FIVE ICELANDS AND A GLAUC !

The Gullfest at Beddington continues, I was joined by T Bros, Dodge, The Brief, Bulldog and The Monk for another excellent days Gulling and the records continue to fall. Our first Iceland put in an appearance about 7:30am and by 9:15am we'd had all five again, we just needed the Glauc again to make it an astounding six big white-wingers in a day. The Glauc duly obliged just after ten and suddenly the Iceland Gulls were all over the lake and everyone was trying to describe where they were and we kept bumping into others. All six white-wingers were on the main lake at the same time ! We have now been labeled the 'Stornoway Harbour of the south' and this is truly a remarkable event. We've had white-wingers up to the end of May in the past so surely there's more to come.

The first winter Glaucous Gull

The first winter Iceland Gull

'New Whitey'. Like a second winter Iceland Gull but it has a dark eye

'Old Whitey' A second winter with the palest iris of all

'New Kid on the Block'. A second winter with a pale eye but not as pale as 'Old Whitey's'. Quite patchy on the mantle

The first winter Kumlien's Iceland Gull with a full crop. Getting more pale now but you can still see the darker webs to the outer primaries and solid tail band at times, especially in flight when the primaries don't contrast to the inner wing (cp a glaucoides) 

First winter Kumlien's Iceland Gull

A second winter bird with the Kumlien's behind it

First winter Glaucous Gull and Iceland Gull. Waited ages for them to come together then they turned their backs on me

There are three Iceland Gulls in this pic but only one is obvious

Our tame Water Rail continues to be bemused by our Gull watching antics