect spot for families to exercise their young children instead. We had to consistently avoid erratic small children learning to ride bikes and I played more football than I had in over forty years since one was kicked towards us with some regularity. We did find a few Cirl Buntings but they largely remained in the surrounding bushes with House Sparrows and Yellowhammers, only coming down to the carpark edge to feed in the few quieter moments. We'll stick with Labrador Bay in future. We took a quick look at the bay, because Simon had also dropped in earlier on his way back north, to look for a Long-tailed Duck and some Great Northern Divers that he'd seen. We found one of the latter but didn't linger long enough to find anything else.
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| Cirl Bunting (Emberiza cirlus) |
Year List additions;
79) Cirl Bunting, 80) Great Northern Diver
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