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Possible Heughlin's Gull
On Saturday I found a gull at Cotesbach tip that ticked all the boxes in part one of the Altenburg Criteria (identification of first-summer Baltic Gull) but it possibly falls down because of the second...
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Weekend Report
Saturday was a good day. It started with me finding a pair of Barn Owls in a barn that I have been checking for about 30 years. I've seen pellets occasionally but it was great to see a couple of owls...
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Pied Flycatcher
My highlight this weekend has to be the Pied Flycatcher at Croft Hill. I had been over to Brascote early morning and just before I set off back home I checked my phone and noticed I'd missed a message...
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Shawell Offers Up a Summertime Prize
I was away in Norway last week, which generated lots of office work, so apologies for my silence. I will write a post about Norway shortly, but here's an update of a successful evening at Shawell.Loads...
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More From Shawell
The large male juvenile Caspian Gull was still at Shawell today and a new smaller presumed juvenile female was there too. On top of that one maybe two first-summer Caspian Gulls and a colour-ringed...
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Norwegian Gulling Trip
Last year I found a colour-ringed gull at Shawell that had been ringed in a Baltic Gull colony in Norway. The Horsvaer archipelago is the home to about 400 pairs of Baltic Gulls Larus fuscus fuscus....
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Caspian Gull Extravaganza at Shawell
It has been another busy two weeks. I was in Scotland on holiday last week so no time for blogging and this week has been all about catching up and becoming a Grandad!My son's partner Trina gave birth...
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Kittiwakes
Whilst I was in Scotland a couple of weeks ago I took a visit to Burghead and I was pleasantly surprised to find about 90 Kittiwakes roosting on the seaward side of the Harbour wall.Amongst them was a...
View ArticleMoulting Juvenile Caspian Gull
I had an hour after work at Shawell yesterday and three of the Caspian Gulls that I saw last Saturday were still there. This beast is a real smart creature - and a real bully.I have now seen 49...
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A Barrow Load More Caspian Gulls
I had a great day at Shawell today - 32 colour-rings read and six or seven more Caspian Gulls found.The highlight amongst the colour-rings was a crop of juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gulls: two from...
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Yes You Guessed It - More Caspian Gull Stuff
It's been a great couple of months for enjoying the young Caspian Gulls at Shawell. These are the vanguard of a major range expansion of this species. Herring Gulls need to watch out or they will find...
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Portugal October 2017- A Record Breaking Trip
I have just come back from another trip to The Algarve. This time we decided to make an attempt to see as many species as we could. My previous highest trip total was 135 species.The first day is...
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Back to Shawell
At Shawell today I dropped straight back into the groove.Eight Caspian Gulls today plus a German ringed hybrid that I saw last month. 5 1cy and 3 2cy.Four German ringed gulls from the mixed colonies....
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Gulls in The Algarve October 2017
Steve asked about the gulls after my trip report to Portugal didn't mention any.Portimao has a large fish harbour, which of course attracts many gulls throughout the year. The temperature during my...
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The Reappearance of HD430
Back in mid-August I read the colour ring on a first calendar-year Yellow-legged Gull at Shawell. I identified it in the field as a Yellow-legged Gull, but noted it was very fresh looking. I saw it...
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First-Winter Caspian Gulls
By far the most regular age groups of Caspian Gull at Shawell are first and second calendar year. This year juveniles were the most numerous in early autumn and now its mainly first-winters.Today I saw...
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Shawell
Back at Shawell today searching through the hordes. It was another good day as far as ring reading was concerned and plenty of Caspian Gulls were there again. In total, excluding hybrids, I saw eight...
View ArticleJuvenile Glaucous Gull
The cold snap delivered its goods today at Cotesbach Landfill site.There was no rubbish tipping going on, so the thousands of gull on site at dawn soon began to disperse. After the tip area become...
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White-Wingers at Shawell so Far.
White-wingers (Iceland and Glaucous Gulls) are the highlight of the winter months for any gull watcher prepared to suffer the cold. Below is an account of all the denizens of the frozen Arctic wastes...
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Germany to Shawell and on to Spain
During September I picked up a very obvious moulting juvenile Caspian Gull. It was obvious because it had a yellow ring on its leg with the code X477 and also because it had a bi-coloured bill. X477...
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