Yellow-legged Gull on Canoe Lake.

Monday 16th January 2023.

The adult Yellow-legged Gull on Canoe Lake this morning.

I had to take a trip into ‘town’ late this morning, but before that, I remembered what Andy said about the adult Yellow-legged Gull on Canoe Lake, of which he ‘year-ticked’ the other day and so I thought before I make my way to the grim shops in Portsmouth City Centre, I take a drive down to Canoe Lake to see if the bird was there. The weather looked a bit indifferent at the time with heavy overcast skies and always the threat of rain and it certainly has gotten a lot colder with a north-westerly blowing.

Above and below, the adult Yellow-legged Gull.

Parking up on Eastern Parade, I could see there were quite a few large Gulls resting on the large White Swan boats and it didn't take too long to pick out the 4th winter adult Yellow-legged Gull standing on one of the boats preening itself. The yellow legs and darker mantle could clearly be seen as I took a few photos of the bird, but it was another addition to my year list and now I was wondering if the Little Owls would be showing this morning? I had a check of all the other large Gulls present, but all seemed to be juvenile Herring Gulls and no Caspian Gulls hiding among them!

Above, a lone Med Gull flying into the harbour entrance with a couple of Cormorants and a Black-headed Gull below it. Below, two of the four Stock Doves present near the Little Owl site.

The tide was low within the Solent, but there were no Sanderling to be seen on the shoreline on Eastney Beach. The wind here was simply freezing and as I forgot to bring my warm hat along, my ears took some severe punishment from the biting wind. The sea, however, was dead calm, but no Divers or Auks to be seen despite a good search for both species. There were three Cormorants on the hunt together near the harbour entrance and one looked as though it had caught something that consequently attracted a lot of larger Gulls. I did see a single adult Mediterranean Gull flying into the harbour entrance and continuing on south, but little else.

The Gulls were getting excited after one of the Cormorants had caught a fish near the Harbour entrance.

I bumped into another birder who I recognised and after a quick discussion, he told me the Little Owls was a ‘no show’. Bugger! I had to look for myself and sure enough, the holes in the wall of the building were empty. Apparently, one had been seen on Friday morning, so maybe that's the best time to search for them? For compensation, the regular Stock Doves were present with four birds resting on the wall and keeping out of the strong cold wind. Nothing much else to report here as I gave the sea a good scan again and obviously too cold for the Nudists today, thankfully! 

Above and below, now the Starlings have taken a liking to the Fatballs in my garden as well as the House Sparrows. I have started putting apples out for the birds, hoping a wintering Blackcap might come into the garden.