234 med gulls inland in Hampshire? (1 Viewer)

Birdguides reports:
234 at Church Road, Cheriton, Hampshire this morning.

Surely that's either a mistake or a record inland count for med gulls?
Chris

Large inland feeding flocks are not that unusual in Hampshire once they have found a couple of recently ploughed fields to feed in.

We do get some strange sightings in Hampshire, but like Ginge_meister says above, this one is quite plausible.

Badminston Gravel pits, where I have been this morning coincidentally, had a couple of huge gatherings of Meds a few years ago (500+). This was pretty much on the coast (1-2km inland), but the habitat has now changed, and the Gulls no longer gather here. I guess this illustrates that the numbers are present in the County, and with loss of such sites as the Badminston piggery, they will be forced to find other areas.

https://sites.google.com/site/localpatch/badminston

Peter

scary-canary said:

Birdguides reports:
234 at Church Road, Cheriton, Hampshire this morning.

Surely that's either a mistake or a record inland count for med gulls?
Chris

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure if it's submitted it would be a record count for Hants in November - 70 at the coast would be a good count this time of year as most Meds have moved west. Inland counts of around 40 do occur in late summer.

20,000 meds have been recorded at inland reservoirs in Spain in winter - but I guess you mean in the UK!