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?

Faint signs of life in the blog yet...

2nd February 2016 - Somewhere in the Midlands

It's symptomatic of the state of the birding around here right now that not only is this my first post of 2016 but that I had to travel a couple of hundred miles to find anything I felt like writing about.

Tuesday found myself and Martin Elliott in Tring talking with Hadoram Shirihai about our Tubenoses/Seabirds books projects. On Wednesday we spent several hours standing in a hedge by the A5 in Leicstershire; HGVs belting along behind us and a few hundred LWHGs on a pool in front of us. The occasional sleet shower wasn't too bad but the standing still was chilling - at least that's one excuse for the poor photos.

Highlights were at least two 1st winter Caspians but a couple of Yellow-legs and hundreds of argentatus Herring Gulls would have made it all worth while on their own.

Caspian Gull 1W - Shawell, Leics. 3/2/2016

Caspian Gull 1W - Shawell, Leics. 3/2/2016

Caspian Gull 1W - Shawell, Leics. 3/2/2016 - typically bolshy with the other gulls, almost a classic ID feature.

Caspian Gull 1W - Shawell, Leics. 3/2/2016 - a real beauty but the first bird was even smarter.

Herring Gull argentatus - Shawell, Leics. 3/2/2016 - classic primary pattern.

Herring Gull argentatus - Shawell, Leics. 3/2/2016 - with Lesser Black-backed intermedius.

Herring Gull argentatus - Shawell, Leics. 3/2/2016 - maybe my photo processing has made these darker than necessary but they really did look strikingly different to typical argenteus, some approaching graellsii in shade. Rarer than Caspian in Devon but is that just observer bias?

Away with the gulls again

26th November 2015 - Topsham

 

Gulls never let you down. When there's nothing else about there's always a few gulls to look through and, not surprisingly, the more you look, the more you see. Certainly, having just a handful of regular species to scan through does tend to concentrate the mind, even one as prone to wander as mine.

So, today I made my usual low tide visit to Topsham Rec and as usual there's a couple of hundred Black-heads, fifty or so Herring, a dozen Common, a handful of Lesser Black-backed and single Great Black-backed. After a superficial scan for anything really obviously unusual. i.e. rare, I picked out an adult Med Gull, a colour-ringed bird (white 34K4) with a long history (see previous post). It landed near another adult, this one did not co-operate but spent all the time sleeping (Med Gulls tend to be rather inactive I've noticed). While checking my photos later I noticed it too was colour-ringed - red, right tarsus (so probably a Polish bird) - and this has been around on and off for a week though I've yet to read the code.

Mediterranean Gull 34K4 >17cy - 26/11/2015 Topsham

Mediterranean Gull 34K4 >17cy - 26/11/2015 Topsham

Mediterranean Gulls - 34K4 at back, red c-r taking it easy - 26/11/2015 Topsham

Now, folks, it's time for my occasional feature - the Topsham Mystery Gull - no prizes, in fact probably no definite solutions.

Further up the river the big gulls have their own bathing and loafing area. A quick scan produced nothing but the usual Herring Gulls and four LBB but then I noticed this slightly different individual. Light conditions were not great and the bird was not close - the usual excuses, I know - but the main points are obvious.

Larus sp. ad (it's the one at the back) - 26/11/2015 Topsham

 It's clearly darker grey than the 'normal' argenteus HG and the legs look a bit different too, not quite so pink maybe. I started thinking nominate argentatus but the mantle looks a little too dark and the tone is odd, it should be a bluer grey. A view of the spread primaries would help so I waited for it to fly.

Larus sp. ad - 26/11/2015 Topsham

Larus sp. ad - 26/11/2015 Topsham

Not looking too good now, is it? The white mirrors on P9 and P10 are just about OK for argentatus (also fine for argenteus) but the amount of black is not ideal. Another odd thing is irregular shape of the black areas plus they seem to be a little paler on P8-10, almost like something went wrong in pigment production, like the bird couldn't decide quite what it wanted to be. Maybe it's an odd argentatus, maybe it'll have to go down as another hybrid?

As ever, comments welcome.

Scandinavian Herring Gull, mystery gull, and a Pallid Harrier in Somerset

2nd November 2014 - Topsham

Carolyn and I took a trip to Steart in Somerset on Saturday to look over the new reserve and fortunately jammed into the long -staying Pallid Harrier; fine bird but photos rather poor so I won't dwell on that.

Meanwhile, back home I had the pleasure of finding this individual at the Rec.

Herring Gull argentatus 2/11/2014 - Topsham

Herring Gull argentatus 2/11/2014 - Topsham

The most obvious feature was the darker grey mantle compared with nearby argenteus Herring Gulls. Yellow-legged Gull was never an option due to its pink legs and heavily marked head and neck (not to mention its structure). In fact the best fit is nominate argentatus Herring Gull. Before too long the gulls all took flight and I got a good look at the primaries.

Herring Gull argentatus 2/11/2014 - Topsham

Herring Gull argentatus 2/11/2014 - Topsham

It's a 4th winter bird - a few dark spots on tail and dark marks on primary coverts - and so probably shows a little more black in the primaries than it will when fully adult (this may also explain why it's rather advanced in its moult - P10 fully grown or nearly so). Even so, it has a large mirror on P10 (the black band is broken so not far off a complete white tip), a decent mirror on P9 and very little black on P5. All consistent with both argentatus and our local argenteus but, given the darker mantle, argentatus is the best fit; certainly no need to bring out the hybrid hypothesis.

Meanwhile, here's a puzzle from Exmouth a month ago - any suggestions?

Larus sp. 6/10/2014 - Exmouth

Herring Gull in front of course, but what about the one behind? Here are a couple of flight shots.

Larus sp. 6/10/2014 - Exmouth

Larus sp. 6/10/2014 - Exmouth

I'm still not sure what to make of this bird - though I have suspicions - and any comments would be most welcome.

Before I forget, here's the best I could manage of the Pallid Harrier at Steart on Saturday. We'd spent a few hours wandering around the fantastic new reserve and I'd more or less given up on seeing this bird when it flew in from the west, across the marshes and disappeared over the Parrett.

Pallid Harrier 1/11/2014 - Steart, Somerset