After an unsuccessful (again) couple of hours on Castlemartin Corse looking for Pallid Harrier, I headed down to the Rhoscrowther (east) end of Angle Bay to see what was there on the incoming tide. A sum of 22 Brent Goose (21 pale bellied, 1 dark) was immediately apparent, and then I looked at the 60 or so gulls present and was surprised to quickly pick out a first winter/2nd calendar year Ring-billed Gull. The bird was in the stream channel, and twice picked up what was probably some type of mollusc and flew up to about 20m before dropping it and returning to the ground. Within minutes it took off and flew north over Valero with a handful of Common Gulls. I lost it when switching between the telescope and binoculars and it didn’t come back for the next 30 minutes. Besides here 20 Bar-tailed Godwit and 15 Knots.
The woman was in Corse earlier Marsh Harrier is regularly seen over the reeds and a female Merlin it worked from west to east, stopping at fence posts and bushes to search for prey. Red Kite, Buzzard and Kestrel complete the birds of prey. In the fields on the northern slopes at least 105 Stock Doves, often associated with a large flock of Jackdaws. Other birds recorded included Cetti’s Warbler, Reed Bunting, Stonechat, Greylag Goose, Chough and Little Egret.
Yesterday evening at Gann a relatively small gathering of gulls had a high percentage of At Gold’s with 24 birds: only 4 adults, with 1 2CY and 19 3CY. Green R8RA is at it again.
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| Not today’s Ring-billed Gull, but one of the same age at Llanstadwell on New Year’s Day 1995 |
