Birds in Lincolnshire

White Winged Gulls

White Winged Gulls by Graham Catley

There have now been 6/7 Glaucous, 3 Iceland, 3 Meds, 3 Yellow-legged and 1 Caspian Gull and up to 3 Lesser Black-backs at Bagmoor/Winterton Tip this winter (2001-2002) amongst an estimated 5000 Herring, 3000 Great Black-backs and 5000 Black-headed Gulls.

Noting the recent flush of records of white-winged gulls around the county it may be pertinent to re-state the criteria for ageing first and second winter Glaucous and Iceland Gulls; both species can be very variable in first-winter plumage from the expected?

Pale biscuit coloured birds with obvious cross barring to birds that by January are almost whitish-cream with little evidence of barring. Pallidity is no criteria for ageing. To be sure you have a second winter bird the iris should be pale. All birds with a dark iris are first-winter to first summer birds. The excellent photo of a first-winter at Grimsby Docks by Roy Harvey (see below) shows a pale looking Iceland but note the eye colour and bill pattern. The first-winter Iceland at Bagmoor January 13th 2002 (see below) was also a very pale bird but with a sharply defined two tone bill--the iris though was still dark. By January and especially by February and March first-winter birds can become very faded and look extremely pale indeed. The shots of three different Glaucous Gulls (see below) all first-winters taken at Bagmoor on January 13th 2002 show some of the range of variation in plumage that is possible from a coarsely marked biscuit bird to a very pale individual. The second winter shown also photographed (see below) on the same day shows the more blotchy and mottled plumage typical of a second winter but more importantly it had an obvious pale iris--this feature is visible with a scope at good range but does not show on this photo.

It may also be noteworthy that of 40 Iceland Gulls I have seen in Lincs only two have been second winter birds with two third summer, six adults and 30 first-winter or first-summer birds.

Graham Catley (Usefull LBC Links; Caspian Gull, Caspian Gull more, Kumlien's type Iceland Gull (first-winter type) , Yellow-legged Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Iceland Gull, Glaucous Gull and the LBC Gull Index Page)

Iceland Gull (first winter) Grimsby Docks on January 13th 2002. © Roy Harvey 2002 (Click here to see more photos of this bird)

Iceland Gull (first-winter) at Bagmoor January 13th 2002 © Graham Catley 2002 (More Iceland Gull Pictures)

Glaucous Gull (No.1 1st Winter bird) at Bagmoor January 13th 2002 © Graham Catley 2002

Glaucous Gull (No.2 1st Winter bird) at Bagmoor January 13th 2002 © Graham Catley 2002

Glaucous Gull (No.3 1st Winter bird) at Bagmoor January 13th 2002 © Graham Catley 2002

Glaucous Gull (2nd Winter bird) at Bagmoor January 13th 2002 © Graham Catley 2002

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