Shawell Tip (3 Viewers)

[davidearlgray]

No sign of any white wingers this morning at Shawell, but I did see a 1st winter Yellow-legged Gull and a probable 1st winter Caspian Gull.
And I concur with the walk to the viewpoint, much more safer now thanks to a bit of gardening!

Cheers,
Dave.

 

[hillwatcher]

Steve Lister and I had a 2w Iceland Gull at Shawell A5 pit today. This was a different individual to the one I saw last Wednesday.

Cheers,
Carl.

 

[hillwatcher]

Photo of Shawell 2W Iceland Gull attached.

Carl.

 

[draycotebirding]

Hi Carl, we had 2 second winter birds in the Draycote roost this evening with a juv and a sub adult bird with strange black spots on the tertials on its left hand side. Would be nice if this bird visits Shawell as it has been distant at Draycote. Also the third winter Glaucous.

Regards

John

 

[hillwatcher]

Hi John,

Good to hear from you.

I'm not sure if I'll get to Shawell in the week, but if I do it looks as though there is still plenty to look for. I'll watch out for the bird with the spots on the tertials.

Cheers,
Carl.

 

[draycotebirding]

Hi Carl I will pm you and Dave a word doc Tim has prepared I think he has sent it to Neil.

Regards

John

 

[hillwatcher]

7/3/2012: 2w Iceland Gull on hill behind pools with large group of gulls at approx 2.30 pm. Also a 2w Yellow-legged Gull on the main pit and 1000+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the area.

 

[Neil Hagley]

More gardening this time from the other end to allow viewing of both silt ponds and embankments.
3rd W Caspian and at least one 2nd W Yellow-legged. Loads of gulls around the tip plus what there was on the ponds. Five more colour rings but some are virtually unreadable. Come on c-r people put some proper ones on!

 

[hillwatcher]

I read the colour-ring of a LBB GUll yesterday which turned out to be interesting. Blue ring 687. It was at Frouxeira Lake, Valdovino, Coruna, Spain on 01/03/2012 and Shawell, Leicestershire, England on 08/03/2012. This bird was seen by Steve Lister at Shawell on 12/03/2011. Originally ringed at Stoke Orchard Landfill Site, Gloucestershire in March 2005.

Carl.

 

[Neil Hagley]

I read the colour-ring of a LBB GUll yesterday which turned out to be interesting. Blue ring 687. It was at Frouxeira Lake, Valdovino, Coruna, Spain on 01/03/2012 and Shawell, Leicestershire, England on 08/03/2012. This bird was seen by Steve Lister at Shawell on 12/03/2011. Originally ringed at Stoke Orchard Landfill Site, Gloucestershire in March 2005.

Carl.

Thanks Carl
I've had a few of Peter Stewart's birds that have spent time in Spain (in fact AEC at Shawell yesterday has spent time in Malaga). The speed of transit is also remarkable. I had a cold weather movement from Shawell to northern Spain in Jan 2010 that took just a few days. Your northward movement in the same kind of time frame is great, the sexual imperative no doubt!
p.s Draycote had 5 Iceland Gulls yesterday.

 

[Neil Hagley]

Had to drop Jane off in Lutterworth on a quick errand, so I grabbed the chance for 20 mins at the small lagoon. A few more colour rings and this rather nice Iceland which I'd not seen before. There were about 250-300 gulls at the tip picking over the last working. The tip face is now a long way off and many birds were in various depressions and out of view.

 

[davidearlgray]

Had to drop Jane off in Lutterworth on a quick errand, so I grabbed the chance for 20 mins at the small lagoon. A few more colour rings and this rather nice Iceland which I'd not seen before. There were about 250-300 gulls at the tip picking over the last working. The tip face is now a long way off and many birds were in various depressions and out of view.

Nice one Neil, I've got the whole week off from work, so I will be spending most of my time at Shawell and Watermead this week...

 

[Neil Hagley]

very few gulls today and poor viewing (misty). Nothing of note but still a few Icelands at large (Draycote roost).

 

[Neil Hagley]

A few more gulls today and some more colour rings. No wonder there are no white wingers ... they are all at Lawford tip (Glauc & four Iceland reported today)!
Did have two small dark Canada Geese (pic attached). I don't pretend to know much about CG taxonomy so any observations welcomed.

 

[draycotebirding]

Hi Neil, it was me with the "Gull fest" at Lawford Heath. In the end I had 2 adult, a juv and at least 1 poss 2 second winter birds and a juv Glaucous. Tim and Mark had the second winter bird showing characteristics of AZOREAN YELLOW-LEGGED GULL, 3 Iceland Gulls (adult, second winter and juv) juv Glaucous and 4+ Med Gulls.

Regards

John

 

[davidearlgray]

A few more gulls today and some more colour rings. No wonder there are no white wingers ... they are all at Lawford tip (Glauc & four Iceland reported today)!
Did have two small dark Canada Geese (pic attached). I don't pretend to know much about CG taxonomy so any observations welcomed.

Hi Neil, there were still there in the afternoon! Also did a bit of research on the Geese and there look like Cackling Canada Geese B. h. minima. So must likely a true migrant!?! (Breed in Alaska).
Changing the subject slightly I had a very dark Herring Gull type on the lagoons in the afternoon, so I'm just wondering if this is the 2w Azorean type?

Cheers,
Dave.

 

[Neil Hagley]

thanks John & Dave. What a great day at Lawford.
any pics of the dark one Dave?

 

[davidearlgray]

Yep I got some distant record shots...probably put them on my blog in the next day or so?

 

[hillwatcher]

Hi All,

We had good sport at the Shawell A5 lagoons today. The adult Iceland Gull that Neil found last week put in an appearance and at least four Yellow-legged Gulls were seen. Steve Lister and I read quite a few colour rings including a 2nd CY Herring Gull that was ringed as a pullus in Tromso, Norway some 2186 km away. Hopefully I will have some even more interesting news on a colour ringed gull once we get details back on the bird - more about that later.

Cheers,
Carl.

 

[hillwatcher]

The colour ringed gull at Shawell A5 Lagoons mentioned above turned out to be a hybrid between Yellow-legged Gull and either Herring or Lesser Black-backed Gull. At the time Steve and I were a bit cautious over the birds identification although we would have been very happy if it was a genuine Yellow-legged Gull. The mantle colour seemed slightly too pale and so were its legs considering it was an adult. Most of the time it stood facing us and then flew off when all the gulls were disturbed, so we couldn't study the primaries. It was ringed in the Netherlands. Of course it was very educational and proves the need to check ID's very carefully.