Caspian Gulls ~ 1st. W ~ Dungeness, Kent - 29.01.17

The weekend of the 28th and 29th was typically overcast and dull but the gulls certainly were not with two 1st. winter Caspians on Saturday and then three 1st. W & a 2nd. W on Sunday, totalling four individual birds ...

Caspian Gull ~ 1st. W #1

I first photographed this bird on 18.12.16

Caspian Gull ~ 1st. W #2

New bird #24

Caspian Gull ~ 1st. W #3

New bird #26

Herring Gull ~ 1st. W ~ Pale variant ~ Dungeness, Kent - 29.01.17

In amongst the feeding frenzy this pale 1st. winter Herring Gull caught my attention with its light biscuit coloured plumage, I was hoping it was something else, but my hopes were dashed ...

Caspian Gull ~ 1st. W ~ X060 ~ Dungeness, Kent - 21.01.17

Today we had the company of Andy L on a lovely sunny afternoon in calm easterly winds with the temperature about 0 degrees ..

Out went the offerings and scanning through the first lot of gulls to rest on the beach was a German yellow rung 1st. W. Caspian ...

Rung on the 06.06.16 from a mixed colony in Brandenburg, Germany.

It was next seen on the 29.09.16 at Westkapelle by Maarten Van Kleinwee
see here ...
Gulls to the Horizon

Then seen on the 25.11.16 at Dungeness by Mike Baldock ?

Then again at Dungeness on 21.01.17

Thanks Ronald Klein for a speedy reply with the birds details ...

Iceland Gull ~ Juv ~ Dungeness, Kent - 15.01.17

After an hour with nothing of note coming in at The Puddles, it was a tough decision when 2 Icelands were found at The Patch by DW, its raining, dull and overcast yet its nice and warm in the car ...

Another half hour and it just had to be done, in a rare occurrence probably rarer than two icelands together, the usual beach spot was temporarily left for The Patch, they were both still there and couldn't be tempted in ...

Here is a record of one that came to within half a mile ...

Iceland Gull ~ Juv

  

Glaucous Gull ~ Juv ~ Dungeness, Kent - 14.01.17

Late in the afternoon out of what seemed nowhere came in a super smart juvenile Glaucous, this bird was even more lazy than the casp, it just didn't want to move, eventually it managed a fly round and sat and did nothing which was where we left it ..

Glaucous Gull ~ Juv

Caspian Gull ~ 1st. W ~ Dungeness, Kent - 14.01.17

The regular caspian lived up to its status and showed well by the fishing boats, Dungeness but would keep drifting off  towards The Fish Hut only to return ..

No flight opportunities as it was extremely lazy and preferred to walk about ..

Cantabrian Gull ~ 1st. W ~ Larus michahellis lusitanius - Dec' 16

Larus michahellis lusitanius

Cantabrian Gull

A sub-species of  Yellow-legged Gull from the Basque region of Spain ..

Here are links to more lusitanius ...

Adult Winter birds

3rd. Winter birds

2nd. Winter birds

L.m. lusitanius egg lay approximately one month later the norminate L.m.m  

The following images were all taken at two location, Ondarroa Harbour and Getaria Harbour last week in December '16 ...

1st. Winter birds

A few more moult cycles and these will look like this ....

Thanks to Antonio Gutierrez for the contact info ..

Thanks to Asier Aldalur for your time given on the two days ..

Thanks to Alfredo Herrero for the ringing details ..

Good to meet Javi Elorriaga, Juan Carlos Andres and Xabi Saralegi ..

See you all again soon ...