Put the Gulls on Ice

Tuesday January 20th turned out to be an excellent day for viewing gulls at Shawell A5 Lagoons. The gulls had gathered on ice, which had formed on the lagoon. The views were great and the gulls were close enough to get some reasonable images.

An adult Caspian Gull stood at the back of the pack and spent nearly all the time hunched up. It flapped its wings just the once but it held its wings open after the last flap and revealed a text book primary pattern. Its eyes were a brown colour and its legs were greyish pink.

Hunched Up Adult Caspian Gull

Adult Herring Gull

Four adult Yellow-legged Gulls were resting on the ice. They were obviously not used to ice as I watched two of them slipping and sliding.

Adult Yellow-legged Gull

I read fourteen colour-rings including three Lesser Black-backed Gulls that were ringed on Guernsey.

Adult Black-headed Gull, 2CDT

The colour-ringed Black-headed Gull had been recorded at Newton in Warwickshire on December 26th 2014 indicating that it probably roosts at Draycote Water.

Lesser Black-backed Gull