counting coots

Instead of that, if I leave a picture from the Counting Coots library of 'not sure what that is for' images of the area that they were in, you can then imagine them flying over the mud and into the distance yourself.

Happy with that?

After some cogitation by a few slightly more experienced gullers, it would seem that yesterdays postage of a putative Caspian is in fact a Yellow Legged Gull. Albeit a YLG with long pinky legs and a funny head. I'm tempted to go along with the Punkbirders advice from last winter 'Don't do gulls', but you and I know dear reader that it just isn't going to happen.

And it is catching. A recent visitor to this blog found it by entering 'blogs for larophiles' into google - I expect that he didn't linger too long. Alan is at it too, and I dare say that a fair few bloggers will be joining in before the winter is out. If you want more Larobloggage, you could do a lot worse than this...Gulls on Film

Perhaps there should be health warnings on field guides. Once you inhale your first Med, it's downhill from there sonny-jim. Soon you'll be stringing funny looking Black-heads into Bonapartes, 2cy Common to Ring-billed and any vaguely pale winged Herring into a Thayers. It's inevitable, and there is no escape. Just look at me, it's too late already. I'm so totally off me head and whacked out on gulls I'm probably even repeating previous posts without noticing it!

Have a cheeky young Med from last week. On a beach. Oh, niiice...

Go on, turn round for the camera.

Aw, go on.

Aw, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on

Go on, go on, go on go on, go on, go on, go on.

Go on, go on, go on, oh, you did. Thank you already.

Found this yesterday lunchtime. Another dodgy looking gull. I reckon it's a half decent shout for a Caspian. Hungry it was too.


Any ideas?

Standing.

Standing again.

Floating.



Walking next to a Herring Gull.

Grabbing a pigeon.

Keeping hold of a pigeon.

Flying off with a pigeon.

Drowning a pigeon.



Still drowning a pigeon.

Trying to fly off with a pigeon.

Post pigeon drop.

A pigeon doing drowning.


A pigeon doing survival.

Somebody who I share a certain amount of genetic material with has been unwell. The somebody who has been unwell, is better than a short while ago but not as good as the ideal. There is more doctoring to be done before restoration of full wellness. I felt that it was a good idea for me, and Mrs Thing, to visit said somebody and to check on some 'business' at the same time. The visit was good.

Hence the absence, and the huge fall in fatbirderism. The visit that we undertook was in the county of Norfolk. Some of you may have heard of it. Despite the nature of the visit to Norfolk, and the metaphorical cloud that was hanging over it, there is always time for a cheeky visit to Cley on the way back, eh?

Look!

Loads of fucking Spoonbills!

Normally when I see a Spoonbill they are sitting in the corner of a scrape/lagoon. Sleeping. But not these ones, they were proper bloody bonkers Spoonbills. Bonkers! Look at them! Look! Running around and everything! With a bill shaped like a fucking spoon! Look! They are mad.

The reserve had just shut, so this was as close as we got, but I nevertheless whacked out the trusty germans and got stuck in. Mrs Thing was mildly surprised by the amount of rudewordness caused by these birds so I insisted that she have a look at what all the fuss was about. "Have a look, they are like a big Little Egret but with a spoon shaped bill, honest!" "Yeah, yeah, as if a bird round here is going to have a bill shaped like a .....wow, they have a bill shaped like a spoon!"

Bonkers! Spoonbills! Kinell!

Then a Marsh Harrier came over and sent the whole marsh up.

Spoonbills in flight!

Spoonbills doing bonkers, in flight.

I'm not around at the moment for blogging and what not, but if you came here looking for work avoidance on an ornithological theme, check out this crazy Finnish bird counting game!!

A Mallard doing mutant

Or perhaps, once-was-dodgy-but-as-it's-hanging-about-long-enough-it-got-an-ID-gull-of-winter part 1.

Not much of a ring to it though.

It was still there for the fourth day yesterday, and it's a Yellow-Legged Gull. Bear in mind that the moult is incomplete, and the primaries are expected to project more. Also, my trusty Canon seems to slightly darken the mantle colour. Either way, here it is...

A Gull doing posing.

Another picture of the same gull.


That will be the same gull then.

A slightly different picture of a gull you have already seen pictures of.

You bored of gull pictures yet?



A gull doing buggering off.

You may have the impression that I am not particularly excited by this (perhaps by the lack of swearing and exclamation marks), but I am. Although a YLG is not a patch tick, or even patch year tick, it still comes under the category of a proper bird. Even though it's a gull.

..........(Blogger Broadcasting Catastrophe) – it’s time for Thing Cravens Bird-Newsround.

Diddle-diddle-it-dit-diddle-diddle it dit- diddle-diddle-it-dit- diddle-diddle-it-dit-diddle-diddle it dit- diddle-diddle-it-dit-diddle-diddle-it-dit-diddle-diddle it dit- diddle-diddle-it-dit


In inner London yesterday, a local birdtwitcher reported a Black Tailed Godwit, a big pointy bird, flying up the river Thames. It was later reported to have been seen further up river in Barnes. Another birdtwitcher described the event as ‘MEGA’. A birdtwitcher in Fulham said ‘It must have ****ing flown through my ****ing patch and I ****ing missed it – I’m not very ****ing happy about it, all I’ve got is dodgy ****ing gulls and they’ve all got ****ing Godwits - *****rds’. The Newsround doctor has said that this man is ‘gripped off’.

In Fulham this morning, a man saw a Blackbird, a small black bird, with what he described as ‘a proper gobful’ of nesting material. The man was quoted as saying 'well, b*gger me that's a late one'.


And finally, in Wandsworth today, a pair of Coots, a small black bird, were found to be nesting on a Shopping Trolley. A local birdtwitcher told newsround that they have been there for a long time, but the eggs have probably got cold in the water. A local sceptic is quoted as saying 'Doomed - doomed - DOOOOOOMMMED'





Come back tomorrow for more of Thing Craven's Newsround - diddle-diddle-it-dit-diddle-diddle it dit- diddle-diddle-it-dit- diddle-diddle-it-dit-diddle-diddle it dit- diddle-diddle-it-dit-diddle-diddle-it-dit-diddle-diddle it dit- diddle-diddle-it-dit-diddle-diddle-it-dit-diddle-diddle it dit- diddle-diddle-it-dit- diddle-diddle-it-dit-diddle-diddle it dit- diddle-diddle-it-dit-diddle-diddle-it-dit-diddle-diddle it dit- diddle-diddle-it-dit -diddle-diddle-it-dit-diddle-diddle it dit- diddle-diddle-it-dit- diddle-diddle-it-dit-diddle-diddle it dit- diddle-diddle-it-dit-diddle-diddle-it-dit-diddle-diddle it dit- diddle-diddle-it-dit

Nice comparison with a Lesser Black Backed

Nice comparison with a Lesser Black Backed


Interesting that it is moulting so the pattern on the primaries is not clear

Ditto

Not entirely sure what this photo brings to the table

Yeah, it perched on something. In direct sunlight. Cheers.

In flight windows and things. You still reading this?

Close up! More inconclusive imagery.

In flight chase sequence! Again, not helping much with the ID.

It's the one on the right by the way.

So there we are. No real new clues to nail the identity. I'm sort of veering away from the washed out LBB theory but without some more salient ID features (wing projection, orbital ring, close comparison to an equally aged Herring, good gawp at the bill etc etc - some of which may not be clear until the primaries poke through) this gull stays firmly in the 'dodgy pile'.

A Gull doing dodgy

Yes, that’s right kids. Tits. Lots of them.

The big news is that there has been an addition to the Loo List in the shape of , you guessed, a tit. A Coal Tit. In fact a whole family of tits! Cracking they were too - all pitchooing all over the place.

As for the other tits, well they are part of today's digimonned offering. Pictures of tits.

A Blue Tit doing that upside down stuff like what they do.

A Blue Tit doing falling.

So there you are, a whole post about tits (gurgle).

A Blackbird doing semi-albinism

A Tuftie doing fear