07 March - excellent gull roost at Stewartby

At last we can relax....... with the Slaty B now seemingly well gone and little chance, despite the south-easterly winds, of it finding its way to Bedfordshire...... the very good-sized roost at Stewartby Lake came up trumps for Keith Owen, Steve Blain and me this evening with 9 species of gull identified - besides the usual five common species there were:

1 first-summer Caspian Gull - last nights bird relocated by SCB

4 Yellow-legged Gulls - an adult, a fourth winter and two first-winters

1 Glaucous Gull - the presumed second-winter bird (tho' too late and too distant to check the bill tip) showing some greyish to the mantle coming through but still strongly bi-coloured bill

2 adult full summer plumaged Med Gulls. but alas no Iceland Gull to complete a "full set"

I recommend going to have a look for the Coue's Arctic Redpoll I found yesterday at Meadow Lane off the A603 east of Bedford. There are a dozen or more mixed redpolls feeding in the birches etc at the rear of Bedford Eagles FC viewable from just before the bridge passes over the A421 Bedford by-pass. Park with care as heavy lorries frequently come and go along the road toward the sewage treatment works north of the by-pass. The birds can be 'scoped at more or less eye level allowing the full suite of characters to be looked for. As well as the Coue's, there were at least 5 or more grey type Mealy Redpolls and the remainder were Lessers when Martin Stevens and I watched them from just before 3.00 to 3.15pm this afternoon. We had almost ten minutes of 'scoping the Coue's continually in good light conditions although for other periods the views were more silhouetted as the party were in trees closer to the by-pass and thus looking more toward the sun. A couple of Siskins were about as well (MJP)