30th of April: Gulls on eggs

Yes, as the post title suggests, we have Black-headed Gulls on eggs (and no, it's not rhyming slang for anything else!). We made a brief venture into the gull colony to look for evidence of predation. This was done at low tide to reduce disturbance to birds and was permited by our licence. We found minimal predation, just a couple of eggs that had been predated by larger gulls, and Matt was able to carefully take a couple of photographs...

How many nests can you spot in the picture on the left?

Last night's Sandwich Tern roost count exceeded 4,000. Most of the terns seem to be travelling some distance away from the Point to forage during the day, with only a small number counted during WeBS, then returning in the evening to roost. We will breathe a sigh of relief when they finally settle down and nest.

Whilst out and about we came across a dead Sandwich Tern that had been ringed. Being able to examine the bird closely, the slight pink colour on its breast was visible. We have sent off the ring combination to the BTO and will post the details on the blog when we hear back. If you find any dead birds with rings on, please send in the the combination to the BTO - it is important that ringing recoveries are reported as it helps the understanding of bird populations, which is important for their conservation.

The first Little Terns were seen on the 26th, with display flights witnessed today. Otherwise, things have been very quiet over the last few days with very few notable migrant sightings... yesterday's highlight was a Goldcrest that came in off the sea into a suaeda bush in the afternoon.

Our most recent low tide seal count was conducted on Saturday and recorded 512 Grey Seals and 135 Common.

Today Paul found this Dog-violet flowering in the garden behind the Lifeboat House. Soon the Heath Dog-violets will also be blooming, they are the food-plant of Dark Green Fritillary caterpillars. Paul also spotted the first Green Hairstreak of the year on Friary Hills whilst visiting our Norfolk Coast property office on the mainland.

Out on the dunes Matt and I noticed some interesting sand formations:

Tomorrow the month of May begins, we hope it will bring more sunshine, lots of nests and lots of migrants!

- Ajay