Moore gulls,
Still good numbers of gulls about today.A 1stw caspain gull was best bird today. A juv glaucous gull , a juv iceland gull, an adult yellow legged gull and a 1stw yellow- legged gull also.

A brute of an argy

A very pale 1st w herring gull with white edges to primaries.

Another pale herring gull

Some interesting gulls at Moore tooday,
A 1st winter caspain gull, a 1stw iceland gull, a couple of adult yellow-legged gulls made it another good days gulling.
A couple of very interesting gulls also.

Gull history,
A herring gull seen on 19 Feb 08 at Birchwood pool, Moore

Recapture History
Blue 767Ring The Severn Estuary Gull Group

number Type Condition Date Init Details
Herring Gull
GC22686 N3 Ringed 16/12/06 SGD near Hempsted, Gloucestershire

S5 Sighted 12/10/07 RG Llanelli WWT, Carmarthenshire (129 km, W, 300 days)
S7 Sighted 19/02/08 ST Birchwood pool, nr Moore, Cheshire (171 km, N, 1 yr 65 days)

A very quick reply from Peter Stewart.

Another good day at Moore NR

A couple of bittern in the late afternoon sun was a real treat. The sun seemed to make them glow. Absolutley gorgeous.
Another caspian gull was best bird though and today I failed to see a white winger although PK had a juv glauc over the tip briefly.

Four ringed gulls spotted today. The rings easier to see today as birchwood pool was frozen.
herring gull 2nd w 767 orange numbers on blue ring
lbb gull adult ADD orange letters on blue ring
herring gull 2nd w WC8U yellow letters on black ring
lbb gull 1st winter WC1P yellow letters on black ring

I have sent these sightings into euring.

Two bittern showed at the eastern reedbed late afternoon.One was in flight and one was sunbathing at the edge of the reeds. 2 water rail also.

A juv marsh harrier flew over Birchwood pool. This bird has been around most of the winter.

A first winter Caspian gull showed mid morning on the frozen pool. Found by PK this is the third caspian gull I have seen this year.

A big first winter caspian gull found a piece of polystyrene entertaining.

One of 4 adult yellow legged gull today

This juv Atgentatus herring gull has only moulted a few mantle and upper scaps by mid february.

Big foot

Hale Marsh,

I was back in cheshire again today albeit a little closer to home. Don't you just love short- eared owls? So graceful floating over the marsh in the late afternoon sun. Two birds on show today.Nice.

Yankie doodle dandy,
A possible American herring gull at Arpley landfill site(Viewed briefly by me at distance from tip perimeter) was a very distinctive bird. Others who had more prolonged views said the tail and rump looked good for 'smithsonianus'.
A juv glaucous gull in flight over the tip and a brute of an juv iceland gull also today.

Birchwood pool,
Another gull filled day at moore nr today. There were not many gulls visiting the pool today but the list is still very impressive. An adult caspian gull was best bird today showing on the pool for only a couple of minutes but I managed a couple of shots as it flew off. A cracking bird!
Also 2 glaucous gulls , 2 iceland gulls, 3 1st w YL gull, and an adult YL gull.
A lesser black backed gull showed 3 times on the pool with yellow wing tags with the letter N on them.

Look at the length of the white tip on P10, the solid thin black mark on P5, and the grey tongues eating into the black wing tip. The real thing.

Adult Caspian gull

An interesting herring gull

Juv iceland gull on birchwood pool. This was a very big iceland probably a male .

A 1st winter yellow legged gull

An adult lesser black backed gull with wing tags on both wings.

Gulls

Still a couple of juv scapulars to moult . Some argenteus can show an almost all dark tail.

2nd winter lesser black backed gull

1stw iceland gull

A couple of hours this morning in the Moore area produced a juv glaucous gull and a juv iceland gull. A couple of adult and a first winter yellow legged gull also. Impressive numbers of gulls today again. I was hoping to see the adult kumliens gull seen yesterday but no luck.

A adult herring gull and an adult lesser black backed gull had the same coloured ring on thier left leg and a metal ring on the right.A dark blue colour ring with 3 orange numbers. I have reported the numbers and colours on euring and it will be interesting to see where these gulls had been rung. Considering that there was about 20000 gulls in the area it was some coincidence that these 2 gulls where standing about 3 metres apart and had the same rings on!

Birchwood pool,
A gull looking very much like a sub adult caspian gull was on birchwood pool today and was followed by a superb juv iceland gull. I saw 3 adult yellow legged gulls but TC had 7 ylg of various ages. TC had an Adult Kumliens on richmond bank earlier and a juv glaucous gull on birchwood pool which I just missed.
A big increase in gull numbers today compared to the last couple of days. Possibly 30,000 gulls in the tip area today. An impressive sight when they have flushed and the sky is completely filled with gulls.

Today At Moore,
The leucistic herring gull showed briefly but I managed to get some flight shots showing its odd plumage. A very smart new juv Iceland gull was also showing well. Gull numbers very low today.

Ricmond bank,

After my initial thought that the above bird was a 3rd w iceland I have changed my mind after recieving an email from JJ. I did have my doubts about this bird and did consider leucistic herring gull but thought it was too small and the bill too slight. I thought the brown marks on the primaries were just dirt after feeding on the tip but after searching a few images of leucistic herring gull I now realise that these are the pale primary marks. An interesting bird and another lesson learnt.

An adult yellow legged gull also today. Very few gulls on show today and no sign of american herring gull.