(not) LANDGUARD - 21st July

 A walk round Wyke / Benthall first thing produced all the expected bits and pieces including successful Little Grebe breeding on Benthall Pools again with two large chicks seen where there was also single Lesser Whitethroat and 5 Mistle Thrush.   

After getting my second vaccine (where there was a Norwegian ringed Black-headed Gull in the carpark!) I immediately drove up to Anglesey where, at Cemlyn Bay the long-staying ELEGANT TERN flew off the main island straight away as I walked along the shingle to have a little bathe in the bay before flying back to the lagoon to show brilliantly on the near side.   

It was ace there as always with thousands of Sandwich, Arctic and Common Terns making a hell of a noise as they fed hundreds of big chicks all across the islands and shore; other birds included a single first-summer Black Guillemot in the bay, a monster-big juvenile female Peregrine, 7 Little Egrets, 4 Mediterranean Gulls and a steady stream of Manx Shearwaters mainly heading west close into shore – it was very hot though so I didn’t walk around too much!

Elegant Tern

Norwegian ringed Black-headed Gull in the Telford International Centre carpark - it was ringed as a chick near Oslo in June 2015, amazingly then I re-sighted it at Horsehay Pool in January 2016, it was then seen in Sheffield in June 2018 and Sandwell Valley in February 2021.   I'm not sure whether it returns to Norway to breed, I would guess not as the June and July sightings are maybe a bit early for returning birds.

Sandwich Tern