Mark and myself set off this morning from Ascott under Wychwood in Oxfordshire to make a two hour car journey to Burnham on Sea in Somerset. Our mission was to see a juvenile Sabine's Gull that was making a rather longer and more hazardous journey from the high Arctic to the middle of the South Atlantic. A journey, that as with a number of other Sabine's Gulls, had been disrupted by Storm Lillian resulting in a number of storm blown Sabine's being found along British coastlines rather than out in their normal winter home at sea off South Africa.
Like many juvenile birds bred in the arctic the Sabine's Gull in Somerset had never seen a human being and therefore was ridiculously confiding and allowed itself to be approached closely, making it an even more attractive proposition to see and photograph.
A number of excellent images testified to how confiding it was and as Mark had never seen one before it was a priority to see it. Personally I have seen any number but it is always nice to see one very close as they are a charismatic and attractive gull in all plumages.
We had planned to go on Tuesday but decided to await confirmation that it was still present at Burnham but there was no indication whether it was or not until late afternoon. Instead we made for the much nearer Hosehill Lake which forms part of Theale Gravel Pits in Berkshire, to view a White winged Tern swooping in elegant style to pluck insects from the water's surface. Success was almost immediate and Mark had another lifer to add to his growing list.
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| White winged Tern |
It was a pleasant drive in sunshine down the M5 Motorway with a relaxing stop for coffee at Gloucester Services, refreshingly free of all the franchises, tat and general dross that manifests itself at most other motorway services.
The gull was frequenting some small brackish pools lying by the River Parrett and near to where the mouth of the River Brue flowed into it
The directions on Birdguides promised the prospect of a mile and a half walk to where the gull was but fortuitously while at the White winged Tern site we met Trevor with whom I had shared some pelagic trips last week around the Isles of Scilly. He gave us another 'unofficial' route that would allow us to park within a few hundred metres of the pools the gull favoured.
The weather for today promised sunshine and strong winds until noon but would then deteriorate into rain showers and continuing high winds.Hopefully we would have seen the gull well before the rain arrived. It did not quite work out that way though.
The route we had been given by Trevor took us out into a hinterland beyond Burnham of grass fields and saltmarsh, which was West Huntspill Country Park, its close proximity to the river and sea imbuing it, as all such places, with a sense of otherworldliness and isolation. The sea and sky dominant.
Parking the car on the grass we walked up a bank to be met by the full force of the northwest wind blowing unhindered from the Bristol Channel and then followed a track along the top of what we later learned was the Huntspill Seawall. My eyes watered from the chill force of the wind as we looked out over a vast area of river, sandbanks and sea with the sinister looking Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station in the distance to the west and Burnham's seafront off to our right.
We met one other birder by the pools who told us we had missed the gull by five minutes and it had flown off west and been lost to sight. A bit disappointing but this happens in birding so we hunkered down into our layers of clothing to wait in the hope the gull would eventually return, as it had on previous days. Other birders came along the seawall from the Burnham direction to join us but there was no sign of the Sabine's Gull anywhere.
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| The small brackish pools eventually visited by the Sabine's Gull. Note the rain storm brewing in the background |
A couple of wheatears flew up and down on nearby fence posts, spending most of their time on the ground to save being buffeted off the posts by the wind that had put paid to most other birdlife apart from gulls, a single Curlew and a flock of around twenty or so Shelduck on the muddy foreshore of the estuary.We thoroughly checked every flying gull but all proved to be Black headed Gulls.
For a couple of hours we withstood the wind's constant and unwelcome attention and then noticed the sky changing from blue to an ominous grey, further out to sea. Mark consulted his weather app and it informed us that a heavy rain shower would arrive in nineteen minutes. Rather than take a risk of a soaking we decided to retreat to Burnham and check Apex Lake which we had been told might harbour the gull, as many other gulls hung around here, the park being a popular place to walk dogs and feed the ducks This would serve the triple purpose of hopefully finding the gull, avoiding the pending rain storm and getting something to eat.
Arriving at Apex Lake which was relatively easy to find we walked around half its perimeter to the main part of the lake but there was not a sign of our gull only Black headed Gulls and a lot of feral Greylag Geese.
At that moment a man behind us enquired
Are you looking for the gull?
There was no need to ask which one
Yes we replied.
I hoped he knew where it was but he was trying to be helpful by telling us it was usually where we had just come from, i.e. on the pools by the seawall and had only been seen in the park once.
Rather dejectedly we walked back to the car, stopping at a garage for some food and drink before retracing our route back to the seawall.
Once more we walked along the seawall towards the pools hoping that the gull by some miracle of chance had flown in during our absence.Of course it hadn't and nor were there any other birders present, all had apparently given the gull up as a bad job and who could blame them considering the weather.
As we got to the gate on the seawall where we had stood earlier to overlook the estuary and the pools the first spots of rain began. At first intermittent and inconsequential we hoped the shower might pass us to the west but the rain increased steadily as did the force of the wind. It rapidly became extremely unpleasant and I turned my back as wind driven heavy rain battered me and Mark from head to toe.We were soaked and how. Our exposed position gave no possibility of shelter so we had to endure the unpleasantness and hope the shower would ease which thankfully it did but not before the rain turned to full on hailstones pinging off our waterproofs. I was all for calling it quits as the rain ran down into my boots despite the waterproofing
No one else was foolhardy enough to be out here except myself and Mark but something told me to stick with it.There was still a chance. Mark was not so sure.
The rain and hail decreased and to much relief finally ceased but the respite would be temporary as we could see another shower brewing far out to sea. I scanned the estuary and river for the umpteenth time but found nothing.Mark went down to check the foreshore.For want of something to do I scanned the river again, noting a few distant Black headed Gulls flying upriver towards the mouth of the estuary.
One of these birds looked slightly smaller but crucially it had contrasting black and white triangles on its upperwings.
The Sabine's at last but very distant.
Mark was a fair way off by the shore. Would he hear me if I shouted to him into the wind. I took a deep breath and screamed with all my might
Mark. Maaaaaaaaaaaaark!!!!!
He heard me and gesticulating like a madman I pointed out to mid river
It was obvious what I was trying to tell him and he turned to scan the river without success and then ran back towards me.In the process of alerting him I had taken my eye off the gull and now could not re-locate it.With Mark by my side, try as we might we could not find it.Mark was mortified at having missed a lifer by seconds. I began to doubt myself. Had I really seen it or had I imagined it? The gull was distant after all, maybe it had been a trick of the light but no I had seen it. I stopped doubting myself.
A palpable sense of denouement descended as Mark had missed a chance of his lifer and now we could not refind it and might not see it again. So near and yet so far.
Don't worry it is out there somewhere I commiserated
But we all know that nothing can remedy missing a bird in this way.
For ten minutes we stood looking forlornly out over the wide river and beyond. Four teal landed on the water and yet more Black headed Gulls flew up towards the estuary, battling with the wind.
I looked towards the pools and.........................
Here it is Mark. Look, the Sabine's, its flying into the pools!
The distinctive pattern of black, white and grey triangles on its wings left no margin for doubt
Lifer! shouted Mark with a mixture of relief and triumph as the sun, bang on cue, came out.
Where the gull had been in the meantime no one knew but all that mattered now was that it was right in front of us.
We made haste down to the pools and stood quietly on the wet grass as the gull fed in the shallow water and strutted on the wet grass, totally unafraid of us and often approaching to within a few yards.It was an absolutely magical experience and especially rewarding after such a long and uncomfortable wait.
As usual I took far too many images but I was enjoying myself immensely and was not about to worry about such inconsequential matters.
Sabine's Gulls are small and to my mind delicate looking, almost tern like, especially in flight with a markedly dove like head and short black bill.The crown, and nape are grey brown as are the upperparts and wings, the feathers here neatly fringed black and buff creating an appealing scalloped pattern.Slim in body with long wing tips and a forked tail it swam in the shallow pools delicately picking prey from the water's surface.It remained for ten minutes and then flew but only a few hundred metres out onto the saltmarsh nearer the shore where it pottered around on the exposed mud.
We were still on our own with no one else joining us but I could see three birders away in the distance along the seawall towards Burnham looking for the gull but in the wrong direction.They would never hear me but I waved both arms in a futile hope they might see me and for once they did as they started walking towards us.By the time they got to us the gull had flown back to the pools to carry on feeding and they too got to be up close and personal with this beautiful bird.
We left them watching the gull as another rain storm formed out to sea and began tracking towards the shore.
For those who may be interested Sabine's Gull is named after Sir Edward Sabine, an astronomer, geophysicist and explorer who was part of Sir John Ross's first Arctic expedition and who discovered the gull at Melville Bay on the west coast of Greenland in 1818.
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