28th Dec 1988

Hundreds of yellow-legged herring gulls roost on the rocks a few metres offshore. Their leg colour actually ranges light to dark yellow with some peachy ones in between. A few birds have pink legs: these were probably British or French birds wintering here in warmer climes.

In comparing the two types, we think some of the dark yellow-legged ones had very slightly darker grey backs, other­wise there seemed no obvious differences. This was at odds with the books, which tell us that the Iberian and Med­iterranean birds should be larger and darker than British ones. Something is dif­ferent about them though, perhaps because their heads do not have much grey streaking in winter, and they have a dark orange or red eye ring instead of the yellow or paler orange of the 'Bri­tish' herring gull, so the eye looks more dis­tinct.

Of the twenty or so birds loafing on a large rock, one stands on a boulder and called several times, sounding like a 'cat's chorus'. Another bird lands nearby on the same boulder. The first bird stares at its own feet; the second bird started a 'long call', the first bird joins in then chases the second bird away. This perform­ance is repeated twice more.

As well as more very dark black redstarts, there are rock buntings on the rocks, the orange of their belly blending in well with the orange lichens. Turnstones are common and there are two purple sandpipers. Dunlin, oyster­catcher and whimbrel passed by. The rubbish by the road attracts flies, and stonechats are flying out from favourite perches to catch them.

We have been looking for fan‑tailed warblers since the west coast of France but were told that a succession of bad winters had almost wiped them out there. Here there are at least two, so dis­tinctive in jizz as to be easily recognised. They have a hesitant flight pattern with the body held at an angle and the largish tail held almost vert­ically below the body ‑ it looks quite a struggle for them to stay airborne. They quickly disap­pear into the vegetation, but we see them later perched out on a bush, flicking their tails and telling us 'zit‑zit'. Like the stonechats they are flying out to catch insects on the wing.

Although the field guide says that fan‑tails inhabit marshes and crops, these birds are in gorse scrub along the coast, as are wrens, robins, serins, dartford warblers and chiff­chaffs, the last appar­ently stalking flies along the old stone walls.

There were a few plants in flower, mostly compos­itae and legumes.