206/366 Fledging

24 Friday Jul 2020

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, gull chick learning to fly, gull chicks, Lesser black-backed gull, urban gull nest

From an initial count of three chicks, the local Lesser black-backed gulls nesting amongst a neighbour’s chimney pots have managed to raise one to fledging. I’ve been watching it practising its flying skills over recent days and, finally this morning, it has left the shelter of its nest site.

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Though it was pottering around the rooftops for a while, I can no longer see the chick. Now follows the dangerous time for this fledgling of learning to find its own food, finding shelter against bad weather, escaping domestic cats and dogs in the various neighbours’ gardens, and avoiding cars on roads…. Good luck, little one!

200724 lbb chick (18)

172/366 Chicks

20 Saturday Jun 2020

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 3 Comments

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gull chicks, gulls nesting amongst chimney pots, Lesser black-backed gull, urban gull nest

The neighbourhood Lesser black-backed gulls, presumably the same pair as last year, have bred again, amongst the chimney pots of a house over the back lane from me. I first noticed them checking out their previous nesting spot a couple of months ago – the photo below was taken on 22 March, and there was a lot of mating activity in early May (see Bonding, 4 May).

200620 1 LBB gulls 22March

The female started sitting in mid May, and I spotted the first chick on 12 June.

200620 2 chicks 12June

Now there are three chicks, the same number as this pair started off with last year, though they only managed to fledge one. I’ll keep you updated on this year’s success (or failure) rate. Fingers crossed!

200620 3 chicks 17June

125/366 Bonding

04 Monday May 2020

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, spring

≈ 3 Comments

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, gulls mating, Lesser black-backed gull

During the past couple of weeks, it’s been fascinating to watch two Lesser black-backed gulls – presumably, the same two who nested amongst a group of neighbouring chimney pots last year – renewing their pair bonds and practising their seduction techniques. The process goes a bit like this …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (1)

They circle each other, beaks thrust towards the sky in unison, and there’s some low bird-speak (as opposed to gull shrieking) …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (2)

One bird (the female, I think) begs the other for food, as if it is a chick, and the second bird regurgitates a niblet of food …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (3)

There’s more circling and beak thrusting and chatter …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (4)

Finally, the males jumps on the back of the female, though it takes them a couple of minutes to spread their wings, tails, feathers to reach the right angle to achieve copulation …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (5)

And this happens more than once, the male remaining on the female’s back until they’ve copulated three times during this one session …

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (6)

Once finished, he jumps off, she puts her head down and waggles her rear end, and there is more low chatter, and a little beak bumping, before they both fly off.

200504 lesser black-backed gulls (7)

1/366 And we’re off!

01 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, winter

≈ 1 Comment

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birding, birdwatching, Black redstart, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Goosander, Lesser black-backed gull, Turnstone

And so another year, another decade has kicked off, and I started as I mean to go on, with an 8-mile walk around Cardiff Bay, immersing myself in the local wildlife. I counted 43 species of birds, found 28 species of wildflowers in bloom (more on them tomorrow), and spotted 1 moth. I finally met someone I’ve ‘known’ on Twitter for ages, and bumped into 2 fellow birders. The weather may have been shite (gloomy, partly foggy, partly low cloud, sometimes drizzle) but it was a mighty fine way to jump start a new year.

My good camera didn’t come out often as it doesn’t like the wet and the photos I did take are very grainy due to the poor light, but I’ll include a couple anyway.

This male Goosander was posing nicely – wish I could’ve done him justice

200101 3 turnstones

There were 14 Turnstones along the Ely embankment today, 7 of which ventured up on to the pavement – never seen that before. Lingered watching for quite a while …

For those who like lists, the birds were: Robin, Lesser black-backed gull, Feral pigeon, Starling, Great tit, Blackbird, House sparrow, Woodpigeon, Herring gull, Carrion crow, Dunnock, Blue tit, Long-tailed tit, Magpie, Cormorant, Coot, Great-crested grebe, Mallard, Goosander, Grey wagtail, Turnstone, Collared dove, Mute swan, Redshank, Tufted duck, Wren, Blackcap, Black redstart, Moorhen, Pied wagtail, Raven, Goldfinch, Song thrush, Little grebe, Linnet, Reed bunting, Cetti’s warbler, Shoveler, Sparrowhawk. Pochard, Grey heron, Meadow pipit, and Jackdaw.

A record shot of the Black redstart

A bit gory, sorry, but a reminder that it’s a ‘bird eat bird’ world out there! Not sure what the victim was

184a/365 The Big Yin lives!

03 Wednesday Jul 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, gull chicks, Lesser black-backed gull, urban gull nest

190703 LBB gull chick

The best news! The biggest of the three Lesser black-backed gull chicks is still alive. It must’ve fallen off the roof. I had searched the back of the house with my bins and found nothing and couldn’t hear anything, but now it’s on the roof of the lean-to attached to the back of the house. It’s moving around just fine and a parent has been down to feed it. I suspect it may have fallen into the front garden (a miracle it survived the tumble), the home owners have found it, and moved it around the back and on to the roof so it could be seen by its parents. Fingers crossed!

184/365 Sad news

03 Wednesday Jul 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, gull chicks, Lesser black-backed gull, urban gull nest

I am the bearer of sad tidings today. All three of the Lesser black-backed gull chicks, who were living amongst the chimney pots across the back lane, have perished. I think one died a week or so ago, probably because it was the runt of the brood and was out-competed for food by its two older siblings. I’m not sure what happened to the other two – one was definitely much larger and more dominant than the other, so perhaps the smaller of the remaining two also died from starvation. I noticed the third chick had disappeared late yesterday afternoon, when I spotted a couple of the local Jackdaws inspecting the nest site – I don’t think they would’ve killed the chick, as it was bigger than them, and they seemed merely to be picking through the nest materials.

190703 jackdaws

The female Lesser black-backed soon chased them off and has spent quite a bit of time sitting on the chimney pots, peering at the nest as if looking for the chick(s). She has also been staying nearby, as if she expects them to reappear and she’s been calling for them, which has been very sad to hear.

190703 lesser black-backed gull (2)

There have been many other gulls in the area, some of whom have been taking an interest in the nest. Several times I’ve heard lots of screeching and watched while the parents chased off the interlopers. I presume that, while the parents were out looking for food, either those gulls or some other predator has carried off the remaining two chicks. ‘Tis the sad reality of the natural world.

190703 lesser black-backed gull (1)

170/365 Growing fast

19 Wednesday Jun 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature

≈ 3 Comments

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#365DaysWild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, gull chicks, gull nest among chimney pots, Lesser black-backed gull, urban gull nest

It’s time for an update on the Lesser black-backed gulls who are rearing their brood among the chimney pots on a house in the next street to mine.

190619 lesser black-backed gull chicks (1)

First off, though I thought initially that there were only two, there are, in fact, three chicks, though one is significantly bigger than the other two and much more aggressive when it comes to demanding food from its parents.

190619 lesser black-backed gull chicks (2)

I was a little worried that all the recent rain might have caused them problems as the parents seem to leave them on their own a lot but they all look reasonably healthy so far (they’re at least two weeks old now).

190619 lesser black-backed gull

It must take a lot of effort from the parents to keep their hunger satisfied – if it ever is. I spotted one of the parents with a long bit of fish – young eel? – hanging out of its mouth the other day. I bet that soon got gobbled up when it was later regurgitated. Another progress report soon!

190619 lesser black-backed gull chicks (3)

156/365 The eggs have hatched!

05 Wednesday Jun 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature

≈ 5 Comments

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#365DaysWild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, chicks on rooftop, gull chicks, Lesser black-backed gull, urban gull chicks

Hearty congratulations to Mr and Mrs Lesser black-backed gull, who are now the proud parents of two chicks – at least, I can only see two – there may be more. You might remember that I posted about them nest-building back on 26 April and then again, on 10 May, to say I’d noticed they were now sitting full-time on the nest. Fingers crossed that the chicks flourish and don’t fall out from amongst the chimney pots. I will post another update in a week or so.

190605 LBB chicks

130/365 Nesting update

10 Friday May 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature

≈ 1 Comment

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#365DaysWild, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Lesser black-backed gull, nesting gull, urban gull nest

While I’ve been away in Kent, the Lesser black-backed gulls that are nesting on a rooftop behind my flat have been busy and one of them is now sitting continuously on the nest, which I assume means they have eggs.

190510 LBB nesting (2)

I’ve just been reading that their average clutch is 3-4 eggs, and both female and male take turns at sitting on the nest. The incubation period takes around 30 days so, if the eggs are viable and they continue with their parental duties, we should expect to sit some chicks poking their heads up in early June. Fingers crossed!

It’s a bit hard to see the sitting bird so I cropped in on this shot to make it clearer

116/365 Among the chimney pots

26 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, spring

≈ 9 Comments

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, gull nesting among chimney pots, Lesser black-backed gull, nest building, nesting, urban gull nest

So this is what all yesterday’s gull screeching was about!
Mr Lesser black-backed gull was letting the neighbourhood know he had arrived and this was his territory so look out any other gull couples who thought they’d try to muscle in. And today Mr LBB and his mate were getting down to the serious business of nest building amongst the chimney pots across the back lane from my flat – or, at least, Ms LBB was – he just stood watching her do all the work. I do hope the nest goes ahead – what a thrill it would be to watch from my bedroom window as they raise their chicks!

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