December Mega's Part II - Brunnich's Guillemot - Portland Harbour - Dorset - 29th December 2013

An extraordinary find by Pete and Debby Saunders on Boxing Day in Portland Harbour had the birding community in a frenzy over the xmas period. Family commitments meant that I could not get away until the Sunday, the weather forecast bode well and decided to head down leaving early to get there first light. The bright winters sunshine welcomed us at Osprey quay and parked up in the same car park we used when searching the harbour whilst on a birding weekend at the end of November with Glen and Joe. Plenty of cars and birders around but initial searches drew a blank and was left admiring Great-northern Divers and Red-breasted Mergansers. Soon the shout went out and the bird was located in the next bay, so the stampede began and was soon clapping my eyes on the Brunnich's Guillemot before it did what it did for most of the time I observed the bird which was to disappear under water. The bird pretty much stayed faithful to the same bay and mainly in the shade of the sun, was also amusing to observe the behaviour of some birders as they chased the bird up and down the bay trying for closer views, we just stayed in the same spot and the bird occasionally popped up right in front of us. It was only when the tide started to drop that the bird decided to range further around the bay towards the sailing club where great views were had albeit a bit more distantly but looked stunning with the sunshine!
The harbour also hosted a good number of Great-northern and Black-throated Divers and a winter plumaged Black Guillemot gave good scope views a plumage tick for me and my first English bird so was also like seeing a new bird.
Was also great to see so many familiar faces, Gary T was there with his parents, John Chapple and 'Spider' were around from Cornwall and Scilly respectively, John busy with the video camera as usual. Several Sussex birders around too! my uncle, Bola and Chris Janman for starters.
We decided to leave the bird as it was disappearing for long periods amongst the moored up boats and checked ferrybridge where 2 Med Gulls were the highlights before deciding to head home to continue the xmas celebrations. Below are some of my record shots of a great bird that was a joy to watch.

 

 

Brunnich's Guillemot - Portland Harbour - Dorset



December Mega's Part One - Ivory Gull - Patrington Haven - East Yorkshire - 21st December 2013

For one reason or another, I managed to lose the 'bug' in 2013 and totally phased out of dashing across the country chasing rare birds and even found it difficult to motivate myself to see good birds in Sussex. I have been enjoying birding local sites in the minimal time my job allows in the hope of finding a goodie...all this changed when news broke of a small influx of Ivory Gulls into the country in mid-December, a bird that I had always wanted to see....the dream became reality when one of these beauties settled at Patrington Haven in East Yorkshire, was offered a space in the car and had to go...just had to do it! We arrived at first light after leaving sleeping Pulborough at 2am and soon received news that the bird was still present...we trudged along the track dodging the large puddles to the area where 50 or so birders had already gathered...the light was dim and was blowing a gale, my excitement was soon dashed when a passing birder announced that the bird had been down for a feed and flew out high and far into the estuary! We reached the crowd and was soon relieved as clapped eyes on the Ivory Gull as it perched on some rocks. Good scope views were had and high fives were shared..we had seen our quarry! The Herring Gull's were not letting the Ivory Gull settle and the bird was flying around a fair bit, before heading out around the nearest bank and doubling back and headed towards us crowd on the bank, the bird flew towards us getting closer and closer to the point that I just dropped my bins from my eyes and just watched the Ivory Gull float past me in slow-motion...I didn't even reach for the camera as was just enjoying the views and the light was too poor anyhow at this stage...maybe the Ivory Gull was coming down to feed, but soon decided to head back out into the estuary and eventually land on some rocks where it seemed to spend much of it's time. The Ivory Gull never did come as close again whilst we were there, perhaps it was just the pure volume of people that put it off, or just wasn't hungry, the bird gave excellent views throughout and was occasionally observed surfing the tideline with it's legs dangling down, was almost like watching a large white Leach's Petrel at times the poor photo below kind of illustrates this flying behaviour!

 

 

 

Probably some of the worst photo's of this particular Ivory Gull published but as we saw it

 

The general area was alive with birds, with spectacular flocks of waders including Knot and Golden Plover, to which a Peregrine was quite happy to spook quite often. After spending the best part of 2 hours watching my first ever Ivory Gull, we decided to leave as Gordon was keen to try for the Parrot Crossbill's in Nottinghamshire, it was one of those occasions where it would have been nice to see it come down to the rotting fish and get some decent pics, but that very close fly-by will live with me for a very long time...mission completed!