Two out of three ain’t bad but in this instance it didn’t seem that way
In the immortal words of Meatloaf / Jim Steinman two out of three ain’t bad but lets fast forward to January 9th 2025. The first Grey-headed Lapwing for Britain was found in Northumberland in spring 2023 and subsequently went up to Scotland and then even to the western edge of the known world on North Uist in the Outer Hebrides at a spot we have visited several times. It was often distant and a bit erratic while in Northumberland and I didn’t have much inspiration to go and see a dot and hence it remained absent from my very lowly British list. It seemed like my six birds at Beidaihe in May 1993 would remain my only record but in early December presumably the same Grey-headed Lapwing popped up in Northumberland and in spite of odd absences it was still around in early January and apparently easier to see. I was still not really enthusiastic but when a very photogenic juvenile White-billed Diver dropped in nearby at Druridge Bay the attraction got a little stronger but the weather was a bit dicy with the worst frosts of the winter. Then just to rev me into gear an adult Ross’s Gull added to the Northumberland - Durham haul appearing at South Shields and it was notably pink flushed. Now as I had written a blog about my encounters with Ross’s Gulls pretty recently and stated I would love to see another the draw was now too much to resist.
All three birds had been seen on January 8th so alarm was set for 05:00 on the 9th and after some traffic delays I was at South Shields at 09:00 but there were very few birders about apparently and no sign of the gull. As the sunny morning dragged on with no sign of the gull I made the decision to head up for the Lapwing and Diver just 45 minutes north through the £2:40 Tyne tunnel. Thanks to great map links from Phil H I was soon at the field where the Grey-headed Lapwing was feeding and it was on the list in seconds. Not distant but not that close so I put the 1.4x converter on the 200-800 lens to get a bit more reach. The sun was from the side and back and there was some shimmer but it walked down the hill towards us and gave great scope views. Then to complete the show a gull flushed it and it flew right past us albeit partly into the light but I had forgotten to take off the converter so shutter speeds were low and many images were soft or totally OOF. It had flown over the hill to the left of us so I headed down to the Druridge VC to check out the diver.
One of the easiest twitches - parked the car walked to the field gate and looked in and there it was then it wandered down the hill towards us
The mole hills were clearly an attraction presumably offering some feeding opportunities in the hard frosts
Grey-headed Lapwing Druridge Bay January 2025 - the sun and freezing air made it impossible to get really sharp images.
Having abandoned its Lapwing friends it was a bit less wary than previously apparently
A bird distinctly more impressive in flight
As I headed from the VC to the nearby lake edge for the diver a quick look at Birdguides showed that the Ross’s Gull was back by the south pier - was this going to be a full house? I gave the diver a shortened attention span and got some nice oimages then set off at pace back towards South Shields planning an arrival at about 13:15 that would give me plenty of time for some viewing and photography in the afternoon.
juvenile White-billed Diver January 2025 - my first since the showy juvenile on the River Witham in Lincs in January 2017
Initially sunny in the 15 minutes I was there it clouded over and there was a brief snow shower
somewaht more obliging than the local Great Northern
So after taking a few 100 diver images it was back to South Shields but as I dropped into the car park the Whatsapp said Ross’s flown north to North Shields fish quay - dam - anyway get the gear out and scan across the Tyne but no sign - after a while a gang of Yorky birders including Johny Mac and Gary Taylor appear - they have all seen it off the pier and improving photographer Gary T has images - after getting the gen on its movements I hear the fateful words you will see it -never has there been a better curse and the rest of the afternoon we are chasing shadows as it gets reported from further and further up the Tyne where access to the river side is highly restricted. So I head south with two out of three but missing the big prize.
The closest I got to the Ross’s an adult Mediterranean Gull
Inevitably the Ross’s Gull is being seen on 10th so W & C agree to a Saturday return visit but from the outset things do not look good and although the weather is distinctly Arctic the Arctic waif is nowhere to be seen all day and we have poor consolation in the form of very distant Iceland Gull, Green-winged Teal and Long tailed Duck through a fence in the mist un aesthetic locality possible at Jarrow - you can see why they all marched away -
The light on Saturday was stunning and hence more frustrating as the pink giull was nowhere to be had
A very very distant Iceland Gull and lots of non Ross’s
So the failed twitcher struck again - Ross’s Gull scoreline 11 chased and seven seen so better than average but this one was very annoying; maybe the next one will be in Yorkshire and more accessible - I don’t give much hope for Lincolnshire with no gull holding spots on the coast