8th February 2021
It appears that this is the returning adult Kumlien’s Gull from Jan 2018, when it was discovered by Andy Holden and the winter of 2019. After that It hasn’t been seen until this afternoon when I came across it at Morning Point
Early afternoon, in between work, I made my ways towards Morning Point in the bitter cold NE wind. Where I was positioned, facing south, I was sheltered from the wind and almost immediately I saw ‘Billy’ the Iceland Gull flying with an adult white-winger. The light was shite, looking into the sun. I moved pretty fast to get in a better ideal spot away from the sun in my eyes, always thinking that this could be a Kumlien’s Gull. I relocated it and sure enough it turned out to be an adult Kumlien’s Gull! The other thing that was on my mind was that is this the adult returning for a third winter? It was first discovered by Andy Holden in January, 2018 and returned the following winter. After that there was no sign of it until now. 11 Mediterranean and 4 Common Gull moved straight through with small numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gull. A male Merlin spooked the gulls as it flew low over the top of them before I returned back to work. As I made my ways back, I Scanned the north side of the Garrison and picked out 3 Great Northern Diver and 100+Razorbill spread out on the water.
Scott Reid was the only one to twitch the Kumlien’s Gull later on and I was just getting out of me wagon, after finishing work, when he called to let me know that it was indeed Andy Holden’s individual from 2018
The pale-headed Iceland Gull at Morning Point
Out of the 17 Mediterranean Gull that passed through east, this was the only individual that hung around
There were a few Black-headed Gulls almost in summer plumage including this individual
I’ve got 2 Robin battling it out on the bird table
‘Ralf’ was on the table first thing this morning and yesterday, he was relaxing on Porthcressa Beach
And ‘Ralf’ on the bird table
Two days ago, I kayaked to Tresco where I quickly walked around the two pools before returning back to St Mary’s. New in were 2 Canada Geese on the Great Pool and a single Lesser Redpoll was on Pool Road. Other birds of note were the single Shoveler, Tufted Duck, male Pintail, 6 Pochard and 12 Redshank. The Jackdaw, Great Spotted woodpecker, Buzzard and a Siberian Chiffchaff were all vocal on the north side of the Great Pool and I also kicked 2 Woodcock nearby.
These 2 Canada Geese were new in on the Great Pool. The last sightings of this species two years ago on Scilly
The Teal were spending most of their time hidden in the reeds making it difficult to count them
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