adult White winger - Nottinghamshire, England (1 Viewer)

The attached was at Cotham Tip for a short time yesterday, initial thoughts were of a Glauc but on seeing it in profile i was concerned by the long primary projection and also by the extensive red around the gonys...... in flight (which was more Iceland-like than Glauc-like due to long thin wings) there was no traces of black/grey in the tail or primaries which turned me away from Herring influence despite it having a very Herringy jizz.
I forwarded a few pics around for further comment when i got home and received a rather unhelpful (but perhaps unsurprising) mixed bag of answers from Herring Gull to Viking Gull to small female Glauc!
I'm pretty open minded about it but the fact i wanted a second opinion must mean there is something perhaps not quite right with it....

And do we actually get the Alaskan form barrovianus over here? any ringing records? as that would seem to fit, certainly in terms of structure and mantle tone (ie close to argenteus HG or B-H Gull).

Cheers
Dean

Same bird:https://twitter.com/benwardbirder/status/833072476779343876?

Might be a stupid question, but what rules out Iceland?

stevethehydra said:

Might be a stupid question, but what rules out Iceland?

Click to expand...

I think the bill is too long and the other proportions (eye size, length of feet, etc.) are also better for a larger species. I'm not an expert either, though.