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More First-winter Yellow-legged Gulls
First-winter Yellow-legged Gulls are still showing up at Shawell A5 Lagoons, Leicestershire. I may be seeing more 1st-year birds just because I've got my eye in, but it would appear that more of them...
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Shawell A5 lagoons
Herring Gull numbers have built up quite considerably since last weekend. I counted over 1000 today along with a maximum day count of 291 Great Black-backed Gulls. Amongst the commoner species were...
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More Caspian Gulls
For a change I spent some time at Shawell again today. The area that is being landfilled is visible from the roadside along Gibbet Lane again. No good for reading rings due to the distance, but I did...
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Colour Ring Number 200
I have just reached the grand total of 200 successful colour-ring readings at Shawell A5 Lagoons. The 200th was a 3rd year Herring Gull which was ringed last year at Pitsea Landfill Site, Essex.The...
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Azorean Gull
I have put together a collection of my best images of the Azorean Gull that I saw in Portugal during October. I am still awaiting confirmation on whether the Portuguese rarities committee considers...
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Is this the end of the Birding World?
After reading Andy Mackay's post 'Killed by the Internet?', I found myself reminiscing about the 'good old days'. Receiving a copy of Birding World used to be one of the highlights of my month. Like...
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Its Not Over Until the Fat lady Sings
It was an odd day at Shawell today. There didn't appear to be much activity at the landfill site, so the gulls had dispersed far and wide. I could see many of them flying to a distant field near to the...
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Does Size Matter?
You can bet it does, but this isn't about what some of you might have thought.I've noticed that some birders are surprised by the difference in size of gulls of the same species. There can be a massive...
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Flocking About
I occasionally lift my head up from my scope whilst I'm gull watching at Shawell A5 lagoons and a few weeks ago I noticed a flock of Starlings flying above the distant landfill site. Steve Nicholls and...
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Caspian Gulls
December is supposed to be a good month for Caspian Gulls, but they have been noticeable by their absense at Shawell. That all changed this weekend when I managed to find four, although one of them may...
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Black-throated Diver
I fancied a bit of fresh air after eating far too much yesterday, so this afternoon I headed off to Swithland Res in search of the immature Black-throated Diver that had been there a couple of days. It...
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Brunnich's Guillemot
A chance meeting at Swithland Res yesterday brought me out of long distance twitching retirement. A storm driven Brunnich's Guillemot had taken up residence in Portland Harbour near Weymouth. I made...
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Mediterranean Gulls
After the excitement of seeing the Brunnich's Guillemot it was back to some serious gulling. As we eat our McDonalds, Dave and I suggested we should have a look through the gulls on Radipole Lake car...
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Happy New Year
Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year, good health and hopefully lots of great birding and wildlife adventures during 2014.Sunrise Over Caerlavarock
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Parrot Crossbills
It has been a few years since I last saw Parrot Crossbills - 29 to be exact. As a young chap I visited Wells Woods both in 1984 and 85' to see the ones that were breeding there at the time. After all...
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2013 - A Review
A trip to Norfolk on the 1st was a perfect start to the year. The early start was worth the effort, as the waders on the Wash put on a great show. As normal during January I did a bit of walking in the...
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White-wingers at Shawell
I was hoping to see at least one 'white-winged' gull today, as there had been quite a few around the Midlands during the week. I went to the landfill site first and it didn't take me long to spot a...
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Buff-bellied Pipit, Burton Marsh, Cheshire
After saying that I'd found a cure for twitching, I found myself lured, for the third time in as many weeks, out again. I had dipped a Buff-bellied Pipit on Scillies in the 90's and I didn't bother...
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Siberian Chiffchaffs, Burton Marsh, Cheshire
Now its out that if a Siberian Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita tristis)looks like a Siberian Chiffchaff it is one (amazing that) there seems to be more regular sightings. As well as the...
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