50 Shades of Gull.....
Ho hum - it's
that time of year, local news grinds to a halt and national updates are few and far between. Not much change down at
MSPark or the
Golden Puddle, 2 Little Grebes still present and Tufties comprising 7m and 4f. The only thing that offers a glimmer of hope at either location are the fluctuating numbers of Gulls. Birds come in to MSP each day and most depart at dusk, weekends seem to be busier but there are more families with that alluring combination of kids and bread! The sight of a large gull carrying off a kid would make my day that's for sure.....:eek!:
Situated in a land-locked and coastline-deprived area is
no fun. OK we have Englands 2nd biggest river locally but we have the less interesting 'upper' rather than the more productive 'lower' Severn. For me the intrigue does'nt start until it reaches Slimbridge/Sharpness but i do have a narrowboat that will be down there next Spring at some stage so a new, albeit seasonal, local patch beckons.
This preamble brings me to.....
Gulls. To most people they generally look the same and can be divided into small ones and big ones. To a % of birders the scenario is not much more advanced - people seem to have a blind-spot or an unwillingness to engage in aging the things! I am not saying that it is initially easy or that it can be both confusing and frustrating but time spent learning the moult sequences can pay dividends and set one apart from the non-
Larophile.....the dreaded
Larophobe. I don't have access to large gatherings of gulls,
Wildmoor Tip notwithstanding, and my days of visiting concrete bowls such as
Belvide, Blithers and Chasewater are well and truly over. Fair play to those that do and it yields results but i will let others carry the baton. My Gulling is limited to 2 local pools, a couple of tips, nearby fields and whatever flies over to roost at the larger regional reservoirs such as Bittel and Edgbaston. Make the most of these gatherings, particularly the larger spp, as EU legislation regarding organic landfill will mean that numbers will inevitably drop as food becomes scarcer and our own watered-down version of the vulture-drenched Serengeti will become a distant memory.
Not having either large numbers to sift through or, potentially, a great variety makes the job much simpler. Cutting your teeth on the common stuff that occurs around here is ideal practice for any scarcer or rarer species that are likely to occur. Generally speaking the smaller Black-Headed types mature in 2 years/3cy and the larger Herring Type in about 4 years/5cy. As a rule of thumb the more a gull resembles the adult in the field guide the older and thus nearer to plumage maturity it is? Transitional periods encompassing 2 different plumage types i still find confusing but maybe that's just me.
They go from Brown / to Brown with a bit of Grey / to Grey with a bit of Brown / then several shades of Grey.....Easy is'nt it? All the stuff i see is close enough to identify, age and photograph and only consists of Black-Headed, Lesser Black-Backed and Herring. Common and Great Black-Backed (apart from Wildmoor) are 2/3 times annually and Yellow-Legged about the same with 4 records at Withymoor. Not far away are the 'hotspots' of Fens Pools, Netherton and Sheepwash. All these locations attract more larger gulls, 25-50 birds on average. Gulls attract gulls generally of the same type. If you visit a large reservoir check any lone gull that is loafing adjacent often a different species can be found choosing its own company.
Scarcer species include, perhaps the smartest member (imho), the Mediterranean Gull - i have only ever found one locally and that was from the top of a bus, thankfully stuck in traffic, in a park near Bearwood. This is a good candidate to be found lurking amongst the local BHG's. Yellow-Legged are more frequent, Juveniles are distinct and the sub-ads just require scrutiny and confidence. You could start by paying more attention when abroad where they are usually the commonest large Gull, certainly in a European context. How many of us just pass them off without looking that closely? I know i have. Caspian Gull is becoming more frequent now that the features are better known but it still takes experience to identify one with confidence particularly the non adult birds. I think it is a description species for Staffordshire and possibly other Midland counties.
The much-vaunted
'weather-bomb' proved rather benign around these parts but the residual effect could bring in some 'White-Wingers' such as Iceland or Glaucous, which would be nice, don't hold yr breath the last 'invasion' of several hundred individuals brought less than a handful to the region. If you wish to see what conditions were like a few days ago on Iceland then watch this.....
http://www.mbl.is/frettir/sjonvarp/141073/
One site that, for some reason, yields excellent results is
Stubbers Green. The birds are relatively close, viewed with a scope, it is possible to see Iceland, Yellow-Legged and Caspian there because.....i have.
Some links before everybody races off 'scope in hand.....
A link to the Mersey Birders, a comprehensive site with plenty of stuff for beginners.....
http://www.freewebs.com/merseybirders/gullidentificationpage.htm
The North Thames Gull Group ring hundreds and have some exellent in-hand photos of those dirty Essex Gulls.....
http://www.ntgg.org.uk/index.shtml
Our very own Alan Dean, whom i had the pleasure of meeting a number of times on the 'Magic Isles', and former 'Rare Man' has assembled his thoughts here.....
http://deanar.org.uk/wmgulls/gullshome.htm
This bloke's got some good stuff, i've linked it to the Caspian Gull bit.....
http://birdingthedayaway.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/caspian-gulls-getlini-dump-latvia.html
Travelling further afield, Israel and the range of rarer species and races - a link to a two-part presentation.....
http://pt.slideshare.net/warbler/large-gulls-of-israel-id.....and part 2.....
http://pt.slideshare.net/warbler/israel-large-gulls-fast-identification-guide-part-2-5909-4958736
Get Gulling.....
Laurie:t:
Attached - A beginners image of first-Winter type Caspo, the first 50 are the worst and another Chinook, 1 of 2 on the weeks' second overflying of Stourhole.....