garden news

News from the garden for this week
I've seen a few good fly-overs, including one garden tick, and seen a lot of new insects with my increased interest in them...

more on the Iceland Gull

ICE ICE ICE BABY, were there one, two or three Iceland Gulls in Sussex today?

new type of layout

I felt a bit like experimenting. Now, this may completely ruin my blog, but I hardly get any readers anyway so what the hell.

well basically, this new experimental thing involves me making a whole load of blogs and 'lumping' them together into one. Much like Chiffchaffs are lumped into one species, or how some movie recently has been lumped with the burden of Russel Brand (I actually like him, I just needed a metaphor you understand).

These blogs will all from my 'super-blog'. And using a very overly complicated piece of code-cracking nuclear formula written in the DNA of a slug, I reckon I could get one counter that would count hits for all of them despite them being different URL's. But that's all getting too far ahead.

This blog will still have a purpose. This'll be where I spew out links to all my various out-pages with the actual writing and pictures on them. They are the secondary pages, and this blog might just serve as a neat little homepage. Effectively, I think I can try and create a website, using blogger.

if all the technical jargon isn't really your thing, and you don't have a clue what I'm on about, just keep visiting and go with the flow, you'll catch on to whatever I seem to be planning soon enough...

so here's my first bit of spewing out links...

• on my birds page is (drumroll please)... the effectively titled and incredibly corny 'WHAT AN ICE DAY'. Today I managed to jam a few good birds locally, including Bar-tailed Godwit, Arctic Skua and the piece in my title, a gorgeous ICELAND GULL.

• I've put on my insect page 'Bedroom Moths'. For a newbie like me almost any moth I see is a 'lifer'. Even one's attracted to the light in my bedroom!

• and finally on my 'other wildlife' page, I have a 20 second video clip of a Grey Seal from today that was present in the Cuckmere. Imaginatively dubbed 'GREY SEAL IN THE CUCKMERE'

well that's enough for tonight, my tiny number of readers. Hopefully you'll enjoy the new style of presentation, especially once there is some substance to fill it all up with.

all the worst,

Liam

the top 10 sussex birding specialities...

with little else to write about, I've gone back to the good old blogging of whatever thoughts cross my brain as I sit here bored...

so what are the 10 best 'speciality' birds to see in Sussex? birds that are easier to see in our little county than elsewhere?

Obviously, many counties will have a lot of specialities. Norfolk, Shetland, Cornwall, Devon. All of them have countless good birds you might go there specifically to see. Sussex isn't so renowned for it's good birds. A very wide variety is possible, but most have far easier locations to see them. It's tough to really justify calling a lot of our birds Sussex specialities, but we have a few of them. Some very good ones too.

These include;


10- European Nightjar
South-east England is the Nightjar's major concentration in this country, and Sussex can certainly boast a good proportion of them. There are two major stongholds, Ashdown Forest and the West Sussex Heaths (Ambersham, Lavington and Iping Commons, etc). The most recent sussex bird report (2009) estimates 34 territories in the former and 34 in the latter. There is also a small concentration around Horsham, of perhaps 5-10 territories, and a handful of territories scattered accross the rest of the county (last year Dad and I found at least two churring males at a site in the Low Weald, and there is another Woodland nearby which has held a few pairs in the past) This overall makes c80 territories in Sussex, one of the healthiest populations of any county in Britain.

9-Cattle Egret
Though numbers in the last two years have been somewhat down, in the few years previously Sussex was arguably the best spot in the country for this species. The Ouse Valley between Piddinhoe and Lewes had records in four consecutive years from 2005-2008, including eight together in 2006 and three in 2008. During 2006-08, 35 were seen in the county, with atleast 47 overall in the noughties. In 2008, 17 were seen! I think this means we in Sussex can make a fairly good claim at the premier county to see Cattle Egrets. However, there has been a decrease recently. just four were seen in 2009, and perhaps just one in 2010.However, I found this 2010 individual, (in the Ouse Valley yet again!) which means this species will remain very close to my heart.

8-Slavonian Grebe
In most of the county, a very scarce spring migrant and winter visitor. But around the Selsey peninsula, there is a remarkable concentration. Upwards of 50 can be seen, on of the highest concentrations in the country. A good reason I think to include it here!

7-Cetti's Warbler
Being on the South Coast, Sussex will obviously have a stronghold of this scarce species. In areas around Rye, Pett and Chichester, there are very strong populations. There is also a healthy number present in the Ouse, with a few in the other river valleys and marshes.
With two hard winters, the species population has crashed, but small numbers are still present in the Ouse, Rye Bay and at Thorney Island (Chichester). If these populations hang on, they could be vital for retaining this species population in the British Isles.

6-Corn Bunting
The flock wintering in the Ouse Valley south of Lewes must be one of the biggest in the country. In 2009, the peak was apparently 160, and I saw at least 250 in Jan 2008. The last two years have seen a slight decline, with a peak of 73 in 2010/11.
There is also a healthy breeding popluation. 5-10 pairs breed on the downs above Seaford, with other populations on various areas all around the South Downs, and on the coastal plains around Rye and Chichester probably amounting to 100-200 pairs atleast, potentially a very important population nationally.

5-Mediterranean Gull
the 100+ pairs in the Rye area (90+ at Rye Harbour and 10-20 at Pett Level) are one of the largest populations in the country. In 2009, a remarkable 312 were seen on the Downs near Funtington in July, presumably post-breeding dispersal. Several hundred are also seen in the spring passing up the channel from Sussex seawatching hotspots.

4-Nightingale
I would estimate about 200 pairs breed in Sussex every year. Go into almost any woodland in the weald and you are guranteed to hear the song, between mid-April and early June. In Abbot's Wood, a local hotspot, at least nine males were in song last year. about 10 males can be found on Pulborough Brooks RSPB, and in a survey of the Henfield area in 2009, at least 29 were heard singing! Among all the counties in Southern England, it is fair to say Sussex has one of the most widespread distributions of this delightful songster.

3-Dark-bellied Brent Goose
5-15,000 winter every year in Chichester and Pagham Harbours, moving between these two sites and others in the Solent. This is not only the second largest population in the UK for this race, holding up to 10% of the total, but also an internationally important wintering site for the Dark-bellied Brent, holding upwards of 1% of the entire population.
This huge flock can also act like a magnet for other rare branta geese. a Red-breasted Goose first appeared at Chciehster Harbour in 2007, re-appearing in 2008 and 2009. One was also seen with Brent Geese at Pagham in the winters of 1985/86 and 86/87. Black Brant has been an annual winter visitor to the two harbour for atleast 15 years now, with hybird young also appearing, proving the bird has travelled with our Brents and bred in the high arctic. Pale-bellied Brent, a very scarce bird in Sussex, is also annual in these flocks.
At seawatching sites further east (especially Splash Point) several thousand are seen each spring passing up-channel, many presumably from their wintering area further west in the county.

2-Black-legged Kittiwake
the several hundred pairs breeding at Splash Point (Seaford) are the largest colony for miles around. In fact the largest colony all along the coast going east until you meet Bempton Cliffs, and going west until you find the Isle of Portland. They are a mini-oasis on the South-east coast. While scattered pairs breed elsewhere on cliffs, this colony is one of the most important in the country.

1-Pomarine Skua
The Shetland Isles tend to get the most attention as an area to see these beautiful birds on spring passage. But with South-east winds, the sussex coast can get hundreds, mostly in Late-April/Early May. Splash Point, once again, is the best area to see them, though they can be seen all down the coast, especially at known seawatching vantage points like Selsey Bill, Worthing and Brighton Marina.
The best year on record was 2008, when an exceptional 325 were seen at Splash Point during the spring, and a minimum of 369 overall in the county. This included 154 over the three days from 4-6 May at Splash Point.
Perhaps the reason Pomarine Skuas are so well celebrated at Splash Point may even tie in with number two in my list. Like all Skua's they are prone to a bit of mobbing, and the Kittiwake colony here is like an all you can eat buffet! Sometimes brilliant views can be obtained as they chase Kittiwakes this way and that just offshore, trying to get them to regurgitate views. And what better opportunity is there to admire how truly beautiful they are! The tail-spoons, the creamy brest, the elegant, falcon like flight and the stocky appearance, making them look like figher jets zipping over the sea. There is only one word to describe the Pomarine Skua. Bird porn! And the fact we get them in such huge numbers here makes them a worthy number one on this list!



all photos are my own. Just in case you're wondering why they are so bad...

light-hearted all taxa listing in great company

Going out with the Sussex Wildlife Trust today was a great deal of fun. As part of the Youth Council I get to do some pretty awesome stuff. Today was a 'Bioblitz' day in Stanmer Park, where we attempted to record as many species as possible in a little area members of the Youth Rangers (a different part of the wildlife trust altogether), manage for wildlife. It was a great day, and hopefully a predecessor to doing something like this on a larger scale for members of the public. Thanks to Renzo Spano, Dave Barker, Daniel Meads and everyone else for making it so enjoyable.

Our target, not knowing wuite what to expect, was 50 species, including all taxa. we surpassed that easily and we weren't even trying very hard! However, I learn a lot from the people there, and it was good fun being able to have a go at identifying some tricky species I wouldn't have attempted otherwise. I also probably showed off my smart-arse knowledge of birds a little bit too much!

Plant-wise, I managed to, after quite a lot of detective work, identify one of the plants as Cotton Thistle. Now I know what it is, I'm sure I'll be seeing it everywhere I go! We also saw about 20 other plant species overall, without too much effort on our behalf.

The pond was full of wonders, including Frog and Toad Tadpoles, the larvae of a Broad-bodied Chaser, Whirlygig Beetles, Smooth Newts, a Damselfly Nymph and perhaps, best of all, a Smooth Newt Tadpole. I was rather surprised as I have only ever seen Newtlets before, never a newt in this early stage of metamorphis. Though this is probably more through lack of looking than anything else!

Around the pond were a few Large Red Damselflies, and butterflies included Orange-tip, Small and Large Whites and Small Tortoiseshell. I saw Buff-tailed and Red-rumped Bumble-bees, and, after a great amount of effort, caught one of the smaller bees too. In the book this was shown as Andrena Haemorrhoa, it didn't give it's english name. I had to wait until I got home to find out it is also called the EARLY MINING BEE. I'm not sure why that is in capitals as they are pretty common, but it was the first time I have ever identified one of these smaller bees on my own and I'm rather proud! I also managed to photograph and identify a Common Carpet-moth.

Birdwise there wasn't too much to see. Willow warbler and Jay were the best birds, while Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Goldcrest were all heard, we saw the resident Sparrowhawk and Kestrel and had some nice views of Long-tailed Tit. But the birds weren't really that important. The best thing was learning a lot about other wildlife, from some very knowledgeable people, and having a great laught at the same time. Thanks again to Renzo for organizing this and to everyone who came along and made it such fun.

Large Red Damselfly

Common Carpet-moth



Early Mining-Bee



Smooth Newt tadpole. Told apart by the feathery gills (which you can just see)
and the rounded tail.

a warbler quartet, and corn buntings abounding

It was a dull, dreary and uninspiring day today, but with hard graft, a bit of luck and a willingness to exercise enough birds were seeen to make the four-mile round walk worthwhile...

I walked up through Seaford to Blatchington Golf Course. Almost the first bird I saw was a good one, a Peregrine that drifted over the house. We see them regularly but they are always a great sight to see from your own garden. Along Firle Road, a small amount more birdlife was noted, including singing Chiffchaff and Blackcap and a calling Goldcrest.

However, these Spanish Bluebells aren't such a welcome sight. They are distinguished from our own by their stalk, which is straight (English bluebells have a curved stalk which causes the flowers to droop). Due to Spanish bluebells having dominant genes over English ones, any cross-pollination effectively wipes out the genes of our own bluebells, meaning that, in areas where the two occur side-by-side, Spanish Bluebells are slowly but surely takin over.
Plenty of resident birds were singing in Seaford, along with the two migrant warblers. I heard all the ususal suspects, including quite a lot of Blackbirds and Robins. However, insects were very hard to come by with the cold temperatures and lack of sun. A few Buff-tailed Bumblebees were as good as it got, I didn't see a single Butterfly the entire walk!



Collared Dove and Robin. Unfortunately the light was pretty bad for
photography

 The first bird I saw on Blatchington Golf Course was a showy male Blackcap in the blackthorn clump by the entrance. Walking accross the rest of the Golf Course there were plenty more singing Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs. Exploring the golf course fairly thoroughly, I saw and heard 14 of the former and 13 of the latter. Among them where two Willow Warblers(identified by their wing-flicking habits), and I heard, just once, the scolding alarm call of a Whitethroat. A Jay was a good sighting for the time of year, and I heard two separate Green Woodpeckers. However, other wildlife of note was once again very restricted, to just a handful of Buff-tailed and Red-rumped Bumblebees respectively.



Chiffchaff, with a bit of digital retouching to disguise how awful the lighting was

From here, I had a look around Greenway Bottom. In total on the downs here, I saw 13 Chiffchaff, 8 Blackcap, 6 Whitethroat and 5 Willow Warbler. There was also a pair of Bullfinches and a Buzzard, and in the long grass all around I could hear the impossibly thin squeaks of small Voles, Shrews and the like going about their business...
However, the stars were undoubtedly the Corn Buntings. A declining downland bird, Greenway Bottom is now the only reliable area I know to see them breeding locally. There was just one singing male, but a flock of 20 individuals were present too, though difficult to pin down. I'm hoping some of these may also be tempted to stay put and breed.

To top it off, I saw another flock of 15 Corn Buntings in the stubble on Cradle Hill. At least one male also held territory around here last year, so I'm hopeful this might be another area they could breed in. That made 36 in total, a very good total for such a scarce bird, and definitely one of the strongest local populations. With sightings of this and Bullfinch, another scarce and declining farmland bird, plus my first returning Whitethroats of the year, this was a fairly good walk all in all.

In the end, I amassed totals of 27 Chiffchaff, 23 Blackcap and seven each of Whitethroat and Willow Warbler, along with 36 Corn Bunting, 2 Bullfinch and a Jay. 

record shot of a singing male Corn Bunting, this was also digitally enhanced when I got home



the toadlet that time forgot

awwww, isn't he a cutie?

Toadlets are pretty standard fare in our garden. They start out as spawn about March-time, then they become tadpoles in  April, and in May/June they start to grow legs and eventually become toadlets, eventually becoming adult Toads. So in May and June, these toadlets are pretty standard fare. However, when you see one in MARCH, you know something weird is going on!...

These photos were taken on March 28th. I was checking under the tiles in our back garden, feeling pretty smug about having Slow Worms under them and getting some pretty awesome photos of them. Under one I also found an adult Toad. Fairly normal, they like to heat up under the tiles too. But then, checking the next one, I was rather surprised to find this very small toad!...

I can only assume it was a late-developer, and that it hadn't yet developed fully when the time came to hibernate. This idea would be supported by the fact that last year, for whatever reason, a lot of the tadpoles didn't develop at all, and stayed in the pond. They didn't last very long once winter arrived though. So this Toadlet was a lucky survivor, just developed enough that it wasn't forced to stay in the water with it's siblings when the inevitable cold arrived...

But what will happen to it now? I'm assuming it will still be able to cary on it's metamorphosis and become an adult Toad. Assuming it survives. Slow Worms and Grass Snakes are a lot more active at this time of year than in June as they are breeding themselves. And I'm sure they would find a Toadlet most scrumptious...

I suppose the one good thing is that, unlike Frogs, Toads don't mature until they are three or four years old. So if this little guy does survive, he'll at least have time to catch up with his buddies.

I'm an idiot, please don't laugh...

...You learn something new every day apparently. Well yesterday I learnt a bigun. I have been living a lie. I have been seeing something that doesn't even exist, through my own ingorance. I have spent the last few days looking at Cabbage Whites, not even realising a Cabbage White isn't even a Butterfly!

It all started yesterday, sunbathing in the garden. My dad was hanging up some clothes to dry at the same time, and I spotted an Orange-Tip. Only the second I had seen this year, and my dad's first. We then had a conversation about Butterflies, and he mentioned having seen his first Large White of the year...

being the inquisitive type, and thinking it'd be good to tell them apart so I could mention it on this blog, I asked my dad 'how do you tell the difference between a Large White and a Cabbage White?'. And that, dear readers, is when I discovered the shocking truth. THERE IS NO CABBAGE WHITE!

As my Dad explained, 'Cabbage White' is the generic name for the two white species of Butterfly, the Large White and the Small White. To tell them apart, size is the easiest method, but Large White also has considerably more extensive black on the wingtips. It is fine to label them both as Cabbage Whites, but not technically correct.

Armed with this knowledge, and having to walk a dog, I spent the time wandering Seaford, trying to find white Butterflies. and I did. I saw two, one of which i got a good enough view of to clearly establish it was a Small White. The other one I saw I suspect may have been a Large White but I didn't get a good enough view to confirm it, so that one still goes down as a Cabbage.

I also learnt, yesterday, that sometimes the calls of phylloscopus warblers can be very unreliable. Walking along the estate above Cradle Hill, Seaford, I heard a phyllosc in one of the gardens.

Normally, it would be most likely to be a Chiffchaff. So when i heard it making a Willow Warbler's characteristic two-tone call I was quite excited. A Willow Warbler is a fairly good bird for an urban area. I was sure it was one, based on it's call.

I didn't have binoculars, so the best I could do was to peer up into the canopy and hope to get a glimpse of it. I caught sight of it flying from one tree to another. Then when it landed it started doing the characteristic 'tail-dipping' of a Chiffchaff. CRAP!

OK, it wasn't that big a deal, but it did at least teach me you can't always trust this tricky pair when confronted with only their call. The song it very distinctive, and after that behaviour is the next-best clue I find (Chiffchaff, as already mentioned, tail-pumps a lot, but Willow Warbler flicks its wings). In a 'classic' individual, plumage also helps (Willow Warbler being generally brighter than Chiffchaff), but there are a lot of intermediates that can't be indentified on plumage alone.

and just to make it that little bit harder, sometimes a bird will sing a bit of both songs, see http://gwentbirding.blogspot.com/2011/04/theyre-everywhere.html for an example. Whether these are hybrids or confused individuals is often anybody's guess, but it seems that Willow Warbler may sing a 'mixed' song more often than Chiffchaff. I myself have a first-hand as a bird singing a hybrid song (it was a Willow Warbler on plumage/behaviour though) was seen at Pulborough Brooks RSPB for two springs running, and Dad and I managed to bump into it both years. It was a bit of a mind-fuck at first!

and if you want to check their calls and songs, there are links here (WilWa), and here (Chiffy).

But other than that, not a lot to report of late. However, Honey-bees appear to be out in force, and I have also seen a lot of Red-rumped Bumble-Bees in the last few days. Our pond is now crawling with little Toad Tadpoles, and there are up to four Slow Worms at any one time in the garden. We also have a few pairs of House Sparrow that regularly come into the garden getting food for their young, but asides from then and a few Blue Tits and Blackbirds, the garden has seemed very birdless recently. However, several Chiffchaffs have taken up residence around Seaford, and a migrant Buzzard, with the inevitable accompanying gulls (click here for my heartfelt tribute to the bastards), flew strongly north yesterday morning.

two of the Slow Worms in the garden

female House Sparrow, coming in to collect food for her brood

an 'arty' portrait of a Tulip. note I said 'arty', not arty.

I'm in the middle of a seabird colony...

...as are probably the large majority of people reading this blog. You might not have realised it yet though.

...Before saying anything on this matter, I'll just state the few little things I saw today. After singing Chiffchaffs on the 5th, I topped that with a Willow Warbler today. Otherwise very few birds are around at the moment. But I saw a few more Cabbage Whites today, along with my first Orange-tip of the year. On the night of the 5th, my first Pipistrelle Bats in Seaford being nice to see.

I'm talking, of course, about the breeding colonies of gulls that must now occur in almost every town in Britain. Certainly Herring Gulls breed in every coastal town in Sussex.

It is very easy to write these birds off as just being 'flying rats'. But, don't forget, they are still wild birds. In fact, along with crows, it's probably fair to say Herring Gulls (and other gulls in some areas) must be one of the most adaptable species in our country. To adapt to an environment in such a short period of time (in most cases less than 100 years) is a remarkable achievement.

There are a lot of people who say, they're only gulls, and barely worth a second glance. I used to be like this. The only time I would notice a gull was when it took a shit on me.

But take a look at them, and they are, in fact, a fully-functioning seabird colony. Of all the birds we see from day-to-day, I would argue urban gulls are one of the easiest to study the behaviour of. We can see the hierarchy in their ranks in winter, when they flock together in areas like school-playing fields (like mine). The adults tend to be dominant as you'd expect. The juveniles squabble over all the scraps of crap left outside, but all part if an adult swoops in.

Come spring, they are ubuquitous nesters. You can see pairs on roofs all over my hometown of Seaford. They often embark on fierce territorial battles (I have seen a bird drown another on a local pond once before!), and once they have young they will mob anything that gets too near. Even a human in a garden is seen as a threat to them. For some this is a nuisance, but I personally love seeing wild birds in their element like this. And if they crap on the guy next door who has probably given me lung cancer with all his filthy second-hand smoke, I won't complain...

In the evening, they all take to the air, calling and circling the houses below. If you stop imagining yourself in the middle of a town, close your eyes and picture youself on some far-flung clifftop, it's actually very atmospheric.

They are also an alarm system for birdwatchers. Me and Dad have seen HONEY BUZZARD, RED KITE and MARSH HARRIER flying over our garden in the past, thanks to the local gulls. I'm sure every birdwatcher has their own story to tell about how gulls helped them to see a raptor travelling over their garden.

Perhaps my favourite story involving the local gulls was actually an attempt to get rid of them, about this time last year. The school, fed up all the gulls, called in a falconer. They must have thought a Harris's Hawk would scare all them off. That was rather stupid. I'd have thought it doesn't take too much intellect to work out the result of pitching one domesticated hawk against the 50+ gulls that hang around our school. and several hundred others from the surrounding area. The hawk sat in a tree, feeling sorry for itself and trying to avoid several hundred dive-bombing gulls. The school scratched their heads and wondered what the fuck was going on...

so there you have it, gulls. They are a reminder of the rugged seaside their ancestors inhabited. They are a detection device for birds of prey. and they really piss off the governers of my school! Which is why I love them!

welcome to my new blog. come on in if you have pizza.

most people reading this post are likely to be readers of my old blog. And you're probably wondering what the hell is different. And the good answer is, I don't know. Well actually that's a terrible answer, but it's the best I could come up with.

I guess I'm just seeing the world differently. I'm attempting to broaden my interests. I'm finding better ways to express myself through the medium of nature. I'm becoming a 15-year old who is a throwback to the bloody 60's in other words!

got a bit fed up with The Crazy Cuckoo, bless the old gal. She just didn't really seem that passionate about the things I loved, and we finally broke up when she refused to make my counter go high enough. But I've learned from my mistakes. I've found A very, very, very amateur naturalist instead. who has promised to renew my love and energy of the outdoors, in return for me not putting to much pressure on it's stats. It's a deal I was only too happy to agree to. I'm happier, it's happier and the Crazy Cuckoo is allowed out of its by now strained relationship. Like a first love, it was great while it lasted, and a year was a good run. And I'll never forget the times I shared with it. They were pretty awesome.

So, it's a new look, new interests, maybe (though I highly doubt it) a slightly more mature and wise view of the world. But don't bank on it.

With all that in mind, I think this post should mark a new beginning. In some small way. In fact, it's probably the same bile I used to say, I'll let you decide...

It's the 6th of April today. It was a glorious, sunny day. I was stuck in Seaford, but still had some stuff to see.

Birdwise, I heard two Chiffchaff singing today. Everyone's heard loads of them already I'm sure, but these were only my second and third of the year! At school, there are still a few Pied Wagtails, at least one of which has taken to singing from the roof above our English block.

Herring Gulls are on many the rooftops locally. I might even dedicate a post to them at some point in the future...

From my window as I type, I can hear Collared Dove, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Great Tit, Dunnock and Greenfinch.

In non-birdy news, the Toadspawn in our pond has hatched, and Toad tadpoles are now all over the place. There are also a lot of Smooth Newts still about. They snack on all the frogspawn and Frog Tadpoles, but Toads are lucky enough to taste truly disgusting. Newts know a lot better than to gorge themselves on these, so in our pond, Frog tadpoles normally do very poorly(unless we remove them and out them into a bucket) while Toad tadpoles, free of their competition and without any predators, positively proliferate.

I also saw my first Cabbage White of the year today. Plus Bumblebees of some form (Buff-tailed I think) are out in force. As are Wasps sadly. But I don't try to identify them. Wasps are only to be swatted away, while building up a considerable volume of money in your metaphorical swear jar...

well, my first post hopefully went pretty well. please give any feedback below. And if you followed me before, it'd be good if you could follow this blog too. And please spread the word about this new blog... 

all the best to you all

Liam Curson

an arty (crap) shot of Herring Gulls, done for some sort of effect