[reg]

i was out for a walk at the sea yesterday (NE scotland , just above aberdeen) and saw what i think was a Lesser black-backed gull. it had very yellow feet and was about the right size compared to all the herring gulls and the odd great black-backed gull around it. But it's wings were as black nearly as a great black-backed gull. in my little bird book it talks about a NW europe race having darker wings than the UK one. does anyone think it might have been one of those? do we get them over here?

[Colin]

Hi Reg,
At one of the sightings websites for yesterday, there was a report of Larus fuscus fuscus at Nosterfield, Northumberland. The key feature is the TRUE black wings, like the colour of the Great Black-backed Gull. The usual race in this country is Larus fuscus graellsi but there is one in between and is called 'intermedius' if my memory serves me correctly.


Colin

[reg]

thanks for the reply Colin. the wings did look very dark and it was quite hard to tell any difference to the great black-backs that were quite close to it. i'm pretty new to birdwatching so i could not say for sure. all quite interesting though :)

[Harry Hussey]

I think that your bird was almost certainly a Lesser Black-backed Gull of the race intermedius,which can approach fuscus in darkness of the upperparts.Fuscus is likely to be very rare in western Europe,whereas intermedius is a regular visitor to the east coast of Britain in particular.