Priorslee Lake - Great Black-backed Gull

If you 'not sure' or only think the gull you are looking at might be Great Black-backed Gull, then it's probably a Lesser? They are certainly uncommon in Shropshire but every now and then one drops in at a roost or elsewhere...

The first clue of GBBG jizz is - it's a brute and smaller gulls tend give them a wide berth.

If you are still unsure and there's a few Lessers nearby, the comparison in size is a no brainer decision! The mantle is always greyish black and clearly darker than andy of the Lesser races. The presence of black on the bill may indicate it's a fourth winter rather than full adult winter.

In flight it is more ponderous with head and neck well protruding... 

The barrel shaped body clearly seen here.

Off and away into the light...

The Mere roost - Gulls galore

I hadn't missed much at the Mere and was soon joined by Rob Dowley and Anthony Griffiths, all of us hoping for a repeat show from the first winter Glaucous Gull?

It was not to be but we stuck it out until the bitter end! Amongst the estimated 3,000 Gulls, majority Black-headed (and not a Med in sight), Common were certainly Common, a scattering of Herring, and Lesser Black-backed plus this 4th winter Great Black backed Gull....

If there was a highlight, 2 adult Yellow-legged Gulls, one smallish probable female and here's the bigger of the two...

Mike Stokes and I had scoped the drake Mandarin, way across the mere some 600m away three days previously- it was a tad closer this evening, hiding behind a bush! Just this single 'clear' shot!

The January/Shropshire list rolls on to 83 with Treecreeper, Great Black-backed Gull and Yellow-legged Gull from today :-)