The Vikings Have Arrived

Over the last week I have seen not one but two Glaucous x Herring Gull hybrids - aka Viking Gulls. Both in the Shawell area.

Both were structurally very similar to Glaucous Gulls - large size, shortish primary projection and large bi-coloured bills. The first one, a first-winter, was a large gull with pale buff upperparts and greyish brown primaries. It had a full greyey brown tail band, which is not that common, but certainly not unprecedented for this hybrid type. The other was a second-winter. When I spotted it it was facing head on and I thought it was a Glaucous, but as it turned sideways on I could see its primaries were not right - too dark.

A Colour-Ringed Glaucous Gull!

He who dares wins!

Today was bitter cold and the light was terrible, but still I headed to Shawell. I had arranged to meet a friend there, so I had to turn up.

I was there first and started to search through the gulls. Initially there was nothing of note, but a juvenile Iceland Gull flew in followed shortly after by a new juvenile Glaucous Gull. The Glaucous Gull was quite a dark individual and obviously different to the three others I've seen this year. The Iceland Gull appeared to the same juvenile that I saw in January.

When Tim arrived the two white-wingers were still there.

Mid-morning I spotted an adult Glaucous Gull and I was surprised to see that it was colour-ringed. Reading the orange ring was very difficult. I knew from the ring that it was a North Thames Gull Group bird. Eventually I managed to read G1NT. It was ringed at Pitsea Landfill Site, Essex in 2015. There are also sightings of this gull from Northamptonshire and Cheshire.

A Video of the Gulls From Herastrau Park Bucharest

I have finally got around to editing some of the video I shot during my trip to Romania.

This was recorded through my scope - enjoy!

First-winter Caspian Gull Influx

So far this month I have seen at least eight different first-winter Caspian Gulls at Shawell. It is interesting that Caspian Gulls seem to arrive in small groups of the same age. Below are a selection of the first-winters I've seen. Only one has moulted many of its coverts. In Bucharest the majority were further advanced with their covert moult than the ones I'm seeing at Shawell. The brown closed wing formed by the solid brown coverts makes these first-winters distinctive.

I still wonder whether the increased number of Caspian Gulls I'm now seeing is a result of a real increase or whether I'm just better at picking them out nowadays?

Another Good session at Shawell

What a beautiful day - excellent visibility, blue skies and very little wind.

This morning thousands of gulls were loafing around in the sand quarry. Amongst them were four Caspian Gulls and a splendid adult Iceland Gull.

Adult Iceland Gull

First-Winter Caspian Gull

The gulls disappeared mid-morning, but luckily they returned in the afternoon and Steve Nichols spotted the juvenile Glaucous Gull that was present last week.

Juvenile Glaucous Gull