Lifebirds #101-105 - England Days 3-6
Four days, four English cities, and five lifebirds. Wow! We saw some sights as well. But five lifebirds, including a gull, a pigeon, and a dove that’s spreading across North America like a weed. All this without even hiring a guide!
Sights? Yes we did see some in Brighton, Stratford-upon-Avon, Cambridge, and Bath. See Brighton and Stratford and then Cambridge and Bath for words and photos, and for the gushing of a California-Minnesota Yankee in the land of grass tennis courts. What’s more, these posts are almost entirely birdless.
The fab five
We saw Herring Gulls in Brighton, though photos of these beautiful white birds do not exist. But, we saw and photographed mysterious “brown spotted” gulls in Bath. We asked our narrowboat pilot what they were and he confidently answered “brown gulls.” They weren’t. Only after returning from our vacation were we able to identify them as immature Herring Gulls.[1] We were immature birders.
Mute Swans were all over the river in Stratford. Click on the photo above and take a squint at the Avon’s far bank. These proverbially handsome birds were undoubtedly hanging around for handouts from smitten bardolaters, but they weren’t captives.
The Wood Pigeons were delightfully rubenesque birds, and the Eurasian Collared Doves were where they belong, at least. Both species were found on a trail that follows the River Cam along “the backs” of several of the University’s most famous colleges.
Our narrowboat pilot was more helpful with the Peregrine Falcon than he was with the gulls. He knew of the nest and pointed it out to us as we floated by it on the River Avon (not that River Avon). The best sighting in Bath was of a Great Cormorant swimming alongside our boat on the river, not more than ten feet away and for a distance of maybe 100 yards!
♦ There is at least one “Easter egg” to be found in the photo album. ♦
| Species | Herring Gull / Larus argentatus |
| Where | UK-ENG-City of Brighton |
| When | Jul 21 2006 |
| Species | Mute Swan / Cygnus olor |
| Where | UK-ENG-City of Stratford-upon-Avon |
| When | Jul 22 2006 |
| Species | Common Wood Pigeon / Columba palumbus |
| Species | Eurasian Collared-Dove / Streptopelia decaocto |
| Where | UK-ENG-City of Cambridge |
| When | Jul 23 2006 |
| Species | Peregrine Falcon / Falco peregrinus |
| Where | UK-ENG-City of Bath |
| When | Jul 24 2006 |
| With | Joann |
| Numbers | 101-105 |
See lifebird index.
| TITLE |
| England Day 1 – London’s Burning |
| Lifebirds #87-88 – England Day 1 |
| England Day 2 – Take me to the River |
| Lifebirds #89-100 – England Day 2 |
| England Day 3 – Brighton Sunny |
| England Day 4 – Sweet Swans of Avon |
| England Days 5-6 – Cambridge and Bath |
| Lifebirds #101-105 – England Days 3-6 |
| England Days 7-8 – Parks and the Tower |
| Lifebirds #106-115 – England Day 7: MBS! |
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Notes
- Gulls, with their various plumage “cycles,” are notoriously difficult to identify. Joann and I were very inexperienced birders at the time and profoundly ignorant in the ways of gullology. Now we are much more experienced birders and only substantially ignorant in the dark arts of gull identification. [^]
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