Shawell Again

Since my last update I have visited Shawell a few more times. One of the highlights for me is welcoming back returning colour-ringed gulls. The Herring Gull pictured below returned to Shawell on December 17th. It was ringed in Finland in 2007 and since 2014 it has wintered at Shawell. Today I saw a Herring Gull that was colour-ringed near Kings Lynn. I have seen that one (1Z1B) ever winter since 2012. I also saw German ringed Caspian Gull (XNDJ) again today - that one has also been returning to Shawell regularly since 2014.

Adult Herring Gull (note the yellow legs), Colour-Ringed in Finland C02CN

The A5 Lagoons are a bit hit and miss these days, due to disturbance from various creatures including a man who walks round the edge of the lagoons fairly regularly. I haven't caught up with him for a chat yet, but I will. As a consequence I have been devoting most of my time to watching the gulls at the sand quarry next to Cotesbach Landfill site. The good thing there is that all the gulls have there legs out of the water. As a result I get to read more colour-rings.

There are at least seven Caspian Gulls around at present: three adults, one 4CY, two 3CY, one 2CY and one 1CY. The 1CY was seen by Martin Elliot, but I can see from his photo that I saw it in both September and October.

The 2CY in the video below showed very well this afternoon. The video doesn't do it full justice as the lovely silver grey of the mantle and the median coverts has lost something. Nevertheless it shows how distinctive the body shape is compared to the nearby Herring Gull.