I've tried some gentle exercise, and while I can walk on it without limping like I've a caltrop in my shoe now, it still gets noticeably unhappy at any kind of slope [bending my foot with weight on it, in other words]. To say this is frustrating would be no small understatement, in fact this whole week has been one to forget for several reasons.. :(
Keeping it bird-related, at some point on Wednesday the male House Sparrow from the nest box managed to get in through the bathroom window and not find his way out - he instead ended up in the spare room, where he was found dead in the waste paper bin [which is by the window where he'd evidently tried to get out] on Thursday morning. Never heard a thing.. Must have dehydrated - he seemed in good condition [not that I'm an expert on such things, but no protruding breastbone or anything, feathers were ok etc] - anyway he got a decent burial. I just hope his mate hadn't laid yet. :(
Sparrows next door seem to be going well, and the Blackbirds are singing to our west and north-east - territorial boundary shifting explains their absence at last! Likewise Blue and Great Tits, Greenfinches, Dunnocks, Robins, Jackdaws, Woodpigs, Herrings, Magpies, Feral Pigs and Crows are getting on with things.
Mr Blackcap left on Tuesday night [I waited to say anything as he's sometimes not been seen for a day or two] - the wind had turned and I was pretty much expecting it. In breaking news, however - just before I sat myself down a pair, yes a pair of Blackcaps were out investigating the bushes! Passing migrants or maybe more?? We've not had any breeding here for a couple of years [which I blame primarily on loss of trees and bushes to the stupid fashion for fences] - I'm listening out for some song with just a wee bit of hope.
In a gentle toddle up the hill yesterday afternoon, I did manage to see something of interest - another odd gull! Oh yes, here we go again!
This thing was a very different proposition from the probable C-word, however. Close and very still, unfortunately mostly sitting down! It managed to avoid showing me a few bits I'd have liked to have seen, especially the underwing, and its going in the 'funny Herring' bin [along with several hundred others by now..]. Let me tell you how it went......
My first thought was "ooh, that's a funny big pale 1w gull there.." It was stood next to and casually pestering an adult Herring - it was definitely taller though not a lot bulkier if at all. What stood out was the overall whiteness and the long straight bill off a sloping forehead, with a small dark eye. My first wondering of maybe an off-colour Glaucous was dashed by it turning to show off very dark primaries and tertials - though the latter had pale thumbnails and an odd patterning to the sides - I can only call it vermiculation. Those tertials really caught my attention - they were ringing a bell in my head, but which one? They weren't worn scalloped edges that a well-bleached Herring would have but fine wavy barring along the side. I know I've seen that somewhere before but I can't remember where! The primaries did not have the extensive pale wearing you'd expect from a Herring this pale - instead just barely enough to pick the individual feathers out. The long thin straight bill was pinky with a dark tip - the upper mandible with a distinct yellow tinge, and what appeared to be a trace of red at the back edge of the lower mandible's dark tip. Legs were pink and while long, I wouldn't call them stilts - though it stood markedly higher than that Herring. It didn't have much streaking - the strongest area being a blotchy boa, though it did have some light streaking on the crown [yes, it showed the top of its head more than its back -darned thing]. It did not have dark coverts - very much a two-tone bird; brown-marked whitish and dark. No visible grey mantle feathers [though it didn't show it off that well - I didn't manage to get above it at all - looking from level or slightly below]. Mantle pattern appeared to be anchors and bars, though the feathers were well-worn. When stood it never posed nicely, but the centre of mass appeared to be at the back - it didn't have a clear bulge in front of the legs, that I am sure of. It had a window, but I couldn't tell if it was half or full size!
All in all, I think it is what is known as an 'educational bird', or to put it another way a 'right little git'. I've had a good look through my trusty 'Gulls of Europe, Asia, and North America' and nothing fits. Of course. My vast [::coffcoff::] experience tells me this means its yet another variety of immature Herring Gull, and I can be grateful I was alone when I found it! Hmm, I wonder how many Herring forms that is now? 300? 400? ;) I am probably wrong in blaming its intransigence for not being able to clinch an ID - but it managed to hide belly and underwing and window and wing shape/length in flight, and only posed when sat down [not stood]. They say a poor worker blames his tools - does a poor birder blame the bird? Yeah yeah I know its not as simple as that [which is a good thing, I think. Maybe]
Of course, this is yet another reason why the Backwater is THE place to bird - you've got actual proper gull experts [ones who know what they're talking about and can take proper pictures too] mere minutes away - one phone call and before you can say 'Larus' you've been told exactly why that's a Herring Gull! ;)
I think I ought to stop now....
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