An Icey Gull Roost

Hi readers, I wasn't planning on doing a normal birding round up post this week but yesterday evenings success warranted a quick post on a visit to Chasewater. We arrived at Chasewater to a mildly cold evening, but the light was perfect until later on in the evening going towards 5 o'clock. We got to Chasewater and did a quick scan of the gulls with no success. So we went for a quick toilet break at the Train Station and returned back too find a big group of birders where we were. Almost instantly I spotted a stunning adult Iceland Gull I was surprised that nobody else had caught the bird as it was quite close in and showing well. It was the first I had seen this year and the best adult bird I had seen in a while. Plenty of Yellow Legged Gulls were showing well throughout the evening also. I know a third winter Caspian Gull was also seen but I must have missed that bird at the time. It was good to see a few familiar faces all after the possible Thayers Gull that didn't show up in the end.

I also managed to find another white winged gull out with the gulls it looked promising for another adult Iceland Gull however what was different about it was the black tip to its bill, the bird was defiantly another white winged gull due to the slightly brown or dirtier head it had. From online reports the bird must have been concluded as being a white winged Herring Gull. John Holian also put us on an interesting leucistic Black Headed Gull out with the other black headed Gulls. Overall with the Iceland Gull in the bag it was a good evening out. We spend the morning at Sandwell Valley with the Pintail being the only star bird seen. It was a very successful evening at Chasewater a lot of people turned up to try and find the possible Thayers Gull but as far as I know no luck was had.

It's a shorter post this time but I think the fact we got an Iceland Gull makes up for that especially in adult form such a great bird to see and even better that I spotted it! I'm not sure when the next post will be but it will be soon so keep a look out for the next post. What adds to this post being so short is the fact that I didn't have my camera with me at all, all day so there are no pictures to post from the day, if there are photographs bellow then they have been taken before hand on different days.

Kittiwake at Chasewater last year. 

Little Gull at Gailey back in 2013. 

Adult Glaucous Gull at Chasewater back in 2013

Hope you like the series of Gull pictures I got out of the old folders I have hanging around on my computer, I figured they relate to the main post in a sense anyway to they fit in well. 

Thanks for reading and have a good week all- WB