Ruff day at The Scrubs

The last couple of days at The Scrubs have been pretty good when it comes to adding to our newly started 2013 year list.

Yesterday, after watching my personal first Bullfinches fly over (however, not the first for The Scrubs this year) I glimpsed a Med Gull flying past and managed to grab a rather rubbish record shot.

 Mediterranean Gull spiriting away

 Common Gull

The Med Gull was flying in loose association with a bunch of Common and Black-headed Gulls and was the first for the year on the patch. They are seen annually but usually have to be searched for. A little later, I was walking through the grassland when a Ruff flew low over my head, twice, as it circuited the area looking as though it was going to land. It eventually disappeared heading northwest.

Interestingly, a Ruff turned up at the nearby London Wetland Centre. Was it my bird?

 A party of Ruff in the Hula Valley, Israel

A Mediterranean Gull - photographed in Hartlepool.

Today, a Woodcock was flushed by an intrepid Scrubber - another year tick!