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San Sebastián International Gull Meeting
Last week I travelled to San Sebastián to take part in the International Gull Meeting. Peter Rock and I flew from Manchester to Bilbao on Wednesday morning and from there we hired a car and drove to...
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Third-winter Kumlien's Gull
December had on the whole been a difficult month. Most Saturday's the gull had been shunning the sandpit and so most views were very distant. This was particularly frustrating especially after picking...
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Christmas Day for the Gulls
With experience I have learnt that once the dustbin lorries start rolling again after Christmas the gulls come to Shawell for their own Christmas Dinner. Today was not exception and many thousands...
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Review of the 'White-Winged Gulls at Shawell
We have now been watching the area around The Cotesbach Landfill site for 11 years. The landfill site attracts thousands of gulls on an almost daily basis, but it's the Arctic species that create the...
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More From Shawell
Another Saturday and another one spent checking the gulls at my favourite spot. With news of the 'white-wingers' spreading it was no surprise to see a steady stream of visitors today. It was of course...
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Kumlien's Still
A quick visit to Shawell this morning revealed that both the pale juvenile Glaucous Gull and the third-winter Kumlien's Gull were still taking advantage of the food the landfill provides. A surprise...
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A New Kumlien's Gull at Shawell
I went to work early today, so I could spend a little time at Shawell at lunchtime. Very soon after arriving I spotted what I initially thought was the regular Kumlien's Gull, but on close inspection I...
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Third-winter Kumlien's Gull Reappears at Shawell
After a few days absence the third-winter Kumlien's Gull reappeared at Shawell today. However, before its reappearance the adult Glaucous Gull I first spotted on January 4th put in an appearance. It...
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Glaucous Gull
After a poor show on Saturday due to no tipping I was compelled to go to work early in order to get over to Shawell again at Lunchtime.The first interesting gull I spotted was a giant of a Caspian...
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Kumlien's Gull at Shawell Again
Another lunchtime at Shawell once again produced the goods. Lots of gulls were loafing on the steep banks and so I began harvesting colour-rings. Twenty in the notebook in the first half an hour was a...
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New Iceland Gull at Shawell
This new Iceland Gull was spotted by Steve Lister at Shawell yesterday and luckily it was still present today when I sneaked over.It's quite a large bird, equal in size to many Herring Gulls and just...
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Another Good Day at Shawell
The last few Saturdays at Shawell have been poor, but this one proved a bit better.I arrived just after 08:00 an already gulls were at the sandpit. A 'wave' of gulls appeared from the right and amongst...
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Review of White-Winged Gulls at Shawell
I have updated the report on the 'White-winged Gulls' recorded at Shawell.To see the report as a PDF CLICK HEREIceland Gull
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Camera Trap
Having spotted up to 800 gulls loafing about near a farm, I decided to take a closer look. The gulls appeared to be feeding near to the farmer's barns, so I contacted him and asked him if I could place...
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A Bit of Perfecting the New Trail Camera.
After looking at the first batch of photos from my new camera trap I decided to do a bit of a re-jig.I have altered the angle to catch more of the foreground and rearranged the tyres a bit.I swapped...
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The Algarve
A bit of winter sunshine was what the Doctor ordered, but that wasn't what we got every day. Luckily there was still plenty of birds and some sunshine. The wind was quite chilly and I had to put my...
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Its Been a While!
Well I haven't had much to say for a while, but I'm still here. A week and a half into lockdown and I managed to sprain my ankle, which left me immobile for nearly three weeks. However, I am now...
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Camera Trap Update
Since lockdown was relaxed slightly I have managed to work with my camera trap some more. I have now managed to read four colour-rings. The camera has been moved to the feeding zone and as a result the...
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Catch Up
It been a while since I posted anything on my Blog. I have been off work due to the dreaded Covid-19. However, I have used my time wisely writing as much as possible for the book I'm working on with...
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Back at Shawell it was Quite Baltic
I have only visited Shawell a few times since lockdown, as there has been no weekend tipping and I've been at work in the week. Today I was away from work and so I spent the morning there. The first...
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Lusitanius Yellow-legged Gull at Shawell?
I was at Shawell today and winter is definitely upon us judging by the large number of gulls using the site. There were some smart looking adult and near adult Caspian Gulls, but it was a...
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2020 Highlights
For me personally 2020 was a good year despite all of the problems. I have mostly stayed locally apart from a quick holiday in February before Covid 19 became a thing. At some point Adey Baker and I...
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Bramblings, Gulls, Starlings and Stonechats
This winter has been dominated by Bramblings, Gulls, Stonechats and Starlings locally.There have been a couple of Starling roosts that have been really exciting.Photos taken in Southwest...
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Iceland and Glaucous Gulls at Shawell
As a result of the recent lockdown I didn't report any of the 'white-winged' gulls that were recorded during the few visits I made to Shawell between January and March. This was of course to avoid...
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