Scandinavian Herring Gull

25th February 2016 - Topsham

Here's a couple of likely larids from today's visit to Topsham Rec (I originally thought there were three but you'll be relieved to hear that after checking my photos I've whittled them down to two).

Gull A - 25/2/2016 Topsham

Gull A - 25/2/2016 Topsham

Gull A: distinctly darker grey above than argenteus Herring Gulls alongside, but not dark enough for graellsii LBB and the pink legs rule out michahellis of course. So what about argentatus HG? Well from some angles it just looked too dark and those legs looked a little odd, a hint of yellow to the pink, perhaps? Here's the spread wing, not helping at all.

Gull A - 25/2/2016 Topsham

Lots of white at the tips of P9 and P10 looks good for argentatus but I really don't like the amount of black on P8 and P9 or the way it bleeds onto the inner web. Looking decidedly iffy now I think. In fact this one reminds me of a bird I've seen here before, and thought most likely a hybrid Herring x LBB or some subsequent generation of.

And now to Gull B: similar in some ways to A but the primary pattern on this is fine for argentatus.

Scandinavian Herring Gull - 25/2/2016 Topsham

Scandinavian Herring Gull - 25/2/2016 Topsham

Also pink-legged and the back a similar shade of grey and clearly darker than adjacent argenteus. A slightly smaller individual maybe. The spread wing shows a quite different pattern to A.

Scandinavian Herring Gull - 25/2/2016 Topsham

I don't see a lot wrong with that for argentatus, Big white P10 tip and proper mirror on P9, the pattern of black on P6 - P9 looks good with fairly extensive grey tongues and P5 has just the tiniest of black spots on the outer web. This is surely the bird I saw for a few seconds yesterday at Exeter Quay?