Gulltastic Morning!!

 I've been in the doldrums birding wise for a couple of weeks, mainly due to work, the weather and a back injury, which would probably have incapacitated a lesser man, but I struggled on regardless, I know so brave!!!😂 With a nice bright morning forecast and a Sabine's Gull or two being present all week, I decided to venture down to Norman's Bay to see if I could get in on the Gull action!! I arrived just after sun up, I was on my own, Margie's not that  keen on standing around in the freezing cold on the off chance a Gull might turn up, mad I know😂!! I pulled up behind another birder who was just setting off, who assured me I could park where I was, Hurrah! I kitted up, I'm in full winter plumage now, thermal everything😱 I hurried up onto the beach, the Sun was performing well, first bird was a Little Gull, though it didn't hang around for many pics!!! There were also a few Turnstones on the beach!

First Little Gull of the day hopefully I can get some better pics later😏

Turnstone

Luckily a couple more Little Gulls turned up at this point!

Adult Little Gull

2nd Winter Little Gull

1st Winter Little Gull

Brilliant action, with all this bird renaming going on, think I will put Little Gull forward to change it's name to "The Best Gull" because it obviously is!!

At this point , I noticed that the Birder I had spoken to early was studying a small dot on the sea. A quick scan with the Bins, Grey Phalarope as suspected!!! Bonus!! I filled me boots with some pics, obvs!!

Grey Phalarope, the early morning light was quite nice

Seemed to be feeding well, came crazy close as they often do!!

An amazing amount of restraint there on the number of pics posted!!😂The other Birder who had brought his Scope, I'd left mine at home with a view to giving my back a break, had spotted the Sabine's Gull in the distance, I tore myself away from the Phalarope and set off in pursuit!!

Sabine's Gull

The sea was steaming!!

More Turnstones here!

The Sabs flew around feeding, landing occasionally, the light remained difficult, compounded by ignorance of camera settings!

Turnstone flock, taken while I was experimenting with my settings, didn't go well!

Shit shot!!

More experimenting! 

Little Gull

The Phalarope joined the party at this point!!

Some Brent Geese went through

And a Med Gull for a bit of variety

I know what you're thinking, not enough Gull pics right😂😂!!  I decided to explore the area a bit walking the high line back the way I came, Meadow Pipits, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and a major bonus bird in the form of a Short-eared Owl, which showed quite well! I also got good views of a Fox or possibly two Foxes!! As although I saw them in more or less the same place about a minute apart, the first one seemed to have a milky eye, which looked normal in the 2nd one!

Pied Wagtail, I've forgiven em, for the Citrine incidents down in Cornwall!!

Little Gull, there were some Gulls on the walk back

Black-headed Gull

Goldfinch, nice flock of these on the beach and in the scrub.

Goldfinch on Teasel, classic!

Greenfinch

Fox with dodgy eye

Meadow Pipit

Fox without dodgy eye!!

Where's the Owl pics I hear you cry!! It flew in landed, had a look around, took off, flew around, dangerously close to a train, then flew off high to the east!

Short-eared Owl

Always a treat to see!! At this point it was only nine o'clock, so I decided to walk back and have another play with the Gulls!! Sorry!! There were a few more Birders about now, but I was surprised by how few were there, considering the glorious weather and the quality of the birds available!! I went to see the Hampshire bird at the start of the year and there were loads there, even though it had been knocking about for weeks!!

 I feel at this point that you now know the difference between a Sabine's Gull and a Little Gull, thus I no longer have to label every pic!! On the walk back along the beach, a Tern went past, I got quite excited but the consensus at the time was a Common Tern, which I think the pics below confirm! 

Common Tern

Black-headed Gull

Another Birder was lying down to get shots, but she was a lot younger than me, I did try  crouching down for a bit, but the fear of not being able to get up again restricted me a little! 

I picked up this distant Raptor coming "in off" a guy with a scope suggested it was a Marsh Harrier which think this pic confirms!

The tern returned!! 

Grey Phalarope with a Little Gull for scale, although that only really helps if you know how small a Little Gull is!! Although there is a clue in the name 😂

I like the bubble in this one!!

This Med Gull flew over on the walk back to the car!

What a fantastic morning!! Superb Gull action and a Short-eared Owl what could be better!! As I was walking down the beach a couple of birds flew over my head and landed on the beach ahead, "they seemed a buntingy" I thought. I arrived at the spot where they had come down, but could find nothing except a couple of Pied Wags!! Two Snow Buntings reported today!! Dang!!  Oh well can't win em all!!Couldn't find a Black Redstart either despite the place looking extremely Black Redstarty !! I know I'm never happy!!!😂