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Shawell Update
Things haven't been well at Shawell lately despite finding a juvenile Iceland Gull and several Med Gulls during March. For some reason the number of gulls using the site has been lower than expected....
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Brascote Comes Back to Life
It has been a while since Brascote has made the local birding headlines, but a couple of Ring Ouzels and a pair of Garganey have got it back on the map.The Ring Ouzels first appeared on Sunday and are...
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It' Getting Tough Out There
I've been out checking on the few remaining Corn Buntings at the western edge of Leicestershire. I was shocked to see that at my best site near Twycross the crop had changed from the traditional cereal...
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Bonny Scotland!
I've just had a splendid week in Scotland with my wife and daughter. We couldn't completely escape the election, as SNP banners and flags were everywhere, but we did our best.We stayed in a lovely...
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South-West Leicestershire List
A pair of Shelduck at Cotesbach Landfill site yesterday had seven ducklings in tow. Not the 200th species that we still await in South-west Leicestershire, but it was only the second confirmed breeding...
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Breeding Gulls in Leicester
Back in July 2013, Dave Gray checked out a site in Leicester where he thought gulls might be breeding and he saw a juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull on the roof of a large warehouse. This was almost...
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Breeding Success
I keep an eye on two Peregrine eyries within the boundaries of my south-west Leicestershire listing area. One site has become hard to monitor as the pair there have moved the nesting site to a ledge...
View ArticleHerring Gull Chicks on a Rooftop in Leicester
The lovely people up at Sunningdale Business Park have not yet found the time to reply to a letter I sent them. I asked if I could survey the breeding gulls by viewing them from a building that...
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Caspian Gull at Cotesbach LF Site in June
There are still lots of gulls around Shawell at present. Today I counted 1440 Lesser Black-backed (rounded to the nearest 10), 50 Herring, four Yellow-legged and one Caspian.Though most legs were bare...
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Curious Birds
It is quite obvious that some of the birds at Cotesbach landfill site actually fly over to check me out. Several times one or other of the resident pair of Red Kites has flown low and slow over me and...
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More Urban Gulls
Yesterday I had to go to an industrial estate in Northampton and you guessed it, I found another group of breeding gulls. Not quite as many as on the Old British Shoe works in Leicester, but still a...
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The Gulls are on the Move Again
One of the most exciting things about watching a site regularly is seeing the subtle changes each time you visit. It only seems five minutes since the adult gulls had moved away to breed. Last weekend...
View ArticleUpdate on the Urban Gulls
The gulls on the old British Shoe building in Leicester are doing OK despite my worries about the building being demolished any time soon. I believe it is scheduled to be knocked down very soon, but...
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Yellow-legged Gull Bonanza
I had a few hours at Shawell this afternoon and Yellow-legged Gulls were everywhere. It is difficult to be exact, but there was over twenty individuals. Amongst them were two smart juveniles. I have to...
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Gulls are Not Just for Christmas
The promise of 'white-wingers' in the depths of winter excites avid gull watchers, but for me there is excitement in mid-summer as well. As soon as gulls have finished breeding they start...
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Possible Baltic Gull (Larus fuscus)
As you may have already read on my previous post, last Saturday was a good day at Shawell. Amongst the 1000+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls was a really smart second calendar year gull, which took my eye. I...
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Juvenile Caspian Gull Completes the Full Set or Does It?
I was back at Shawell today searching through hundreds of second year LBB Gulls in the hope of re-finding the Baltic Gull. I didn't manage that but I did see a lot of worn and faded primaries.So what...
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Marbled White
Whilst I was scratching about at Shawell GP on Sunday trying to get a view of the pits to do my WeBS count, I came across about 20 of these stunners.They are restricted to only a few locations in the...
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Good Times at Shawell
Gulls are starting to disperse having already bred and as a result more legs are appearing with colour rings. I read 28 colour rings yesterday including another Polish ringed Black-headed Gull. One of...
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Hooded Merganser
Just before lunchtime I was sitting down watching the rain falling heavily on my living room window. My phone rang and it was Colin Green and he sounded quite excited. He and Pete Asher had lost their...
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