What a fantastic morning, bright blue sky and sunshine although the stiff breeze was a bit on the chilly side. I spent several hours at the washing pit next to Allerton tip, and although all the gulls were facing the same way into the wind, unfortunately they were mostly tail on. Still, had some good views of the assorted gulls present, and at least 3 Iceland Gulls, probably all 2nd-years, and a 2nd-year Glaucous flew over, perching briefly on the far shore.
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| 2nd-year Glaucous Gull |
After a couple of minutes it took off with most of the other gulls and one of the photos I took managed to get it and an Iceland together. Interestingly, there is a hint of a tail-band showing on the Glaucous, so possible some Herring Gull genes in there somewhere, and it also has a primary missing and some oil on the left wing.
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| Iceland Gull (upper), Glaucous Gull (lower) |
Every now and again, the gulls would fly up, often due to one of a couple of Red Kites which flew back and forth over the site.
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| Red Kite |
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| Red Kite |
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| Red Kite |
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| Red Kite |
A small selection of other gull photos were taken. The vast majority of birds present were immature birds, as one would expect for species that take 2-4 years to become full adults.
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| Herring Gull (left) and Black-headed Gull (right), both 1st-winters |
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| Herring Gull (left) and Common Gull (right), both 1st-winters |
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| Herring Gull (upper), Common Gull (lower), both 1st-winters. |
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