Wednesday, March 17, 2010



Richmond bank,

A mistle thrush was in full song as I arrived at the bank today and a smart male stonechat perched on a small hawthorn was a new arrival. My luck was in this morning and after only 10 minutes scanning through the gulls I had bagged a juv glaucous gull and a beautiful 1stw winter caspian gull. The low sun made viewing difficult early on but the clouds soon crept in to take away the glare.
The 1st winter caspian gull was seen throughout the morning on 3 different occasions, right up to when the tide covered the bank at 12. 30pm . It was an aggressive individual and was seen attacking nearby gulls with its wings raised in the classic albatross posture. It was also seen long calling but I could not hear it as it was distant and very breezy. A white underwing was seen as it raised its wings. This is obviously a different bird from the one Gavin had on Saturday as it has no ring on its leg.
The juv Glaucous gull was only seen briefly before it flew across the river towards the tip. 2 1stw yellow legged gulls also today.










1st winter caspian gull into the sun

1st winter caspian gull


A rather small elegant 1st winter lesser black backed gull was interesting. A huge 1st winter herring gull eyes it up.


juv glaucous gull


Caspian gull the movie

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