Franklin's Gull

I'll fess up immediately, unfortunately there are no photographs of the Franklin's Gull. The bird that has been on Ibsley lake down at Blashford Pits near Ringwood has a habit of coming into roost late afternoon, long after any useful light levels have disappeared.

Last Friday evening was the end of a superb birding week, Shorelark at Reculver, Rough-legged Buzzard at Jevington and finally, as the light disappeared, the Franklin's Gull from the Tern hide at Blashford. I was happy with the ID and all the birders present in the hide bar one confirmed the sighting. Unfortunately the birder to dip was Martin. So we just had to have another go and today's weather was ideal. Halfway through the day I was getting the feeling that the birding Gods were stacking the odds against us. The favoured Tern hide was booked for a Gull roost watch between 3.30 and 4.30 and the alternative Goosander hide, where the bird had been seen from the previous two nights, was closed by the police due to an "incident". Finally we washed up in the Lapwing hide, halfway across to the other side of the lake, the upshot was that with some help, everyone present got some superb and close views of a pretty handsome gull.

On our way down to Blashford we took a detour into the New Forest where the bird activity was distinctly quiet, However, it was good to catch up with a well known Tawny Owl, truly living up to its name, being almost the same colour as the autumn leaves on the trees.

 

With few photo opportunities I had to resort to fungi for blog material, these Lilac Bonnets??? didn't disappoint, looking just right in more autumn colour. No doubt Dawn and Jim will put me right on ID. If you want to see superb fungi photos then take a peek here, just stunning.

 

By the way, if you really want to see a Franklin's Gull then try Martin's Blog

 

I revisited the photographs of the Rough-legged Buzzard, all taken at long range but the best I could manage of a bird that is well worth recording.