1938 - The Vasculum

45
temporary "territory" possession, as the pool was only a pool at low tide,
and so far as I know the birds did not return to this spot at every tide. They
were trying to breed about a couple of miles away.
BLACKHEADED GULL: Adult birds were very scarce on
Fenham Flats and Budle Bay, but first summer birds were numerous. Of
these there were a hundred or more on Fenham Flats during early June, and
about 150 on Budle Bay. With regard to this bird, Bolam wrote: "A large
proportion of the young reared here seem to leave us on the approach of
winter and not to return again until they have assumed the full adult dress,
which is not before their second autumn. A few individuals, however, may
sometimes be observed nesting, although still retaining the dark terminal
band on the tail and other vestiges of immaturity" (A.4) These summer
coastal gatherings may therefore have escaped his notice, or more probably
are a recent development in the increase of this species.
COMMON GULL: I saw very few of these birds, but there were
about 20 immature birds at Bamburgh on the 4th June.
Although I was not on the coast from 13th June to 12th July _a
critical period when one is suggesting that some species remain on our coast
right through the summer-it is evident that unless 1937 was an exceptional
year, there have either been changes in the habits of several of our birds
since Chapman's and Bolam's time, or there has been incomplete
observation in the past. Future observation will at any rate show to what
extent the year 1937 was exceptional.
REFERENCES.
" A." "A Catalogue of the Birds of Northumberland." (Transactions of the
Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham and Newcastle upon
Tyne. Vol. VIII.) published 1932. George Bolam.
A.1 page 127. A.2 page 126. A.3 page 114.A4 page 134.
"B." "The Birds of Northumberland and the Eastern Borders." published
1912. George Bolam.
B.1 page 519. B.2 page 567.
"C." "Bird Life of the Borders." published 1907. Abel Chapman.
C.1 page 176. C.2 page 404. C.3 page 402.