Yellow-legged Gull (vid)

Mash up of vids: adult, 2nd winter, and juvenile. 

LBB

Sooty Shearwater and little gull (SCP)

St. Catherine's point: sea watch 10am - 1:15pm, southerlies, strengthening [F5-8], overcast/sunny intervals (13c):

The highlights of the three-hour sea watch were a Sooty Shearwater west at 12:59 and a lone Adult Little Gull at 11:53. Leach's petrel still eludes me; though one was reported off Ventnor at 2:30pm, an hour or so after I had left St. Cath's! Thems the breaks huh....Kittwakes were constantly passing, and I counted 370 westward moving birds (adults and first winters). Also, a movement of auk sp (c200) and a couple of divers, singles of BT and RT, all west. One Porpoise present. Some context: Dungeness to the east of me had three sooty shears and 495 kittiwakes etc; Cornwall to the west had a couple of sooty shears too. And one seen off Hants coast a couple of days after on the 26th. 

Nov 25th (Friday): Bonchurch Down, sunny, moderate westerly, early AM: really felt like the end of vis mig for this autumn. A Golden Plover was about it...

Little Gulls (SCP) Woodlark (Ventnor Downs)

St. Catherine's point, 07:00 - 11:05 sea watch (a.m), strong southerly winds, due south, F7 gusting to F9, heavy (squally) showers. 

A morning watch at SCP was overall pretty slow going. However, at 8:20 three birds came in from the east were possibly petrels(?) passed by west: but not fully ID'd so I could only speculate (Leach's have been quite numerous this autumn). Aside from that fleeting moment of mystery: 27 Scoter went west and kittiwakes were moving by if sporadically. The highlight came quite late in the session at around 10:10 when a flock of 10 Little Gulls passed by reasonably close in and west; mostly adults too! so well worth the effort and ending up slightly rain sodden after the four-hour session. Some glaring omissions though: no skuas, divers, nor shearwaters. [Also, there was some cetacean interest as five or so Bottlenose dolphins went by (breaching) west]. 

  

Yesterday (14th): atop Luccombe Down, moderate se, fair conditions, A.M:

Wood pigeons 2500 (south), Brambling five, Siskin 36, of note. Also, four Snipe (three high up and flying eastwards/one booted by a dog walker flew round calling). 

November 18th: another Woodlark over Bonchurch down; my 6th or 7th bird of the autumn. A few Brambling etc. And woodpigs, c2000, moving along the coast on a bright if brisk (westerlies) morning. 

Eastern Yellow Wagtail (probable at East Cowes)

A photograph taken of a wagtail along East Cowes esplanade circulated via social media on November 7th was quickly suspected to be a 1st winter Eastern Yellow Wagtail, a race of Yellow Wagtail (motacilla tschutschensis) and a rarity for the UK; local birders soon investigated and twitched it. Today I caught up with it, easily found along the sea wall (occasionally dropping over to the beach), feeding - it was especially confiding. It also gave a couple of calls when it flew off, though it wasn't particularly vocal otherwise; however, the recording could prove very useful in identifying its race. This is my second UK bird (1st at Prestwick Carr Jan 2020) but my first as a local island tick. If accepted - besides photos and the sound recording: a faecal sample was collected by other birders for DNA analysis - this will be a first for the island. It's also probably been present there since September 21st being only latterly identified on Nov 7th. Certainly, bird of the year (so far). 

Casually strolling towards us seemingly unperturbed.

And the moment it flew up and called

Prestwick Carr bird (Jan 2020 twitch)

Lapland Bunting (Bonchurch Down vis mig)

Bonchurch Down, breezy fresh NW, early morning: the highlight was a calling flyover Lapland Bunting (recorder on near me/sound recorded) at 08:30am; my first of the autumn. Also a few Brambling, siskin, mipits, skylarks etc. 

2018 Luccombe Down bird: