What passes for excitement round here...

6th April 2016 - Topsham

Stare at gulls long enough and you start to see things: maybe you'll find a nice rarity (I wish), maybe you just see more and more problems.

Todays bird ticks a lot of boxes for a Yellow-legged Gull but I like a challenge so let's see if I can talk myself out of it.

Yellow-legged Gull - 6/4/2016 Topsham

Yellow-legged Gull - 6/4/2016 Topsham

Yellow-legged Gull - 6/4/2016 Topsham

Yellow-legged Gull - 6/4/2016 Topsham

First the positives: it's darker grey than adjacent argenteus and in the field looked a drabber, less bluish grey; the primary pattern looks fine with a black band on P5 and and lot of black on P9 and 10; the eye looks darker than on the Herring Gulls alongside and may have a darker red orbital; and of course the legs and feet are yellow.

And the negatives? Mainly its small size and its apparently short legs, rather like a Lesser Black-backed in fact.

So, a small, weedy michahellis or another hybrid? I can see no definite signs of mixed parentage in the plumage or bare part colours so I'll put this one down as a Yellow-legged. Other opinions are of course available, I'd love to hear them.