1st January Began the new year with the steering on the car going just shortly after reaching Westcliff Seafront, clunk, clunk, bang and car out out action. Managed to see the Ring-billed Gull and an adult Med.Gull before limping the car carefully back home. Commandeered the wife's car and headed to Rainham Marshes where the Penduline Tits showed well for pretty much the whole time I was there. There were also a couple of Stonechats, a Chiffchaff and a number of year ticks but alas no sign of any Caspian Gulls on Aveley Pools.
At Pitsea 11 Waxwings showed well on and off around Parkhurst Road until I left at 2.55pm for a mad dash to Shoebury where Paul Griggs and Mike Bailey had found a Ring-billed Gull. However time was against me and there was no sign of the bird when I arrived and with the light really going, it hadn't been great all day, I returned home.
3rd January Yesterdays Redwings and Fieldfares were still present in Oaken Grange Drive but still no pink balls of trilling fluff. This mainly a non birding day but did squeeze in a little time with the long staying Snow Bunting that had been wintering along Southend Seafront.
2nd January Most the day was spent at Hole Haven Creek in search of Caspian and white-winged gulls but unfortunately neither were seen. As the main tipping area on nearby Pitsea tip has shifted to north side the creek is being used less and less by Herring Gulls, the main carrier species for both of the days target birds. Great Black-backed Gulls remain much in evidence, accounting for about 80 percent of the large gulls here. After four hours of the freezing cold I had a 3rd winter Yellow-legged Gull and a three adult Med. Gulls for my efforts. No larid highlights were two Ruff, five Pintail, 11 Linnet, 14 Black-tailed Godwits, an Avocet and a Stonechat.
I stopped off at the Pitsea Waxwings again and 14 were again visiting the berries on the corner of Parkhurst Road. On the way home I drove down Oaken Grange Drive in search of Waxwings as this road has the most berries anywhere I've visited this winter. There were no Waxwings but 15+ each of Redwing and Fieldfare were present at the east side.
7th January Came home early from work to find a Moorhen wandering around in the back garden. This was a rather bizarre addition to the garden list.
4th January A few hours were spent in very cold conditions over at Paglesham Lagoon where a good number of large gulls were present however nothing out of the ordinary amongst them. There were 11 Pintail present on the lagoon with a further seven on the River Roach and a Chiffchaff was in the bushes at the north end. The blue nassal saddle Tufted Duck PL was also still here.
On the river there were 11 Goldeneye, a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers, 59 Avocets and 150+ Black-tailed Godwits. It was bitterly cold so I didn't venture much beyond the pillbox.
11th January Nice day for visiting the end of Southend Pier. Yesterday's thick fog had completely cleared and with the light breeze and sun being out the conditions for photographing Mediterranean Gulls were perfect. At least 15+ were present though only one 1st-winter. There were also four adult Kittiwakes around and the winter Purple Sandpiper was seen on the ramp. Out in the estuary things were quiet apart from two Great Northern Divers with the closer of the two being an adult winter. The only other bird of note was a drake Red-breasted Merganser seen back towards the foreshore on the walk back.
In Oaken Grange Drive back in Southend my attempts to find any Waxwings at this berry laidened site were fruitless though the flock of Redwings and Fieldfares has increased to at least 50 birds. Still a few months left to find the pink balls of fluff here.
17th January Tried for gulls today but found very few. Hole Haven Creek seems to have had its day with very few birds there again today, only stayed half hour. Paglesham Lagoon fair little better though there were more birds to search through. The only birds of note were a Kingfisher, an adult Med.Gull, a couple of Goldeneye and a few Pintail.
18th January Had a really good day out to the south coast with the wife today. We started off with the long staying over wintering Night Heron at West Hythe along the Royal Military Canal. It was initially about quarter of a mile west of the car park in reeds by the sluice before flying into the channel the other side where it showed well, though in shade, right out in the open. It spent about 15minutes here before flying east along the canal and was lost to view. Also here was at least one Kingfisher and a couple of female Bullfinch, Sheryl saw a male which I did not.
It was about an hour and a half before the heron was relocated a long way from the original location. It was roosting close to the road and it was possible to sit in the car and watch it.
As there was there had been no sign of yesterdays King Eider we stopped in at the ARC pit at Dungeness, after grabbing a bite to eat in Lydd, where I found adult and a 2nd winter Caspian Gulls and a 3rd winter Yellow-legged Gull amongst the large numbers of gulls present. Both of these birds showed well though a little distant. Another Kingfisher was seen from the screen here.
With news now that the King Eider had been refound we shot off for that and had reasonable, albeit a little distant views as it was seen in between deep troughs off of Judy's Gap east of Camber. Whilst watching this bird a Guillemot whirred past.
After half an hour we headed back to the RSPB reserve at Dungeness with the intention of a cup of tea but on arrival the pager announced an Iceland Gull here so we headed off to the end hide to look for it. It was soon found and scoped before it and other gulls flushed and flew towards ARC. With it now getting late we returned to the visitor centre, had a cuppa and then went to the southern end of ARC pit where we had three redhead Smew and I located the Iceland Gull which gave better views than earlier.
Well that was our day, it was a good one.
24th January Had the opportunity to visit Pitsea Tip today with a ringing group with Pete Livermore. The weather during the week had been somewhat crap and we thought we would not make the visit but the day turned out to be perfect, very little wind, bright and dry with a little frost. During the course of the day several hundred gulls were rung but the best were those not caught. We started off with an albino Herring Gull, pure white (with exception of a half darkish collar on the left side-this could indicate that the bird was possibly a 1st winter with ghosting of natural plumage or it was merely staining from the tip) and with pale pinkish washed out bill.
Whilst waiting for the net deployment a large pale gull was picked up which actually turned out to be a 2nd-winter Glaucous Gull, and I had left my camera in the Land Rover. The bird was around for about 5-10minutes and was seen well. It was a quite worn on the wing coverts and primaries, a darkish gray saddle (darkish compared with the rest of the white plumage) and pale eye. We had hoped to get it in the net deployment but it had already gone when that happened.
After the net deployment, gull bagging and rolling up of the net Pete and I set off to search through the gulls. After a while I found a 1st-winter Caspian Gull at the eastern end but shortly afterwards it flew right past us to mellie at the other end. Here we relocated it and watched for a while until it flew out to the fields.
We watched some gull ringing and before I returned to the gull flocks. I relocated the Caspian Gull way out on the fields and a 1st-winter Yellow-legged Gull, and a day total of 4+ Med.Gulls were tallied. All in all a great day.
31st January Yet another excellent day gulling on Pitsea tip with Pete Livermore. The whole day was spent going through the gulls that were visiting the commercial and domestic tipping locations on the tip and were rewarded with three Caspian Gulls but not white-wingers. We firstly had a large 1st-winter on the domestic site which was followed several hours later by another 1st-winter at the commercial site. The first was photographed but the second was not. A 3rd-winter Caspian Gull put on a show late afternoon by being the closest gull to the land rover, probably at around 10feet. It was heavily abraded on the primaries.
In addition there was a Yellow-legged Herring Gull of the type referred to as 'omissus' which also showed very well by the car. A 1st-winter Yellow-legged Gull was less obliging whilst two Med. Gulls were almost overlooked.
With a couple of tame Foxes back at the car park it was a stunning day of gull watching and photography.