Little Gull, adult hawking for insects over Alston No.#1 reservoir CLICK IMAGES FOR LIGHTBOX — *Little Gull, adult hawking for insects over Alston No.#1 reservoir* **CLICK IMAGES FOR LIGHTBOX**

GULLS WERE THE MAIN FEATURE OF A BRIGHT AND SUNNY SPRING DAY and I saw seven species within 5km of Ribchester! The highlights being the lovely adult Little Gull at Alston, found by Gavin Thomas and a second calendar year Iceland Gull that flew east at Red Bank at 1046 (a new patch bird for me, identified later from photos with help from Pete Morris, Gavin Thomas and Bill Aspin). There were at least three adult Mediterranean Gulls in the Red Bank area today, no doubt attracted by a combination of slurry spreading and a huge insect emergence on the river. A Peregrine was in the Ribchester area this morning. Unfortunately it was a bit of a mess and showed some ‘non-physiological’ feather damage, which is being scrutinised. A Reed Bunting flew north during a small movement of Meadow Pipits at Red Bank - the first on the Ribchester patch this year.

It was great to see around 60 Sand Martins too, excavating nest burrows and getting back to normal after the Arctic weather last week. There was only a handful of swallows today though. Buzzards were again well into double figures and included one kettle of 8 birds mixed with gulls at Red Bank, an awesome sight!

At Alston there were also two Black-tailed Godwits, two Redshank, three Little Ringed Plovers and a drake Gadwall of note on a splendid day on the local patch that resulted in 63 species. Other stats are now Ribchester 2021 (88) and all time (116), Ribchester April 2021 (74) & Ribchester April all time (82), making April the most productive month of the year.

*Iceland Gull (second calendar year) heading east at Red Bank, Ribchester*

*Mediterranean Gull, breeding plumage adult at Red Bank, Ribchester*

*Little Gull and Black-headed Gull, Alston*

*Little and Black-headed Gulls, look at that size difference!*

*Peregrine (second calendar year), maybe the bird which has been in the area on and off all winter?*

*Peregrine, showing worrying feather damage, watch this space for an analysis soon.*

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*One of two Purple Sandpipers on the Lighthouse Point jetty, Daytona Beach Shores*

PURPLE SANDPIPERS WINTER FAR TO THE SOUTH ON THE USA'S ATLANTIC COAST. Following a tip from Andy Wraithmell early morning saw me at Lighthouse Park at the southern end of Daytona Beach Shores. Even though it was also a new ABA area bird for me I need no excuse to look for Purple Sandpipers, another one of my favourites! Following heavy overnight rain the rocks of the jetty were suicidally treacherous so I had to wait until the sandpipers eventually worked their way towards the landward end of the jetty, in the company of Ruddy Turnstones. Happily they were incredibly tame and I was even able to approach them from the beach as they fed at the water's edge. Several bottle-nosed dolphins were feeding in the channel of the Halifax River, attracting numerous Brown Pelicans and Laughing Gulls to join their frenzy. A Palm Warbler hunted insects on the rocks of the jetty and the fishermen there trying in vain to catch something complained about the strength of the tidal race, which makes their task very difficult. From here I headed north to the pretty Anastasia State Park at St Augustine. Very similar to Little Talbot Island it is an area of protected dunes and foreshore stretching for miles. Of note here were 13 Semi-palmated Plovers seven Black-bellied Plovers, a handful of willets and the scattered beach roosts of gulls and terns included around 300 herring gulls.

*A willet, presumably western, wades belly deep in the surf at Anastasia SP*

Returning south I stopped at Daytona Beach Shores for the gull 'fly in', parking at Frank Rendon Park. I had seen it before but this evening's spectacle was even more amazing at high tide the gulls were squeezing on the narrow stretch of beach and being flushed constantly by millions of beach walkers. Some would take care to give the gulls some room but others delighted in flushing them deliberately. Sifting through the thousands of Laughing and Ring-billed, a couple of hundred herring gulls and a few Royal Terns I did manage to find an Iceland Gull (roughly behind the Best Western Plus Hotel), five Lesser Black-backeds and two Great Black-backeds.

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