Saturday..

Back to Angle Park in the afternoon to go through the gulls again. After a Buzzard flushed all the birds last Sat just as I got on a striking 1st winter gull suggesting Caspian, I was back again in the hope of it reappearing. Excellent numbers of Herring Gull were present, with birds dropping in from the nearby tip (Minimum estimate was 1,200 present at any one time). No sign of last weekends bird but I got on another potential candidate, this time an adult or near adult. In a way I would have preferred it to be a 1st winter as Caspian is harder to ID in adult plumage compared to younger birds. But there was still some very interesting features notably the Jizz and bill shape that looked very different to nearby Herrings.The head was small in comparison to the body bulk and the eye was dark and beady. The bill was parallel edged lacking a gonys angle. The bird had a chest heavy impression which contrasted with a slim tapering rear. The mantle was a darker grey than British Herring Gulls and closer to Scandinavian Herring Gull in shade.