'White-wingers' and Bloody Welsh Wingers!

1st-winter Glaucous Gull

Before I start, I must congratulate the Welsh on their emphatic victory over England today in the six-nations rugby tournament. It hurts, but I've been around long enough to know that our day will come again. 

The day started off with heavy rain, so I set off later than normal to Shawell. There wasn't that many gulls on show at the landfill site, so I made my way to the A5 Lagoons, but there wasn't many there either. I could see a huge flock in the distance resting on an old section of the tip, so it was a case of waiting for them to come to me.

The flock did take to the wing eventually, but most of them flew straight over my head and into Warwickshire. Luckily some stopped off and amongst them was a large male 2nd-winter Caspian Gull, which has been a regular at the site for a while now.

Shortly after I found a new juv/1st-winter Glaucous Gull. It was smaller than the one I found on 22/03/13 and its plumage was slightly more patterned than the previous individual. This bird is almost certainly the same one that has been regular at Draycote Water recently.

I have seen six different 'white-wingers' in the Shawell area so far this year: two Iceland and four Glaucous Gulls. Just 3rd-winter and adult Glaucous Gulls needed to complete the full set of Glaucs. In 2012 it was all Iceland Gulls, but this year Glaucous is the dominant species.