The recent sighting in Spain of a Great Black-backed Gull with its tongue poking through a hole in its throat [ hence the title!] prompted me to investigate further. It appears that this is not a one off. Antonio Gutierrez sent me a selection of photos of different species with a similar condition. On Flicker theres a photo of a Glaucous Gull with the same thing. Paul Veron in Guernsey has also witnessed it. So what is going on? Is […]

Last Thursday [10th November 2011] saw the first of this winters birdwatching cruises on the Rivers Tamar and Lynher. Luckily the met office had got it wrong and instead of the forecast heavy rain it turned out to be a mild and sunny day with little wind and good visibility. As usual we headed upstream from Saltash, soon finding the first Avocets, unfortunately a bit distant near the confluence with the Tavy. Plenty of Grey Herons and Little Egrets were […]

We’ve had our first sighting in Spain! L:AH1 was the first bird I ringed on 13th June last year. It was seen on Carreiro Beach, San Xenxo, Pontevedra, NW Spain on 26th October 2011, over 938 km from Looe Island, where it was ringed. Unfortunately it had suffered an injury to its throat which caused its tongue to poke through.