15/03/2011 - With Mike Duckham and Phil Owen, only a third of the total number gulls often present:

4 Yellow-legged Gulls (2 ads, 2.1w's)
10+ argentatus Herring Gulls
many migrant Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Still not Richmond Bank though

Thanks Mike, I only ask for my own clarification but Richmond Bank does refer only to the area of mudflats by Gatewarth. I really don't know the area of any of the sites you mention very well I'm afraid

Mike Mulholland wrote:

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The yellow legged argentatus was with a few hundred gulls at HWH yesterday, first I've come across.
Also Chiffchaff in Owens Wood and Little Owl UMS.

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Mike, are these sightings Richmond Bank or Moore NR?

Over four hours on Saturday 12th produced three Caspian Gulls( 2x1stw and 2ndw), three Iceland Gulls ( 2x 1stw and 2ndw), three Yellow-legged Gulls( 1stw, 2ndw, ad) and 60+ Argentatus including a yellow legged adult.Big increase in LBBs as to be expected.Superb light conditions.

Just an update on y`days stuff. The 1stw Casp found by Gav Thomas was clearly a new individual and not the one from 25th Feb as first thought.

A session with Tom McK and Alyn
3+ Iceland Gulls-at least 2 1st w. and a 2nd w.
7 ad.Yellow Legged Gulls

Four hours today with Pete Berry, 'our Jack' and for a short period Mike Baron:

Beautiful first-winter Caspian Gull showed pre-midday at just about the furthest point of the bank then departed to the tip all too soon. Some half decent record shots were obtained and I'll put them on the galleries when I get home from work tomorrow!

Usual juvenile Glaucous Gull showed very well indeed for a prolonged period.

Juvenile Iceland Gull

3 adult Yellow-legged Gull

The very pale first-winter Herring Gull also put in an appearance.

Single Raven over.

Several Curlew through.

A few hours with Phil in less than ideal conditions due to the strong south/south easterly wind and rain in our faces.
10 ad Yellow Legged Gulls
1st w. Iceland
and a probable 4th w. Caspian Gull,structually looked good for Caspian,but as we didn't get any views of the underwing,its on the one that got away list.

Nice footage Tom, well worth waiting for. Same bird as still present today and I believe the same as from the 2nd December. Certain particular features plus the perfect overall look are identical.

Five hours here today in rather( too) sunny conditions, pleasant though!

Three Caspian Gulls ( two adults, one much brighter billed than t`other and 4thw), very pale juv Glaucous Gull, juv and 2ndw Iceland Gulls, 8 Yellow-legged Gulls( 5ad and 3 2cy) and one adult Med Gull.Also the Russian ringed Argentatus again, managed to get some of the ring details this time!!

But you keep going back for more Jason and that's what counts

Unfortunately Jason (or on the other hand, fortunately as they make the most interesting ones!) there are several very interesting such gulls present in any one sitting at Richmond currently. We had what was possibly the same bird as you on Tuesday just gone and it was something of a puzzler. Potentially easy to (mis)identify as a Caspian it showed very intruiging features but appears to have been a small argentatus with yellowish legs and an underside of p10 any self respecting Caspian would have been proud of. Of course it's not uncommon (in fact regular) for argentatus to display the same sort of outer primary markings as Caspian (both under and upperside) which combined with their increasingly nice white headed look and long wings can be an easy trap for the unwary. We also see a very small handful of birds on each visit which appear to display yellow legs either way. These things don't get any easier!

My simple advise is that (along with Cheshire Rarity Team's view) Caspians should really fit the bill and the full suite of features should apply. If they don't make you go "wow" straight away (which they really ought to) then consider all the options. Of all the many hundreds I've seen near annually for the past decade or so (the vast majority abroad of course!) whilst theres always a handful with less than one or two perfect features (show me two Herring Gulls the same!) they have all still struck me as Caspians. Sure, there'll always be those that attempt to defy identification and indeed may do, certainly in the UK and especially given the seemingly increasing hybridisation problem. With that in mind I think we should always air on the side of caution and wait until those "wow" individuals come along.

Ian McKerchar wrote:

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Ruth, it's on the north bank of the Mersey at Penketh, just west of Warrington, Cheshire. Scroll down this thread and there are directions how to get there should you need them.

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Found it......thanks very much Ian!

Ruth, it's on the north bank of the Mersey at Penketh, just west of Warrington, Cheshire. Scroll down this thread and there are directions how to get there should you need them.

I'll be uploading some video of Wednesday's first Caspian later today, including a pop-shot hardcore spread wing slow-mo sequence showing p5 band, long white tip to p10 and pale tongues on outer primaries - PHWOAR!!! It was a smallish bird, presumably a female, and was textbook perfect.

The second bird was much larger and a couple of things concerned us. The bill colour seemed a deeper yellow (slightly orange) and the legs were pretty short for a Caspian. There was a narrow, but obvious, black band on the bill smudging the gonys, but upperwing in flight showed no traces of immaturity. Upperwing pattern was perfect, though we were still worried about the bill colour and short legs. Thankfully it hung around long enough to eventually start screaming its head off in true Fleetwood Mac fashion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Viqr6KHwJjc

A four hour stint with Tom McKinney today

2 Ad. Caspian Gulls(1 with grey/pinkish legs and one with olivey green/yellow legs)
9 Yellow Legged Gulls
2nd w. Iceland gull
ad Med Gull
plus a bird we saw yesterday with a very pale mantle,as pale as argenteus, and yellow legs(not a y.l. gull)and a bird with michaelis mantle colour,yellow legs,but with a extremely streaky head(not a y.l.gull either)
No doubt Tom will be posting some pics of the birds in the near future.

Three hours here today in truly dreadful weather, constant heavy rain but at least the gulling was good.
An adult Caspian Gull was seen just before the tide came in.A smallish but aggressive individual, it chased away nearby gulls and called often.Interestingly it had probably the most pronounced darker mantle grey shade than any of the other adults I`ve seen here this winter.Paler than YLG and argentatus but clearly a shade darker than argenteus.No black markings on the bill, just a small red gonys spot.All white tip to p10 and a nice band across p5 with obvious grey tongues too.
A small 2CY Iceland Gull was present for most of the session.Really dinky and short-legged with a dusky head and breast contrasting with much paler wing coverts.
Ten Yellow-legged Gulls were picked out( 9adults and a single 2CY).One of the adults had an orange or red darvic ring on its left leg.It was too distant however to read the black lettering on the ring.
The leucistic Herring Gull was also present.
At least three Bullfinches were in the bushes.

Some good gulling there. I guess that, given that YLGs breed fairly early, some of them could be moving through on their way to breeding areas, rather like white wingers peak in a few weeks time.

The ring on the tibia would certainly suggest a bird ringed in Europe and not in the UK( by mistake!!).I know that YLG`s ringed in Germany for example always have a metal ring on the tibia, similarly of course with a lot of Med Gulls.

Hi Ian, this increase in late winter/early spring Yellow-legged Gulls has been noted here over the last couple of years and is clearly related to a movement of LBB`s.It`s interesting to speculate where these birds are coming from and perhaps more pertinently where they are going to.The ringed birds are tantalising, lets hope we get a readable colour-ringed one soon! I just wonder if one or two might be summering in the big LBB colonies in the NW.

Five hours today with Pete Berry and Phil Rhodes in excellent conditions:

Cracking, absolute classic first winter Caspian Gull late morning and then not seen again (photos to follow).

11 Yellow-legged Gulls, all adults except from a single first winter and two of the adults bore metal rings!

Single juvenile Iceland Gull, a fresh looking and lovely marked bird.

Completely leucistic adult Herring Gull, a beltin' looking bird.

If it was shotgunners with a couple of Labs I saw them there once before - and was told by a dog walker that it was council land and therefore not permitted - plus that whole stretch of bank must be within 50m of the top footpath and I thought that was a no no. One of them drives a gold 4x4 and old shogun I think?

Four and a half hours today with Pete Berry and Phil Rhodes in remarkably variable weather and lighting conditions!

6 Yellow-legged Gulls (5 adult and a single first-winter)
1 juvenile Iceland Gull, the same individual first seen on the 6th January
9+ Tufted Duck
81 Coot