Saturday 29 January 2011

Trench Pool - Yellow legged Gulls

A Saturday morning check of the Telford Gull haunts put Trench Pool once again in pole postion! There were only a dozen or so large Gulls present amongst the 200 odd Blacked-headed Gulls and two of these were Yellow-legged Gulls!!

The first - a 1st Winter Yellow-legged Gull , initially seen on a buoy and then on the ice - quite distinctive with white head, dark eye mask and substantial deep bill.










Also present was this 2nd Winter Yellow-legged Gull. The grey mantle and scapulars develop much quicker than in Herring Gull of comparable age








In flight the white rump and black tail band (already breaking) are quite striking coupled with that grey mantle....









I had been waiting on news from Clayhanger Marsh regarding the Great Northern Diver reported the previous day, it was now reidentified as a Black-throated Diver! The short journey there became a little compelling.....