[davidearlgray]

Hi Neil et al, here is a couple of shots of the gulls yesterday at Albert Village Lake (AVL).
Cheers,
Dave.
http://davidearlgray.blogspot.com/

[nexstarneil]

Thanks Dave
The 2nd W eye shows up nicely on the Glauc. Any pics of the Caspians?
Meant to add to my post about Gull numbers. I think they are down at Shawell because many bin collections were canceled due to the snow (no comment) and when I went on Friday there were no dumpers dumping so presumably ... no food ... no birds is probably the truth of it.
Neil

[nexstarneil]

Steve was at Shawell yesterday and there were no gulls (Sunday can often be hit and miss). Today the tip was working again and the birds were back but as with many 'post weekend' visits the mix looked different, suggesting the departure of some and the arrival of others. There were for instance no colour ringed birds on the ice whereas last week there were many. There was a smart 1stW Caspian which I'd not seen before so this is probably new.

[davidearlgray]

Myself and Neil Hagley checked out Shawell GPs Balancing Pool by the A5 this afternoon. Almost the first bird I got on to was an adult Ring-billed Gull in the gull flock.
So over the next half an hour Neil and myself made sure it was an adult Ring-billed and ticked off all the important features and then phoned out the news of the bird.
Other gulls we saw at this site included at least 3 Caspian Gulls (2 Adts and 1 2nd Winter) and up to 3 Yellow legs.
Thanks to Neil for his help on the bird and the Groby crew who joined us later!
In due course I will add a couple of photos of the bird.
Cheers,
Dave.
http://davidearlgray.blogspot.com/

[davidearlgray]

Hi all, here is a few shots of the Ring-billed Gull at Shawell Balancing Lake this afternoon.
If this record is accepted? It will be only the sixth record for Leicestershire & Rutland!
Cheers,
Dave.

[draycotebirding]

Nice one Dave and Neil, now all we have to do is find it at Draycote
Tim tried this evening but I think by the time it left Shawell (if it went with most of the other gulls) he was battling with the light.

Regards

John

[Richard Powell]

Makes you wonder if it's the same RB Gull that was at Priorslee Lake in Telford recently. Commuting along the A5 possibly?

[nexstarneil]

Originally Posted by nexstarneil

Here's the story of just one, courtesy of Peter Stewart:-
Lesser Black-backed Gull
FH21367 N 10 Ringed 22/11/08 SGD Stoke Orchard landfill site, Gloucestershire. 51.56N 02.06W

S 12 Sighted 03/01/10 PFS Throckmorton landfill site, Worcestershire (22 km, N, 1 yr 42days)

S 12 Sighted 07/01/10 SH Shawell landfill site, Leicestershire (82 km, NE, 1 yr 46days)

I'm hoping it's brought the Ring-billed Gull with it from Throckmorton.

Well I never! Funilly enough Dave will tell you that the only feature I was umming & ahhing over was the broadness of the white on the lower tertials but the pic I've seen of the Throckmorton bird seems to show this too, so perhaps it did follow the LBBG after all.

[davidearlgray]

Originally Posted by Richard Powell

Makes you wonder if it's the same RB Gull that was at Priorslee Lake in Telford recently. Commuting along the A5 possibly?

Hi Richard, I think the Ring-billed has probably come from Throckmorton, Worcs looking at the photos?
Also looking at your blog, Albert Village Lake is usually better in the week, as the tip is closed on the sunday!
Hope this helps?
Cheers,
Dave.
http://davidearlgray.blogspot.com/

[Brian Stretch]

Originally Posted by davidearlgray

Hi Richard, I think the Ring-billed has probably come from Throckmorton, Worcs looking at the photos?
Also looking at your blog, Albert Village Lake is usually better in the week, as the tip is closed on the sunday!
Hope this helps?
Cheers,
Dave.
http://davidearlgray.blogspot.com/

Hi Dave,

I agree that the RBG is likely to be the Throckmorton bird. The head pattern appears similar with that white inner 'semi-collar' formed by the dark streaking. It hasn't been seen at Throckmorton since January 3rd and before its initial appearance there on December 27th it had been noted at Gloucester landfill site, so it would appear there is a link along the Severn/Avon valley.

Brian
_______________________________
www.birdingtoday.co.uk
www.worcesterbirding.co.uk
www.westmidlandsbirding.co.uk

[davidearlgray]

Hi Brian, yes I think there is a link with the Severn/Avon valley, as one of last year's Iceland Gull at Shawell GPs looked like a bird which had been photographed at Throckmorton Tip a few days earlier.
Cheers,
Dave.

[davidearlgray]

No joy for the twitchers this morning at Shawell GPs(No Sign of the Ring-billed Gull) but at least one adult Caspian Gull noted by the group of birders!
Cheers,
Dave.

[nexstarneil]

Dave has captured some nice images with his digi kit but I thought this one I took is a useful marker to show how much smaller Ring-billed Gull is than your standard 'large' gulls yet noticeably larger than Common Gull.

[nexstarneil]

New bird at Shawell today was a 2nd winter Med Gull. The German ringed adult Med Gull was also present plus assorted usual stuff.

[Richard Powell]

Great stuff Dave, interesting to know that it's likely to have come from Worcestershire.

I should've known better about checking Albert Village on a Sunday. But I did get onto the roaming 2nd winter Glauc eventually that day, at Chasewater.

Just out of interest, is the Shawell tip also shut on Sundays?

Originally Posted by davidearlgray

Hi Richard, I think the Ring-billed has probably come from Throckmorton, Worcs looking at the photos?
Also looking at your blog, Albert Village Lake is usually better in the week, as the tip is closed on the sunday!
Hope this helps?
Cheers,
Dave.
http://davidearlgray.blogspot.com/

[davidearlgray]

Originally Posted by Richard Powell

Great stuff Dave, interesting to know that it's likely to have come from Worcestershire.

I should've known better about checking Albert Village on a Sunday. But I did get onto the roaming 2nd winter Glauc eventually that day, at Chasewater.

Just out of interest, is the Shawell tip also shut on Sundays?

Hi Richard, yep Shawell is also closed on a sunday and its a bit hit and miss on saturday as well because the tip closes on saturday afternoon.
On the subject of best days to visit these sites is usual later in the week (Weds to Sat) as the gull numbers seem to increase as the week goes on, and if you notice via my blog that the rarer gulls I have found are usual on thursday or a friday!
Hope this helps?
Cheers,
Dave.
http://davidearlgray.blogspot.com/

[davidearlgray]

Originally Posted by nexstarneil

New bird at Shawell today was a 2nd winter Med Gull. The German ringed adult Med Gull was also present plus assorted usual stuff.

As Neil said here is a couple shots of the Med Gulls and 2nd winter Yellow-legged Gull at Shawell yesterday.

[nexstarneil]

The wintering ad Med Gull was on the main A5 pool at lunchtime. There are loads of gulls in the area but with many of the ad type Herring gulls now looking pretty smart and white headed it is getting difficult scanning for scarcer stuff.

[nexstarneil]

Adult & 2nd winter Med Gulls plus an adult Caspian Gull at the A5 pool this lunchtime.

[davidearlgray]

Hi Neil, looks like the same bird which was at Shawell a couple of weeks ago!
Off from work tomorrow so will try and have look at Shawell before the rugby?
Cheers,
Dave.

[nexstarneil]

At the tip today 2 Caspian Gulls (ad & 2ndW), ad Yellow-legged gull and the German ringed ad Med Gull. I didn't check the A5 pools.

I can confirm that the tip does operate on Saturday mornings till about 11am so there will still be gulls around in to the afternoon. Closed on Sunday obviously so not a good day to try.

[davidearlgray]

Hi Neil, it looks like that there's a idiot with a catapult around on saturday mornings as I saw him by the A5 pool firing at the gulls and ducks. So maybe the tip would be better on this day?
Good to hear you got access to the tip, next we need access to do some cannon netting!!
Cheers,
Dave.

[nexstarneil]

I went today hoping that the 1stW Glauc that Tim had seen in the roost at Draycote yesterday had come this way, it hadn't .. grrr. There was however an ad & 3rdW (new bird) Caspian, ad Y-L Gull and the German Med Gull. It is amazing that with the thousands of birds there I see the Med virtually every visit. I even saw it with its head in a tin can feeding on the tip last Friday.

Just a bit of gen, it seems the falconer comes most week days about 10 and clears the gulls with a starting pistol about 10.30. He then stays with one of his birds in tow until late afternoon. In between the birds generally stay off but then pounce the moment he walks away. That means until mid morning most birds will be on or around the tip so the pools are likely to have limited action. The pools seem to peak early afternoon, hope this helps with planning visits.

[davidearlgray]

Originally Posted by nexstarneil

I went today hoping that the 1stW Glauc that Tim had seen in the roost at Draycote yesterday had come this way, it hadn't .. grrr. There was however an ad & 3rdW (new bird) Caspian, ad Y-L Gull and the German Med Gull. It is amazing that with the thousands of birds there I see the Med virtually every visit. I even saw it with its head in a tin can feeding on the tip last Friday.

Just a bit of gen, it seems the falconer comes most week days about 10 and clears the gulls with a starting pistol about 10.30. He then stays with one of his birds in tow until late afternoon. In between the birds generally stay off but then pounce the moment he walks away. That means until mid morning most birds will be on or around the tip so the pools are likely to have limited action. The pools seem to peak early afternoon, hope this helps with planning visits.

Hi Neil, may get time tomorrow morning to look for the gulls at Shawell, will let you know what I see?(Hopefully a 1st winter Glaucous!!)
Cheers,
Dave.

[Steve Lister]

A tip from a certain well-known birding ex-police traffic inspector....

It is illegal to park in the obvious gateway by the Newton turning (unles you drive right downinto the gate). So be warned. But don't mention it to the catapult-kid who always parks there.

Steve