So Where Do You Go To Photograph Mediterranean Gulls?............Well, Southend Pier Of Course!!

3rd January 2019

Time for our biennial visit to Southend Pier to count and photograph the Mediterranean Gulls. I was bracing myself for an above inflation price increase in line with the national railways, but the return journey to the end of the pier was still just £2-60, an absolute bargain. Today the carriages were drawn by the locomotive Sir John Betjeman.

On the jetty at the far end of the pier the resident flock of Turnstones were fast asleep, with just one or two individuals running around your feet looking for food.

There was a lot of coming and going amongst the Mediterranean Gulls making counting difficult, but I did eventually manage a count of 29 individuals of all three plumages. The 1st Winter birds were very conspicuous with considerable amounts of brown on the wings and tail and the grey panels on the upper wings evident in flight.

There was also a number of 2nd Winter birds present, with a more orangey bill and just a few black flecks on the primaries, but somehow I only managed to photograph one individual.

As usual, the adult birds were stunning in their all-white attire.

This individual was even starting to get its black cap for the breeding season.

But the unexpected star of the show today was the Golden Plover that was waiting to greet us on the platform at the far end of the pier. As we approached I could a small wader scurrying round and asumed it was one of the numerous Turnstones. However, as we got closer I realised it was of a more uniform colour as opposed to the contrast of a Turnstone.

We let the other passengers get off the train and leave the platform before getting a little closer for some photographs. In the end I got within about five yards, which just about allowed me to get it all in.

Well, what a successful morning, and now off to Wallasea Island to try our luck with some Short-eared Owls.