A TRIP TO THE MEDITERRANEAN(s)!

 I've known about the pre-breeding  gathering of Mediterranean gulls at Hayling Island for some years now, but until today I'd never actually been down to see them. So after finding out exactly where to go to see this gull spectacle, I got up early once again to make the trip down to Hampshire.

The journey took an additional ten minutes due to a weekend closure of the A419, the dual carriageway that would normally take me to the M4. So I had to take the country route as far as Newbury where I joined the A34 to drive southwards. It was a lovely drive over the downs and I saw my first barn owl of the year which flew across some rough grassland to perch on a fence post at the side of the road just ahead of me.  By the time I had stopped the car, the owl was too close for its comfort and it flew off before I had time to get out my camera. I had to settle for a distant shot at the back of the field. I also saw a small herd of roe deer and a munjac at the side of the road. 

The rest of the journey consisted of dual carriageways and motorways and I arrived at my desired location just after eight o'clock.  I took the last parking space and then made my way along a path and over some shingle to where the remains of an old oyster bed were providing some long 'islands' for the gulls to pair up and get ready for the breeding season. The Mediterranean gulls were almost in their full breeding plumage of black head  and red beak and feet. It would almost seem that the names had become mixed as the black headed gulls they share this site with, have brown not black heads! Of the two species, the mediterraneans  have my vote for the smartest gull and they looked very dapper as they stood on the gravel top of the islands. 

There was a lot of noise coming from both gulls, which had slightly different calls. There was a lot of coming and going as the gulls took off and landed. 

The shoreline hosted some brent geese, as well as redshank and oyster catchers although the tide was receding fast and most birds were distant. 

barn owl

interaction between the two gull species

view to Portsmouth

black headed gull ( yes, on the left!) and Mediterranean gull

After spending an hour and a half observing the gulls, I drove the short journey to another reserve , Farlington Marshes which I visited eighteen months ago in September 2023. On that occasion the tide was incoming and I saw around 40 species of bird including a number of waders. Today, though the tide was already quite far out and the birds on the mud flats were mostly distant. although a little egret and a redshank were the exception. There were hundreds of brent geese with a few Canada geese amongst them, a flock of avocets and on a scrape there were more black headed gulls and a few mediterraneans and various ducks  including wigeon and pintail.  I also heard and saw my first chiffchaff of the year.

This brent goose was close to the gate and away from the main flock.

 It appeared to have an injured leg.