Sunday 13 January 2013

Gulling Gets Going Again - eyes peeled for white wingers

It's only this past week that there's been an influx of large gulls into Colwyn Bay. I noted several large feeding flocks along Llanddulas, Colwyn Bay, through to Colwyn Bay. A few Lesser black backed Gulls have arrived with them and some  presumed 'argentatus' Herrings. Hopefully a few white wingers soon or that mythical Caspian that we all want. Eyes peeled.

The first adult Lesser black backed of the year to arrive in fields by Rhos on Sea Golf course. It amazes me that you only have to travel east or south and you encounter birds in winter, but along this stretch of the coast, they don't usually arrive until the middle of February The bird asleep om the right is quite possibly a Scandinavian Herring Gull by the look of the darker shade mantle.
Two large Herring Gulls that are probably 'argentatus'. The shade of grey on the adult was certainly a tad darker than our local birds accompanying it, while the bird on the left was quite striking compared to the other non-adult birds. I presume it's a dark looking retarded second winter as quite a few grey feathers were on the mantle. Any opinions welcome though.

1 comment:

  1. I certainly agree with Marc's comments. This morning off Point Lynas, there were up to 3000 large gulls feeding offshore. Quite a spectacular sight, and one of the largest concentrations I've seen off the island. They were feeding in a frenzy on some kind of shoaling fish, maybe shrimps. Lots of LLB gulls, but try as I might I couldn't find a 'white winger'. With the winds in the north west, its likely that some of this food supply could get washed up on the North Wales coast. More locally to me, Red Wharf Bay would certainly be worth a look. Hundreds of auks and Kittiwakes also involved in the feeding.

    ReplyDelete