Four and a half hours today with Pete Berry and Jason Atkinson.
5 adult Yellow-legged Gulls 2 Iceland Gulls (one nice second winter and one which was more difficult to age (distant views) but I felt sure I could see a pale iris from time to time, so it was likely a second winter also.
Pete Kinsella said
Sat Dec 31 2:35 PM, 2011
Two and a half hours at Richmond Bank today.Huge numbers of Gulls both roosting on the bank and also swirling over the tip itself.At least 15,000 in the roost, c75% of which were adult Herring Gulls.Two Iceland Gulls were found, a fresh looking juv in the first sweep through the flock and a very creamy,faded looking bird in the last trawl! This last bird looks like the individual that has already been noted here this winter.Couldn`t see a pale iris, nor any grey in the mantle, but there was obvious wear in the secondaries.So its either a juv in a very advanced state of wear or a second winter with a retarded moult.It had a slightly pale bill base but nothing that a juv couldn`t have. Also today; 4 Yellow-legged Gulls( two adults ,2ndw and 1stw) and many hundreds of argentatus.Also it was interesting to see many argenteus Herring Gulls with clean white heads and bright bills. A few Redwings were in the bushes.
Mike Baron said
Sat Dec 31 9:23 AM, 2011
Terry Long wrote:
Hi , if you don't mind me asking , what is the feature of the adult casp's underwing that is the clincher ?
Hi Terry
There is an excellent article from Ian in the ID section which covers this and also one in the latest edition of British Birds. In summary, P10 should show a long white tip with more white than black (extent v important) and also there should be tongues which run along the feather and penetrate the black. The colour of this is also v important - it should be whitish. If the colour of the tongues is approaching the colour of the mantle, it is probably a hybrid.
The extent of black on the underwing should be restricted in comparison to Herring or YLG.
Also look for a white tip to P9 with a black bar across the tip and black spots on P5 and P4.
You are better reading the articles than going off my brief summary.
Cheers
Mike
Terry Long said
Fri Dec 30 1:23 AM, 2011
Hi , if you don't mind me asking , what is the feature of the adult casp's underwing that is the clincher ?
JasonAtkinson said
Thu Dec 29 5:48 PM, 2011
I too braved the wind and rain today only bumping into Mike as I left. 2 YLG (1w&Adult) was as good as it got. The only real interesting bird was a very dark hooded LBB, quite a striking bird. I'm sure there was more but my gulling skills are not up to much, more effort I think.
Cheers Jason
Mike Baron said
Thu Dec 29 4:00 PM, 2011
Spent 12:00 to 14:15 at the bank today.
The only bird of interest I found at 14:10 just as the tide was pushing gulls off the bank. Looked good for adult Caspian and all features ticked except the underside of the wings. It flew off while I was cleaning rain off my eye piece. This was followed by numerous expletives!
Apart from this, nothing else of note - I didn't pick up a single YLG. I estimated 5-6000 large gulls peaked on the bank - later on an absolute blizzard of gulls briefly appeared over the tip so clearly many more are in the area.
Nice to meet Jason Atkinson!
Ian McKerchar said
Tue Dec 20 9:04 PM, 2011
Five hours with Pete Berry today; great conditions, many thousands of gulls.
Still, only three adult Yellow-legged Gulls despite some intense grilling
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Tuesday 20th of December 2011 09:04:54 PM
Ian McKerchar said
Sat Dec 17 12:46 PM, 2011
A quick two hours with Pete Berry today in frankly diabolically bad conditions. When your chair fills with rainwater so you're effectively sitting in your own little puddle, you know it's time to go! Still, the first hour and a half were in excellent gulling conditions:
2 adult Yellow-legged Gulls 1 probably second calendar year Iceland Gull (very pale indeed overall, no discernable markings on wings/upperparts, apparently all dark eye though difficult to discern at range, pinkish based bill but not well demarkated and no signs of any grey mantle/scapulars) 64 Pink-footed Geese over low east Atleast 20 Blackbirds and 30 plus Redwing in the Hawthorns there
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Saturday 17th of December 2011 03:24:44 PM
pete berry said
Thu Dec 15 4:07 PM, 2011
4hrs with Tom Mck today was a bit disapointing with only
4 ad. Yellow Legged Gulls, lots of gulls present,but mostly face on all day,making viewing difficult.
pete berry said
Tue Dec 13 4:09 PM, 2011
An excellent 3 1/2hrs with Jeff Clarke produced the 1st whitewinger of the winter for the Bank:-
with good nos. of gulls all morning until 1.30pm when the tide dispersed them all Also 25 Teal,and 4 Stock Doves passed
pete berry said
Wed Nov 30 5:08 PM, 2011
4 hours today with Jeff Clarke in great viewing conditions with masses of gulls present all day produced
4 Ad. Yellow Legged Gulls 1 1st winter bird plus a yellow legged Argenteus Herring gull.
There's been a definite drop off in Y.L.Gull nos in the last couple of weeks,hopefully the first of the whitewingers should make their presence felt soon after the forecasted n.w. winds that are due over the next few days.
Rick Hall said
Mon Nov 28 8:57 PM, 2011
those high rinds sound a bit fruity.
Ian McKerchar said
Sat Nov 26 1:07 AM, 2011
Four and a half hours on the 25th November with Pete Berry in frankly bizarre conditions. Huge high tide for the majority of the session, bright sunlight, then cloudy superb gulling conditions followed by high winds and driving rain. Oh the joys!
6 Yellow-legged Gulls present: 1 first calendar year, 1 third calendar year and 4 adults.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 28th of November 2011 09:44:11 PM
pete berry said
Tue Nov 22 3:12 PM, 2011
A quick visit of just 2 hours between 11.30am & 1.30pm today with masses of gulls present all times produced
3 Yellow Legged Gulls(2 ads/1 3rd w.) 1 very dark probable intermedius Lesser Black Back a bit disapointing considering nos. of birds present,still thats birding,no two days alike
-- Edited by pete berry on Tuesday 22nd of November 2011 03:13:24 PM
Ian McKerchar said
Thu Nov 17 10:14 PM, 2011
Four hours with Tom McKinney today, two hours in bright (poor gull watching) light with 10,000 gulls followed for no apparent reason with a mass exodus and then hardly any gulls in great gull watching light. Go figure?
2 Yellow-legged Gulls (first winter and adult) Single Chiffchaff 2 Little Grebes Single Siskin over, flock of Fieldfare, Skylarks...
pete berry said
Thu Nov 10 5:00 PM, 2011
4 hours with Tom Kinney today produced the following:-
2 ad.Caspian Gulls(one poss. yesterdays bird plus a different bird with much brighter yellow legs,(all of underwing seen and good flight views of both birds to confirm i.d.)
6 Yellow Legged Gulls(5ads/1 3rd w.)
Reasonable nos.of gulls on the bank,not as many as yesterday as a bigger tide which almost covered the bank forced most of them off.
pete berry said
Wed Nov 9 7:45 PM, 2011
A much better day today at the Bank,3 1/2 hours with Jeff Clarke
A stonking,classic 4th w. Caspian Gull a probable adult Caspian Gull(didn't see P5,otherwise spot on for Caspian) 6 ad Yellow Legged Gulls 1 3r w. Y.L.Gull A lot more gulls on the bank today,with a much better turn around than yesterday.
other birds seen today include S.E.Owl hunting the old tip as we were walking up to the bank, a single Pink Foot flying around and a report of an Hen Harrier by another birder thats been around for several days.
Ian McKerchar said
Tue Nov 8 3:57 PM, 2011
Near blank at the Bank!
A three hour session with Pete Berry today almost drew a blank on the Yellow-legged Gull front, which would have been a first! Fortunately a single adult was found early afternoon.
Rather small numbers of large gulls present (for there anyway) with probably only 3-4000 all day and little turn over but there was a marked increase in argentatus Herring Gulls. All very odd and it was just too cold when there's not much to look at
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Tuesday 8th of November 2011 03:58:09 PM
Tom McKinney said
Mon Nov 7 11:42 PM, 2011
Ian, I was just testing to see if you remembered it.
To be honest, I'd completely forgotten about it till Pete reminded me earlier.
Adam Jones said
Mon Nov 7 9:34 PM, 2011
An interesting article indeed Ian. It only proves to me that I need to start loving gulls and spend more time studying them. I can feel a trip to Richmond Bank coming up some time in the near future, but only when I have done my best with this months mstery birds. Keep up the good work.
Ian McKerchar said
Mon Nov 7 8:03 PM, 2011
I remember this one well Tom and it's nice to see you haven't let it lie, 'cos neither has Pete as it formed part of our many discussions down at the bank on Thursday. Still can't believe you're trawling for opinions though
I think the forthcoming BB article is likely to clarify some points, like whether nowt but a speck on P5 is acceptable for cachinnans. Without getting all Birdforum on your ass here though this bird has it's pro's and con's. In some angles it looks more Caspian like than others but seeing as females can be all the more round headed and smaller billed (gigantic Common Gull like) that's not such an issue. The underside of P10 looks spot on but some argentatus Herrings can be so Caspian like it can be frightening! On balance, other than P5, which only shows a tiny black spot on the inner web (which is odd as I might have expected it to be on the outer web?), the bird looks reasonable for a Caspian. I have heard that Caspian's can indeed show this kind of P5 (and worse) but I have no experience of it myself. It looks quite dark backed too, more reminscent of the hundreds of Steppe Gulls I've just come back from seeing .
As I said at the time, it's another of those very interesting birds which for me doesn't quite cut the mustard to be elevated to a definate. That may all change though as our current knowledge expands or indeed get worse as that knowledge realises the extent of hybridisation in Eastern Europe
Hold on to that dream Tom and keep asking...
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 7th of November 2011 08:05:06 PM
Anyone fancy putting a name to that? Saw it with Pete Berry last year at Richmond. Some more details in the video description.
Ian McKerchar said
Mon Nov 7 7:23 PM, 2011
Interestingly (or not if you happen to hate gulls!) birds such as this form the content for part 2 of the British Birds article 'Identification of Caspian Gulls' which is in fact due out this December I have been reliably informed. Let's hope it doesn't exactly open the floodgates for allsorts but knowing the authors, it will be treated very sensibly and cautiously indeed.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 7th of November 2011 07:25:20 PM
Pete Kinsella said
Mon Nov 7 6:41 PM, 2011
An interesting account of a fascinating bird.Excellent work by IMcK and PB. I think it once again reinforces the value of Richmond Bank as THE Gull site in NW England and shows that the number of Caspian Gulls occurring there is now high enough for individuals showing such variation to be found.Hopefully this is the forerunner of many this coming Winter...a few white-wingers wouldn`t go amiss either!( and maybe something better?)
Ian McKerchar said
Mon Nov 7 9:11 AM, 2011
Thursday's slight mystery gull has now had my concerns quelled. Despite at the time being a patently obvious adult Caspian Gull, it's p10 pattern was perplexing. An informed opinion has been sought though and it's apparently perfectly acceptable for cachinnans. A short article illustrating the p10 pattern should be on the website by tonight.
Ian McKerchar said
Thu Nov 3 9:38 PM, 2011
Four and a half hours today with Pete Berry:
9 Yellow-legged Gulls- 7 all confirmed as different adults (and all important identification features positively checked) and two first winter birds.
1 slight mystery gull yet to be completely resolved!
1 male Stonechat
42 Fieldfare in a single flock heading south
20,000 large gulls in the air at one point, the vast majority now argenteus Herring Gulls.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Friday 4th of November 2011 08:55:07 AM
Mike Duckham said
Tue Nov 1 5:44 PM, 2011
3 YLG today, an ad and 2 first winter in about an hour and a half. Interesting to compare the 2 first winters as they were seen fairly close together. One apparently yellow-legged Herring, and at least 4 very dark-mantled argentatus, three of which had reduced black in the wingtip and one was more argenteus-like. Also a poss hybrid HG x LBBG. Cheers.
pete berry said
Mon Oct 17 7:05 PM, 2011
4 hours today with Jeff Clarke produced 6 Yellow Legged Gull:-
4 adults 1 1st winter 1 3rd winter
plus a big increase in Argentatus Herring Gulls,and Greater Backed Backs from last week.Still large numbers of gulls on the bank,with at least 5000 birds overall today.
Ian McKerchar said
Thu Oct 13 2:51 PM, 2011
Four and a half hours with Pete Berry today amongst the myriad of a minimum 30,000 gulls already in the area, including at least 10,000 on the bank at one time!
5 adult Yellow-legged Gulls (all with highly individual head streaking) and four excellent first winters.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Thursday 13th of October 2011 03:08:05 PM
John Barber said
Thu Oct 6 3:41 PM, 2011
You're right Ian. At least I know where to go next time ( and I'll take a chair )
Ian McKerchar said
Wed Oct 5 10:29 PM, 2011
John Barber wrote:
I was well pleased until I read Pete's report below ! How did we miss the other eight ? ( only kidding )
You were looking in the wrong place John
John Barber said
Wed Oct 5 9:33 PM, 2011
First time at Richmond Bank.
Spent around four hours on site this afternoon but more towards the pub end. Went specifically to try and find my first Yellow-legged Gull and with the assistance of a more experienced birding friend I managed to find my first one. I was well pleased until I read Pete's report below ! How did we miss the other eight ? ( only kidding )
I think we saw you both leaving the site and never realised who you where.
pete berry said
Wed Oct 5 7:29 PM, 2011
A 5 hour session with Ian today produced the following
9 Yellow Legged Gulls(6 ad/3 1st w.) 1 Yellow Legged Argenteus Herring Gull 10+ Argentatus Herring Gull Not as many gulls as in the past,but still several thousand large gulls present to check through.
Brian Baird said
Wed Sep 21 7:59 PM, 2011
A Little Egret fed briefly in the river on the south side this afternoon before flying off west.
pete berry said
Thu Aug 25 7:22 PM, 2011
A four hour stint with Jeff Clarke today in mostly bad light conditions turned up 5 ad.Yellow Legged Gulls 1 2nd sum/winter Yellow Legged Gull 6+ ad. Argentatus Herring Gulls 2 Common Gulls,first of the autumn here good numbers of birds present throughout,but viewing for the most part poor due to the strong sunlight.
-- Edited by pete berry on Thursday 25th of August 2011 06:26:40 PM
Ian McKerchar said
Thu Aug 18 5:33 PM, 2011
pete berry wrote:
4 hours of frustrating viewing due to the bright weather conditions eventually produced 5 adult Yellow Legged Gulls 1 juvenile Y.L.Gull for Ian,Jack & myself
Can't believe you forgot the best birds Pete!
8 Black-tailed Godwits on the mudflat At least one Kingfisher whizzing about for a good while Best of all, a Merlin headed low west around late morning.
pete berry said
Thu Aug 18 3:39 PM, 2011
4 hours of frustrating viewing due to the bright weather conditions eventually produced 5 adult Yellow Legged Gulls 1 juvenile Y.L.Gull for Ian,Jack & myself
Pete Kinsella said
Sat Aug 6 4:42 PM, 2011
Hi, three hours at Richmond Bank today in excellent light conditions for Gulling. About 2500 Gulls on the mud, c80% of which were LBBs.Highlight was an adult/ 4ths Caspian Gull which showed well for a few minutes before flying towards the tip.Seven Yellow-legged Gulls were also picked out, two Juveniles, 3CY, 4CY and three adults.One obvious Intermedius LBB and a single Argentatus Herring Gull were also seen.The decent light conditions and proximity of some of the birds allowed the codes of seven colour-ringed birds to be read. Also here; 3+ Ravens, a briefly singing Grasshopper Warbler( a bit late!) and two Willow Warblers.
cheers, Pete.
Ian McKerchar said
Thu Aug 4 3:12 PM, 2011
I'll drop you a PM Anthony.
anthony capuano said
Thu Aug 4 1:21 PM, 2011
Hi Ian, I'm really getting into gulls this year but still need more experience. I've never been to Richmond Bank and would really love to tag along with more experienced birders on a trip over there. Any chance of joining you and some of your experienced gullers when you next go over?
Ian McKerchar said
Fri Jul 1 4:32 PM, 2011
Another very pleasant fivehour stint today with Pete Berry brought:
10 Yellow-legged Gulls (6 adults and 4 3rd calendar year birds) Single very bright yellow legged Herring Gull which was colour ringed (code obtained) A dozen or so 2nd calendar year (1st summer in old money) Great Black-backed Gulls but oddly today no other age classes. At least 6-7000 large gulls around in total today with 4000 on the bank at one time or another.
Ian McKerchar said
Sat Jun 25 9:34 AM, 2011
Erm...I had a flask of tea Pete...
pete berry said
Sat Jun 25 9:17 AM, 2011
Nice to go gulling without carrying flasks of hot drinks and wearing umpteen layers of clothes to keep warm.Only needed 4 layers on yesterday in our hot summer
Pete Kinsella said
Fri Jun 24 6:32 PM, 2011
Nice one Ian and Pete, good to see someones prepared to go Gulling in June!!
cheers, Pete.
Ian McKerchar said
Fri Jun 24 4:25 PM, 2011
Five and a half hours good gulling today with Pete Berry and a very conservative 5000 gulls in the area. Highlights were:
9 Yellow-legged Gulls (all carefully ensured as different individuals, consisting of 6 adults and 3 third calendar year birds) Single bright yellow legged adult argenteus Herring Gull Single third calendar year argentatus Herring Gull Lots of (Ribble estuary) colour-ringed gulls, eight of which we managed to read the rings of.
dave broome said
Wed Apr 13 8:33 PM, 2011
one and a half hours Tuesday 12th April: 3 Yellow-Legged Gulls (1 second calendar year, 1 third calendar year, 1 adult)
Whitethroat singing in the scrub, 2 Reed Warblers singing along the canal
Mike Duckham said
Sun Apr 10 11:41 AM, 2011
Two brief spells while going from N Wales to Timperley then back again. Bit late in the arvo both times really with few gulls present but included the large S or TW Iceland again, an intermedius, and a v dark-mantled 4th or 5th calendar argentatus with the longest primaries i have ever seen in my life, really striking. Wonder if birds from the furthest NE in their range have the longest wings? Also at least 10 or so very worn and faded FW argentatus looking rather smart.
Ian McKerchar said
Thu Apr 7 6:23 PM, 2011
Four and bit hours today with Pete Berry from just before midday:
6 Yellow-legged Gulls (4 adult, 1 second calendar year and 1 third calendar year) 2 Iceland Gull (1 juv/second calendar year and one third calendar year) Caspian Gull (cracking third calendar year bird) 2+ Willow Warblers and several Chiffchaff Gatewarth
Ian McKerchar said
Fri Apr 1 5:38 PM, 2011
Three and a half hours with Pete Berry today after hightide from around midday. Perfect viewing conditions, great light, birds behaving and facing the right way etc, plus never less than 6000 or so gulls present at any one time.
Single juvenile Iceland Gull 10 Yellow-legged Gulls, of the most diverse age groups we've seen all winter! 1 2nd calender year, 2 3rd calender year, 2 4th calender year, 2 5th calender year, 3 full adults. 4 argentatus Herring Gulls
Mike Duckham said
Fri Mar 18 1:53 AM, 2011
Wed: 2 x FW Iceland and a second-winter. Today (Thur): 5xFW YLG and the same 2 FW Icelands. Cheers.
5 adult Yellow-legged Gulls
2 Iceland Gulls (one nice second winter and one which was more difficult to age (distant views) but I felt sure I could see a pale iris from time to time, so it was likely a second winter also.
Also today; 4 Yellow-legged Gulls( two adults ,2ndw and 1stw) and many hundreds of argentatus.Also it was interesting to see many argenteus Herring Gulls with clean white heads and bright bills.
A few Redwings were in the bushes.
Hi Terry
There is an excellent article from Ian in the ID section which covers this and also one in the latest edition of British Birds. In summary, P10 should show a long white tip with more white than black (extent v important) and also there should be tongues which run along the feather and penetrate the black. The colour of this is also v important - it should be whitish. If the colour of the tongues is approaching the colour of the mantle, it is probably a hybrid.
The extent of black on the underwing should be restricted in comparison to Herring or YLG.
Also look for a white tip to P9 with a black bar across the tip and black spots on P5 and P4.
You are better reading the articles than going off my brief summary.
Cheers
Mike
Cheers
Jason
The only bird of interest I found at 14:10 just as the tide was pushing gulls off the bank. Looked good for adult Caspian and all features ticked except the underside of the wings. It flew off while I was cleaning rain off my eye piece. This was followed by numerous expletives!
Apart from this, nothing else of note - I didn't pick up a single YLG. I estimated 5-6000 large gulls peaked on the bank - later on an absolute blizzard of gulls briefly appeared over the tip so clearly many more are in the area.
Nice to meet Jason Atkinson!
Still, only three adult Yellow-legged Gulls despite some intense grilling
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Tuesday 20th of December 2011 09:04:54 PM
2 adult Yellow-legged Gulls
1 probably second calendar year Iceland Gull (very pale indeed overall, no discernable markings on wings/upperparts, apparently all dark eye though difficult to discern at range, pinkish based bill but not well demarkated and no signs of any grey mantle/scapulars)
64 Pink-footed Geese over low east
Atleast 20 Blackbirds and 30 plus Redwing in the Hawthorns there
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Saturday 17th of December 2011 03:24:44 PM
4 ad. Yellow Legged Gulls,
lots of gulls present,but mostly face on all day,making viewing difficult.
An excellent 3 1/2hrs with Jeff Clarke produced the 1st whitewinger of the winter for the Bank:-
2nd winter Iceland Gull
9 Yellow Legged Gulls(8 ads/1 4th w.)
with good nos. of gulls all morning until 1.30pm when the tide dispersed them all
Also 25 Teal,and 4 Stock Doves passed
4 Ad. Yellow Legged Gulls
1 1st winter bird
plus a yellow legged Argenteus Herring gull.
There's been a definite drop off in Y.L.Gull nos in the last couple of weeks,hopefully the first of the whitewingers should make their presence felt soon after the forecasted n.w. winds that are due over the next few days.
6 Yellow-legged Gulls present: 1 first calendar year, 1 third calendar year and 4 adults.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 28th of November 2011 09:44:11 PM
3 Yellow Legged Gulls(2 ads/1 3rd w.)
1 very dark probable intermedius Lesser Black Back
a bit disapointing considering nos. of birds present,still thats birding,no two days alike
-- Edited by pete berry on Tuesday 22nd of November 2011 03:13:24 PM
2 Yellow-legged Gulls (first winter and adult)
Single Chiffchaff
2 Little Grebes
Single Siskin over, flock of Fieldfare, Skylarks...
2 ad.Caspian Gulls(one poss. yesterdays bird plus a different bird with much brighter yellow legs,(all of underwing seen and good flight views of both birds to confirm i.d.)
6 Yellow Legged Gulls(5ads/1 3rd w.)
Reasonable nos.of gulls on the bank,not as many as yesterday as a bigger tide which almost covered the bank forced most of them off.
A stonking,classic 4th w. Caspian Gull
a probable adult Caspian Gull(didn't see P5,otherwise spot on for Caspian)
6 ad Yellow Legged Gulls
1 3r w. Y.L.Gull
A lot more gulls on the bank today,with a much better turn around than yesterday.
other birds seen today include S.E.Owl hunting the old tip as we were walking up to the bank, a single Pink Foot flying around and a report of an Hen Harrier by another birder thats been around for several days.
A three hour session with Pete Berry today almost drew a blank on the Yellow-legged Gull front, which would have been a first! Fortunately a single adult was found early afternoon.
Rather small numbers of large gulls present (for there anyway) with probably only 3-4000 all day and little turn over but there was a marked increase in argentatus Herring Gulls. All very odd and it was just too cold when there's not much to look at
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Tuesday 8th of November 2011 03:58:09 PM
To be honest, I'd completely forgotten about it till Pete reminded me earlier.
Keep up the good work.
I think the forthcoming BB article is likely to clarify some points, like whether nowt but a speck on P5 is acceptable for cachinnans. Without getting all Birdforum on your ass here though this bird has it's pro's and con's. In some angles it looks more Caspian like than others but seeing as females can be all the more round headed and smaller billed (gigantic Common Gull like) that's not such an issue. The underside of P10 looks spot on but some argentatus Herrings can be so Caspian like it can be frightening! On balance, other than P5, which only shows a tiny black spot on the inner web (which is odd as I might have expected it to be on the outer web?), the bird looks reasonable for a Caspian. I have heard that Caspian's can indeed show this kind of P5 (and worse) but I have no experience of it myself. It looks quite dark backed too, more reminscent of the hundreds of Steppe Gulls I've just come back from seeing .
As I said at the time, it's another of those very interesting birds which for me doesn't quite cut the mustard to be elevated to a definate. That may all change though as our current knowledge expands or indeed get worse as that knowledge realises the extent of hybridisation in Eastern Europe
Hold on to that dream Tom and keep asking...
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 7th of November 2011 08:05:06 PM
Anyone fancy putting a name to that? Saw it with Pete Berry last year at Richmond. Some more details in the video description.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 7th of November 2011 07:25:20 PM
9 Yellow-legged Gulls- 7 all confirmed as different adults (and all important identification features positively checked) and two first winter birds.
1 slight mystery gull yet to be completely resolved!
1 male Stonechat
42 Fieldfare in a single flock heading south
20,000 large gulls in the air at one point, the vast majority now argenteus Herring Gulls.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Friday 4th of November 2011 08:55:07 AM
One apparently yellow-legged Herring, and at least 4 very dark-mantled argentatus, three of which had reduced black in the wingtip and one was more argenteus-like. Also a poss hybrid HG x LBBG.
Cheers.
4 hours today with Jeff Clarke produced 6 Yellow Legged Gull:-
4 adults
1 1st winter
1 3rd winter
plus a big increase in Argentatus Herring Gulls,and Greater Backed Backs from last week.Still large numbers of gulls on the bank,with at least 5000 birds overall today.
5 adult Yellow-legged Gulls (all with highly individual head streaking) and four excellent first winters.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Thursday 13th of October 2011 03:08:05 PM
You were looking in the wrong place John
Spent around four hours on site this afternoon but more towards the pub end. Went specifically to try and find my first Yellow-legged Gull and with the assistance of a more experienced birding friend I managed to find my first one. I was well pleased until I read Pete's report below ! How did we miss the other eight ? ( only kidding )
I think we saw you both leaving the site and never realised who you where.
9 Yellow Legged Gulls(6 ad/3 1st w.)
1 Yellow Legged Argenteus Herring Gull
10+ Argentatus Herring Gull
Not as many gulls as in the past,but still several thousand large gulls present to check through.
5 ad.Yellow Legged Gulls
1 2nd sum/winter Yellow Legged Gull
6+ ad. Argentatus Herring Gulls
2 Common Gulls,first of the autumn here
good numbers of birds present throughout,but viewing for the most part poor due to the strong sunlight.
-- Edited by pete berry on Thursday 25th of August 2011 06:26:40 PM
Can't believe you forgot the best birds Pete!
8 Black-tailed Godwits on the mudflat
At least one Kingfisher whizzing about for a good while
Best of all, a Merlin headed low west around late morning.
5 adult Yellow Legged Gulls
1 juvenile Y.L.Gull
for Ian,Jack & myself
three hours at Richmond Bank today in excellent light conditions for Gulling. About 2500 Gulls on the mud, c80% of which were LBBs.Highlight was an adult/ 4ths Caspian Gull which showed well for a few minutes before flying towards the tip.Seven Yellow-legged Gulls were also picked out, two Juveniles, 3CY, 4CY and three adults.One obvious Intermedius LBB and a single Argentatus Herring Gull were also seen.The decent light conditions and proximity of some of the birds allowed the codes of seven colour-ringed birds to be read.
Also here; 3+ Ravens, a briefly singing Grasshopper Warbler( a bit late!) and two Willow Warblers.
cheers, Pete.
10 Yellow-legged Gulls (6 adults and 4 3rd calendar year birds)
Single very bright yellow legged Herring Gull which was colour ringed (code obtained)
A dozen or so 2nd calendar year (1st summer in old money) Great Black-backed Gulls but oddly today no other age classes.
At least 6-7000 large gulls around in total today with 4000 on the bank at one time or another.
cheers, Pete.
9 Yellow-legged Gulls (all carefully ensured as different individuals, consisting of 6 adults and 3 third calendar year birds)
Single bright yellow legged adult argenteus Herring Gull
Single third calendar year argentatus Herring Gull
Lots of (Ribble estuary) colour-ringed gulls, eight of which we managed to read the rings of.
Whitethroat singing in the scrub, 2 Reed Warblers singing along the canal
6 Yellow-legged Gulls (4 adult, 1 second calendar year and 1 third calendar year)
2 Iceland Gull (1 juv/second calendar year and one third calendar year)
Caspian Gull (cracking third calendar year bird)
2+ Willow Warblers and several Chiffchaff Gatewarth
Single juvenile Iceland Gull
10 Yellow-legged Gulls, of the most diverse age groups we've seen all winter! 1 2nd calender year, 2 3rd calender year, 2 4th calender year, 2 5th calender year, 3 full adults.
4 argentatus Herring Gulls
Wed: 2 x FW Iceland and a second-winter.
Today (Thur): 5xFW YLG and the same 2 FW Icelands.
Cheers.