Sabine's in Kent 5th November 2022

A Sabine's Gull is a small demure gull, not much bigger than a Little Gull, that breeds in the Arctic tundra and migrates to spend the winter in southern oceans. Their breeding distribution is circumpolar, nesting in small colonies in Canada, Arctic Russia and Greenland.Their total population is less than 100,000 pairs and many winter off the coast of southern Africa and others off Peru.

For most of its life it is far out to sea but gales can blow migrating individuals inland  and that is usually when it can be found in Britain. Although considered rare and worthy of mention they are no strangers to our shores with an average of 186 being seen each year in Britain with some years being better for sightings than others.

When strong gales occur, storm driven Sabine's Gulls sometimes appear on inland bodies of water such as reservoirs where they are seldom found. I have even seen them on very rare occasions in Oxfordshire, about as far as it is  possible to be inland in Britain; for instance an adult was at Farmoor  Reservoir in  2001 and a juvenile spent some days on the main lake at Blenheim Palace, Woodstock in 2009.

Normally those that find themselves inland manage to find a reasonable sized body of water on which to spend a few days recuperating before heading back to the sea but  for the past ten days a juvenile has been frequenting the grass covered overflow car parks of Port Lympne Safari Park  in Kent with the only water in sight being a muddy puddle in one of the car parks. It appears perfectly happy to share this and the car parks with around twenty Black headed Gulls.

With little to occupy me on Saturday and rain forecast to fall all day I was in a low mood and at a loss as to what to do. I do not like remaining in the house all day so had to get out and do something. Scrolling down my Birdguides app and consulting my Twitter feed I saw that the Sabine's Gull at the safari park had been showing really well yesterday and decided on an impulse to go and see it.

It is quite a long way to Lympne but driving carefully on the rain lashed motorways, or should I say sprayways, that took me south, I turned off onto less busy roads after a couple of hours driving and eventually found myself on a long approach road that led to the safari park.

Any hopes of the rain abating had long since passed but I noted that the rain came in pulses and every so often would almost cease before recommencing. Photography would be possible but not ideal as it was so grey and dull and there is nothing worse than standing in the rain getting wet and worrying about your camera. Still needs must and I had to reconcile myself to the fact the day was not going to improve and accept the situation for what it was.

Coming to the end of the approach road I turned a corner and slowed as I noticed a few cars parked on a grassed area to my left which was obviously an overflow car park but ignoring them I headed further to what looked like the main car park and left my car there.

A couple of birders stood nearby in the rain having arrived seconds before me. I had no idea where the gull was but obviously it had to be nearby although there were a number of grassed areas that in busier times were obviously used for car parking. I asked them if they knew of the gull's whereabouts and they told me they had seen it fly across the road towards  the cars I had just passed. Battening down both myself and my camera gear against the rain I walked back a couple of hundred yards to the parked cars.

At first I could see nothing but Black headed Gulls, their white plumage bright against the green grass. They were parading around looking for worms on the wet grass and mud slicks caused by car tyre tracks Then a much smaller, less conspicuous gull, due to its grey brown upperparts matching the colour of the mud, materialised. 

The Sabine's Gull!

It was very close and commenced coming even closer. I had heard it had been 'showing well' yesterday but this was ridiculous as it marched about with absolutely no concern about my and other birders close presence. Almost pigeon like, it looked so delicate, slim and trim, compared to the larger Black headed Gulls, its wings noticeably long and projecting far beyond its tail. It too was hunting for worms and with considerable success from what I could see.

I stood  under a hedge on the other side of the approach road that gave partial shelter from the rain and watched this supposed pelagic gull incongruously wandering around on an area of waterlogged grass  about as far from its true home out at sea as was possible. What was not to enjoy? 

I  crossed the road to stand by the cars, no longer worried if the gull would fly off as it obviously had never seen humans before  and consequently saw no reason to be wary. The Black headed Gulls were more circumspect and kept their distance but this tiny gull continued to patrol the grass back and fore, at times coming to within a few feet of me. 

I have a new camera and set about testing and familiarising myself with its functions by taking multiple images of the gull. Let's face it this was an ideal opportunity to test both myself and the camera despite  the rain that continued to fall. The gull was regularly tugging worms, big and small from the waterlogged ground and swallowing them whole, its appetite seemingly insatiable. 

Sometimes a Black headed Gull would try its luck and endeavour to snatch a worm from its smaller cousin but was repelled by a feisty response from the Sabines which, with lowered head and open bill, emitting a raspy squeak of protest or threat, would then advance on the larger gull which invariably conceded and retreated. 

For the most part it remained in this car park but flew across the road to a muddy flooded area where it washed and preened for a while before moving further out into this larger field and remained there for a long spell, doing very little before rousing itself and flying back to the small car park where I had been watching it earlier.

Seen so close they are rather ungull like in plumage, being predominantly grey brown on their upperparts, each feather bordered with a dark brown and white semi circle imparting a scaly appearance. When it spread its wings a shock of black outer and pure white inner flight feathers caught the eye but were concealed when the wings were closed. Another ungull like feature was its tail which was slightly forked.

The last time I saw a juvenile Sabine's Gull was at Blenheim, Oxfordshire in September 2009 that remained for some days before moving on. I have seen quite a few others over the years such as in Norfolk, Cornwall, Hertfordshire, Pembrokeshire, and Sussex in 2000, which was my first in Britain. Most memorable was an adult in summer plumage seen at the most unlikely of locations, Farmoor Reservoir, Oxfordshire in August 2001.

So the day was saved and my thanks go to the safari park who were happy to accommodate us birders by providing free parking especially for us and seemed genuinely interested in the gull.