Thursday March 22

This morning dawned bright and sunny so I decided to visit Arrow Valley Lake. However, I had hardly got out of the car-park when I got a phone call alerting me to a family crisis. So I had to head to Birmingham to see if I could help.

Good deed done I returned to the lake by about 11.00am by which time cloud had rolled in and it was distinctly chilly. The walk around looked like it was going to be pretty uneventful and I was wondering whether I could compile a post based around a sighting of four Jays.

All this gloom changed when I had almost reached the southern end. I looked back and discovered a Kittiwake being harassed by Black-headed Gulls at the northern end. I sprinted (after a fashion) past bemused dog-walkers and strolling pensioners until I reached the dog-leg. Here I was relieved to see it was still present, and indeed was starting to look quite settled.

I took a lot of photos, of which these are my favourites:

Kittiwake

Just taking off

I have actually seen one here before, in January 2007 at the start of my previous short period when I thought might be a good idea to come here regularly. There are no other recent records, although that may not mean that others have not been seen and not reported to the Worcestershire recorder. I would surprised if these are the only sightings in the last twelve years.