Wednesday 22 December 2010

Northern Gulls




It is probably relevant that the mystery gull below turned up during an influx of 'high latitude herring gulls'- a few examples here of presumed first winter argentatus which are often in juvenile plumage through a lot of the winter.

Beddington Mystery Gull December 2010


Monday 20 December 2010

BEDDINGTON ON ICE







Monday 13 December 2010

VARNA GULLS


A very interesting group of large gulls around Varna- attracted to the hot springs on the sea front and also there is a tip nearby with bathing pools.
Highlight was a possible Heuglin's. http://peteralfrey.blogspot.com/2010/12/hueglins.html A large long-winged and slate-grey mantled 3rd/4th winter gull which out here is as likely (or more likely) to be Heuglins as graellsii.
Also a fascinating assortment of Yellow-legged and Caspian Gulls with a bewildering array of variation. I have attempted to classify them into:
and
Also here is a great link to more Caspo's in eastern Europe including lots more photos from Dimiter Georgiev (from Neophron Tours) and Gabriel Martin taken at Varna earlier this year :

http://larusfuscus.blogspot.com/search/label/Larus%20cachinnans

Hueglin's ??


Caspian Gull








Yellow-legged Gull









Only God Knows :-)








Monday 6 December 2010

A Good Life






Spent today on Paul's eco-home farm (pic 1) discussing the ethics of composting toilets (pic 2). Then did a bit of sustainable farming (pic 3) followed by some sustainable shopping (pic 4) and ended up with some sustainable drinking.
More on Paul and Co's eco-experimental project here:

Sunday 5 December 2010

WnNKA !!!



I was reminded today that the local alphabet bears little similarlity with the alphabet I am more familiar with.
Pic 2- Great Grey Shrike victim
Pic 3- Farming and wildlife as it should be. A reminder that farmers dont have to be WnNkAs.

Mission Planning with the locals

Friday 3 December 2010

JACK SNIPE FLUSH

WINTER WONDERLAND X





Top to bottom: The Northern Lake, The Beddington troops, Me and my new knitted thermals, The canal.