Croft Hill and Shawell

I started off this morning with a walk on Croft Hill. I was hoping to find a few migrants. The light was poor, but a few birds were moving about. A pipit flew out of the trees landing briefly n the hawthorn hedge. It looked like a Tree Pipit. Hastily captured pictures, though blurred, showed very fine streaking on its flanks, a white belly and a nicely marked supercilium. This is not the first Tree Pipit I've seen in this part of the wooded area. It reappeared on the flycatcher tree a little while later. Chiffchaffs were flitting about everywhere and at least four Spotted Flycatchers sat low in the hedge. Alas no Redstart - maybe tomorrow?

Spotted Flycatcher, Croft Hill, August 27th 2016

Soon Shawell beckoned. My early evening visits this week had been really successful. I had already read over fifty colour rings this week, so the omens were good for today. At least 4500 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were there - my best count since I started visiting regularly in 2012. Amongst them are many intermedius types. I have read 17 Norwegian colour-rings this week. Two of them were juvenile intermedius.

I read 25 colour rings today giving a total for the week of 77.

The Polish ringed Caspian Gull PKXS was amongst the hordes of gulls and the second-summer I saw on the 17th & 18th August was still about today.

PKXS was ringed as a chick in southern Poland on 25th May 2012. There have been previous sightings of this gull in Norfolk, Didcot and at Albion landfill site. The sighting at Albion landfill site was made by Steve Lister. PKXS is a small female Caspian Gull.

Polish Ringed Caspian Gull, PKXS, Shawell A5 Lagoons, August 27th 2016

Second-Summer Caspian Gull, August 27th 2016

The second-summer looks short legged in the photo, but I think some of that is a photographic illusion, as they looked OK through my scope.  It is replacing its longest primaries so it looks short winged.