A mild sunny start slowly clouding over. The
Cettis Warbler is still in residence on the top reservoir calling regularly. A flock of
22 Crossbills were in the carpark trees around mid day. The remainder of the day involved gulls;- A noticeable passage during the morning produced a total of 835 Herring Gulls and 315 Great Black-backed Gulls all heading quickly northwest. The evening gull roost on the Country Park produced very high numbers with GBBGull 315, LBBGull 7,
Herring Gull 1231 and the usual adult
Yellow-legged Gull. 51 Goosanders were roosting at dusk.
The photos are of a very interesting gull in the roost tonight. It is either a Glaucous/ Herring hybrid or a Arctic-type argentatus Herring Gull from the far north of the range in northern Norway and Arctic Russia.
The hybrid theory probably fits best due to the pale mantle.
Another consideration would be adult Kumliens Gull - The head particularly has an 'Iceland' Gull feel to it and I can't seen anything to suggest any Glaucous in it.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I remember when looking up the Kumliens earlier this year, some do have black in the wing tip rather than grey.