Staring out to sea

I called in to see my Dad, just to make sure he was OK - he is coping exceptionally well under the circumstances; friends and family close by. I dropped him off at church, for the "coffee club" then drove across to Deal to spend a bit of time on my own. I walked the seawall from Deal Rowing Club to the pier, where I spent around half an hour surveying the sea. A few auks were moving south, with others dotted around the surface - all those I could confidently id were Guillemots. 4 Great Crested Grebes were just to the north and the wintering Scoter flock was present, some 100m+ off the end of the pier - just too far away to pick out anything unusual amidst their ranks using my binoculars. From what I could make out the vast majority were female/imm Common Scoters. 



The majority of the flock seemed to consist of female/immature type Common Scoters

I wandered back towards the car, locating a NTGG C-R Herring Gull, amidst a loafing group of birds on the beach. Any chance of a photo quickly dashed when a dog-walker flushed the entire flock. Fortunately I was able to follow the bird in my bins and relocate it on an adjacent roof-top. A few record images allowed me to obtain the code, thus send the sighting to Paul Roper - the project leader.


A North Thames Gull Group C-R Herring Gull - ring code A1BT

I would like to finish by saying a massive thank-you to all the people who have contacted my Dad, my brothers, my kids - Benno and Sarah and myself with messages of condolence. The support is so very welcome and completely overwhelming - we are all truly humbled by these gestures. Cheers!



Paul Roper (NTGG) has forwarded the info/map for this bird.
Ringed as a 3rd CY on 25.02.2012 at Pitsea Landfill Site, Essex
Reported from Deal 15.04.2012 & Sandwich Bay (Restharrow Scrape) 17.04.2012
My sighting is the only other record; so far!