Two turnstones.

One sleeping, and one just waking up.

Gull ring update and unrelated picture

Views have been expressed, experts consulted and the summary of the investigation of the gull with the strange colour ring is thus.

As there is no metal ring, this is not part of any official program, but may have been put on the bird at a welfare centre or sanctuary of some sort as suggested by a Maarten the Larophile.  Similar things have been seen in Braunton and Weymouth on different species too, but as a nice man called Peter Rock of Bristol (the expert) said "because it appears so tight, my thought is that it was fitted by a non-ringer. I’ve encountered rings put on by people who just happened to have them in their pockets and stumbled into a gull colony… Sounds unlikely, but remember that this is how bird ringing started...."

So there you have it - stunningly inconclusive in its conclusion.  But, should I stumble across any welfare type places over the next few months and years (there is one close to where the bird was seen in fact) I shall quiz them with all the thoroughness of a thorough thing.

Let's have another picture of a Wheatear shall we?

A female Wheatear.

Wheatear - immature

The back on this bird is slightly mottled, and the underparts more rufous toned, so assuming immature bird.

Wheatear doing immature

Gulls

A shot of lots of gulls on a very windy day at Sea Palling from earlier in the year - somewhere in that lot there is a Glaucous Gull, or three.

Strange ringed gull

Was taking photos of gulls, like you do, and when going through the delete-delete-delete phase I noticed that this one had a small red ring on it's leg but not metal ring on it's other leg.  To my surprise the European colour-ring Birding site came up blank.  Any ideas?

Two photos previously, just in case the ID is a factor...

A bird and a butterfly

A couple of pics from the garden yesterday.

Blue Tit

Comma

Turnstones on a slipway

A couple of pics of one of my favourite birds (certainly through the lens anyway) that were congregating and spending some time preening on a slipway.  The summer plumages are starting to show at this time of year.

Very similar to yesterday...

...but just that little bit more stonking - male Wheatear.  Shmokin!

Male Wheatear doing pretty much what the female did yesterday...

It's not all record shots...

Female Wheatear from lunchtime today.

Migrants, rarities and the moon

Good to see arriving migrants everywhere today, and saw first Sand Martins of the year as well as lots of Swallows.  No photo of the days best bird (Red-flanked Bluetail at Horsey), and got not much more than record shots of Long Eared Owls at Winterton, but I did get a photo or two of BOTH owls...

Two Long Eared Owls

Two Long Eared Owls again

...and when I got home, some departing migrants in the trees by the garden...

Redwings in a tree

...and finishing the day with a shot of the moon.

Er, the moon.

Spring, sprung.

This morning, my garden was furious with the activity of birds collecting nest materials.  Here is a female blackbird doing just that.

Female Blackbird doing nest material collection

Ringed Plover

Spent about half an hour with this bird today, would have liked this photo a lot more if it wasn't for the white stone by it's chest.  A minor quibble perhaps.

Black-headed Gull and bread

The shadow on this was a little misleading...

Swan

Glaucous Gull, Sea aPalling

Record shot of the 2cy Glaucous Gull that is still knocking about.

Strange photo of gull

I took this today.  That blue stuff in the background, I understand that this is what you can see if you look up and there is no cloud.  I have a passing memory of this...