[draycotebirding]

Hi Carl I will pm you and Dave a word doc Tim has prepared I think he has sent it to Neil.

Regards

John

[hillwatcher]

7/3/2012: 2w Iceland Gull on hill behind pools with large group of gulls at approx 2.30 pm. Also a 2w Yellow-legged Gull on the main pit and 1000+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the area.

[nexstarneil]

More gardening this time from the other end to allow viewing of both silt ponds and embankments.
3rd W Caspian and at least one 2nd W Yellow-legged. Loads of gulls around the tip plus what there was on the ponds. Five more colour rings but some are virtually unreadable. Come on c-r people put some proper ones on!

[hillwatcher]

I read the colour-ring of a LBB GUll yesterday which turned out to be interesting. Blue ring 687. It was at Frouxeira Lake, Valdovino, Coruna, Spain on 01/03/2012 and Shawell, Leicestershire, England on 08/03/2012. This bird was seen by Steve Lister at Shawell on 12/03/2011. Originally ringed at Stoke Orchard Landfill Site, Gloucestershire in March 2005.

Carl.

[nexstarneil]

Originally Posted by hillwatcher

I read the colour-ring of a LBB GUll yesterday which turned out to be interesting. Blue ring 687. It was at Frouxeira Lake, Valdovino, Coruna, Spain on 01/03/2012 and Shawell, Leicestershire, England on 08/03/2012. This bird was seen by Steve Lister at Shawell on 12/03/2011. Originally ringed at Stoke Orchard Landfill Site, Gloucestershire in March 2005.

Carl.

Thanks Carl
I've had a few of Peter Stewart's birds that have spent time in Spain (in fact AEC at Shawell yesterday has spent time in Malaga). The speed of transit is also remarkable. I had a cold weather movement from Shawell to northern Spain in Jan 2010 that took just a few days. Your northward movement in the same kind of time frame is great, the sexual imperative no doubt!
p.s Draycote had 5 Iceland Gulls yesterday.

[nexstarneil]

Had to drop Jane off in Lutterworth on a quick errand, so I grabbed the chance for 20 mins at the small lagoon. A few more colour rings and this rather nice Iceland which I'd not seen before. There were about 250-300 gulls at the tip picking over the last working. The tip face is now a long way off and many birds were in various depressions and out of view.

[davidearlgray]

Originally Posted by nexstarneil

Had to drop Jane off in Lutterworth on a quick errand, so I grabbed the chance for 20 mins at the small lagoon. A few more colour rings and this rather nice Iceland which I'd not seen before. There were about 250-300 gulls at the tip picking over the last working. The tip face is now a long way off and many birds were in various depressions and out of view.

Nice one Neil, I've got the whole week off from work, so I will be spending most of my time at Shawell and Watermead this week...

[nexstarneil]

very few gulls today and poor viewing (misty). Nothing of note but still a few Icelands at large (Draycote roost).

[nexstarneil]

A few more gulls today and some more colour rings. No wonder there are no white wingers ... they are all at Lawford tip (Glauc & four Iceland reported today)!
Did have two small dark Canada Geese (pic attached). I don't pretend to know much about CG taxonomy so any observations welcomed.

[draycotebirding]

Hi Neil, it was me with the "Gull fest" at Lawford Heath. In the end I had 2 adult, a juv and at least 1 poss 2 second winter birds and a juv Glaucous. Tim and Mark had the second winter bird showing characteristics of AZOREAN YELLOW-LEGGED GULL, 3 Iceland Gulls (adult, second winter and juv) juv Glaucous and 4+ Med Gulls.

Regards

John

[davidearlgray]

Originally Posted by nexstarneil

A few more gulls today and some more colour rings. No wonder there are no white wingers ... they are all at Lawford tip (Glauc & four Iceland reported today)!
Did have two small dark Canada Geese (pic attached). I don't pretend to know much about CG taxonomy so any observations welcomed.

Hi Neil, there were still there in the afternoon! Also did a bit of research on the Geese and there look like Cackling Canada Geese B. h. minima. So must likely a true migrant!?! (Breed in Alaska).
Changing the subject slightly I had a very dark Herring Gull type on the lagoons in the afternoon, so I'm just wondering if this is the 2w Azorean type?

Cheers,
Dave.

[nexstarneil]

thanks John & Dave. What a great day at Lawford.
any pics of the dark one Dave?

[davidearlgray]

Yep I got some distant record shots...probably put them on my blog in the next day or so?

[hillwatcher]

Hi All,

We had good sport at the Shawell A5 lagoons today. The adult Iceland Gull that Neil found last week put in an appearance and at least four Yellow-legged Gulls were seen. Steve Lister and I read quite a few colour rings including a 2nd CY Herring Gull that was ringed as a pullus in Tromso, Norway some 2186 km away. Hopefully I will have some even more interesting news on a colour ringed gull once we get details back on the bird - more about that later.

Cheers,
Carl.

[hillwatcher]

The colour ringed gull at Shawell A5 Lagoons mentioned above turned out to be a hybrid between Yellow-legged Gull and either Herring or Lesser Black-backed Gull. At the time Steve and I were a bit cautious over the birds identification although we would have been very happy if it was a genuine Yellow-legged Gull. The mantle colour seemed slightly too pale and so were its legs considering it was an adult. Most of the time it stood facing us and then flew off when all the gulls were disturbed, so we couldn't study the primaries. It was ringed in the Netherlands. Of course it was very educational and proves the need to check ID's very carefully.

[nexstarneil]

Good stuff Carl, thanks. My personal view is that it is good to know that such birds exist (trapped, ringed and examined in the hand). Rather than putting birders off from looking at gulls they remind us that it's OK to leave some unidentified and concentrate on the ones we can put a name to.

Originally Posted by hillwatcher

The colour ringed gull at Shawell A5 Lagoons mentioned above turned out to be a hybrid between Yellow-legged Gull and either Herring or Lesser Black-backed Gull. At the time Steve and I were a bit cautious over the birds identification although we would have been very happy if it was a genuine Yellow-legged Gull. The mantle colour seemed slightly too pale and so were its legs considering it was an adult. Most of the time it stood facing us and then flew off when all the gulls were disturbed, so we couldn't study the primaries. It was ringed in the Netherlands. Of course it was very educational and proves the need to check ID's very carefully.

[draycotebirding]

Originally Posted by draycotebirding

Hi Neil, it was me with the "Gull fest" at Lawford Heath. In the end I had 2 adult, a juv and at least 1 poss 2 second winter birds and a juv Glaucous. Tim and Mark had the second winter bird showing characteristics of AZOREAN YELLOW-LEGGED GULL, 3 Iceland Gulls (adult, second winter and juv) juv Glaucous and 4+ Med Gulls.

Regards

John

Just to clarify Tim and Marks birds were at Draycote in the roost.

Regards

John

[hillwatcher]

Hi All,

Dave Gray spotted an interesting Iceland Gull today while I was with him. This bird was a 2W, but just like the 'sub-adult' at Draycote Water it appeared to have a dark spot on one of the tertials (right side only). This mark seemed to be a part of the feather rather than just some dirt it has picked up. There were other faint marks on the tertials. Perhaps it is just a dark pigment? Interesting.

Today's bird had very pale eyes, much paler than the other 2w I have seen this year at Shawell. The 2w on the 3rd & 7th March did not have a mark on the tertials and its bill was weaker. There is a mark on the photo of the bird from the 3rd & 7th but on the original image I can see that it is just the end of the tertials not a mark. The one on February 29th had a different bill pattern and was a larger individual, so we have now had six Iceland Gulls if Dave's 2w in early January was a different bird to the other 2w's.

The first two photos of today's bird are not brilliant but the spot is visible. The third image is of the bird from the 3rd & 7th March.

Cheers,
Carl.

[nexstarneil]

Well that was a turn up for the books. There were 107 gulls on the big lagoon today - six species and five colour rings which were all readable.

[hillwatcher]

I was passing the Shawell A5 Lagoons last Wednesday, so I decided to stop and have a look. I counted 27 LBB Gulls loafing about on the muddy shore, so it won't be long before we can start checking the site on a more regular basis again. The viewing area has become overgrown, as my legs found out when the came in contact with the stinging nettles!

[hillwatcher]

Hi All,

I've put in quite a lot of time at Shawell A5 Lagoons since July and have been rewarded with 4 Caspians, a juv. Med Gull and many Yellow-legged Gulls. This Sunday I read the ring on a Black-headed Gull SJ22. It had been ringed at the Zagreb rubbish tip Croatia in 2010 and it is the first record of a BHG ringed in Croatia being re-located in the UK.

More at http://bagawildone.blogspot.co.uk/

[draycotebirding]

Originally Posted by hillwatcher

Hi All,

I've put in quite a lot of time at Shawell A5 Lagoons since July and have been rewarded with 4 Caspians, a juv. Med Gull and many Yellow-legged Gulls. This Sunday I read the ring on a Black-headed Gull SJ22. It had been ringed at the Zagreb rubbish tip Croatia in 2010 and it is the first record of a BHG ringed in Croatia being re-located in the UK.

More at http://bagawildone.blogspot.co.uk/

Nice one Carl, time to get to Draycote, although almost zero chance of reading any ring numbers.

Regards

John

[nexstarneil]

Seems like Shawell has been forgotten but Carl has been making regular visits since late summer and has built up a good series of records and colour ring data. I went this morning and had two Caspian and four Yellow legged Gulls, nine Shoveller and at least one Waxwing over so it's still producing some nice birds.

[hillwatcher]

Hi All,

There was a 1st-winter Glaucous Gull on the tip at Shawell this afternoon. It was a bit distant, but luckily the views were good enough.

Neil have they re-named the tip Cotesbach Landfill or has it always been that?

Cheers,
Carl.

[draycotebirding]

Originally Posted by hillwatcher

Hi All,

There was a 1st-winter Glaucous Gull on the tip at Shawell this afternoon. It was a bit distant, but luckily the views were good enough.

Neil have they re-named the tip Cotesbach Landfill or has it always been that?

Nice one Carl, I guess its heading for Draycote.

Regards

John