With some early starts and late finishes, I'd built up enough flexi-time to take this afternoon off, and was looking forward to gulling at Cotham. Arriving, there were masses of gulls around and things were looking good, but no sooner had a set my scope up than they all took to the air, as two guys in hi-vis jacket started wondering around on the landfill. After some circling, a lot headed west, whilst the rest continued to circle. And circle.
And after an hour they still hadn't resettled, so I cut my losses and left. It wasn't a complete disaster, as I did have a 1w Glaucous Gull overhead when the birds first took flight, but it does illustrate the frustrations of watching a landfill, especially when your time is limited. Even when the gulls are decked, they can be difficult to watch, constantly reshuffling in response to the movements of the bulldozers and refuse trucks - the work 'melee' always springs to mind. And with an early start for hockey tomorrow, it's at least another week before I'll have the chance for another session at the landfill. Frustrating!
So after wasting the best of the afternoon, it was off to Collingham. The highlight were 22 Whooper Swans; 10 (including 1 juv) in with 85 Mutes in the field west of the Trent, and a group of 12 in flight off to the north (with at least 1 juv amongst their number). Elsewhere there were 7 Redshank and 2 Snipe on the Silt Lagoon (the latter patch year tick number 77), a redhead Goosander and at least 5 Shelduck (2 pairs) on the Ferry Lane Lake, and 2 Chiffchaffs at Mons Pool, where the Cormorants are already thinking about spring.
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