A couple of Gulls

Dogsthorpe tip in Peterborough isn`t a particularly attractive site when it comes to bird watching, it is, however the best site in the area for getting views of the rarer gulls the U.K. has to offer.

As I have mentioned before, Josh Jones is one of the areas top birders and one of his passions is gull watching. He is often found searching the tip and its surrounding fields for gulls of all kinds and today was no exception. Josh called me at lunch time to say that he had `got` an Iceland Gull at the tip, but I could not get there for an hour or so due to work commitments and when I arrived on site the bird had disappeared, but Josh had just found a second-winter Caspian Gull, which he duly put me on to.

Caspian Gull

Caspian Gull

We then searched the large number of gulls present to see if the Iceland Gull was anywhere to be seen. It wasn`t and when a Red Kite `buzzed` through putting all the gulls in the air we decided to check out the fields adjacent to the tip. Sure enough, there in the front of the flock was the Iceland Gull, a lovely pale juvenile.

Iceland Gull (looking right)

Iceland Gull 

These digiscoped shots are really just for the record and don`t really show the gulls to their full potential. The Iceland Gull, in particular was a lovely looking gull, completely pale, `biscuity` colouration.

Gulls

I am a bit of a pedant when it comes to the term "Gull". The common terminology for these (mostly) white birds is Seagull, but let me tell you, there is no such bird as a Seagull, they are GULLS, Black-headed ones, Herring ones even Little ones, but not Sea ones!

I may be a pedant about getting the name right, but when it comes to identification of these beasts I am a beginner. Don`t get me wrong, I can I.D. an adult Herring Gull and even pull out an adult Mediterranean Gull in summer plumage from a flock of Black-headed Gulls, but when it comes to the juvenile, 1st winter, 2nd winter etc plumages I am a complete novice! With this in mind I contacted our local Gull expert Josh Jones the other day with a view to get a few pointers. Josh had found a juvenile and 2nd winter Caspian Gull at the local tip and had kindly said that he would give me a tutorial in identifying the birds. The rain was falling and the sky was grey, not ideal conditions, but we gave it a go.

The 2nd winter bird is in the photo below, can you spot it? (Click on the photo to make it larger)

The photo below shows the bird at a slightly closer range. The bird right in the middle of the shot, looking to the left, looking very pale, that`s the one! This bird, once I got my eye in stuck out like a sore thumb, it was a huge hulk of a beast, with a large straight bill. Josh told me that he thought it was a male.


The photo below shows the juvenile bird. Again, can you pick it out from the other Gulls present?

It is the one directly to the right of the Black Back. Again, a large bird, with a large straight black bill and pale head and again, once I got my eye in, fairly obvious!

The photo below shows the same bird in an aggressive frame of mind attacking a juvenile Herring Gull. The Caspian Gull is the one with very pale underwings, a useful pointer to the I.D.


Josh is amazingly knowledgeable on these birds, he is able to pull out juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls from a group of 20 juvenile Herring Gulls, all looking the same to the untrained eye. He is also extremely patient with a numpty like me, pointing out various key features to identifying these birds. I cannot recommend highly enough a visit to his blog where he explains in more detail the various key features of these birds, click here to have a look.

Thanks to Josh`s help I have a little more knowledge in these magnificent creatures, but they are definitely not Seagulls!