Pete Kinsella and I spent several hours today scoping bathing and roosting gulls on Richmond Bank in the river Mersey off Penketh near Warrington. The gulls using the river feed on the landfill site at Moore just across the river. Pete is a dedicated larophile and a Richmond regular, over the past few years he has racked up an impressive species list and contributes very positively to gull ID knowledge and debates in the North-west. It was a real pleasure for me to tap into his site knowledge and enthusiasm, and it was handy having his pal Mark Garner there too. Thousands of gulls were present, Pete and I counted 24,000 during one mid afternoon flush (a Peregrine with an attached transmitter seemed to be the culprit), but they were reluctant to settle making prolonged scrutiny difficult, however we did pick up a couple of adult Yellow-legged Gulls amongst the ranked masses of Herring Gulls. The Herring Gulls made up c.95% of the birds present and were a useful reminder of the variability of this species; all shades of grey, big, medium and small, angry and soft looking and all age classes! After a few hours we headed back towards the car park and Pete checked small groups of gulls as we went and picked up a first winter Caspian Gull bathing on the river bank (see Northwest Birding facebook group page for Pete's photo); so a decent climax to the tense larid teasing.
Part of the huge gull flock at Richmond Bank
Adult Yellow-legged Gull with Herring Gulls at Richmond Bank 04/01/13
As the tide rose the gulls began to disperse so we headed over to the south side of the Mersey to Moore Nature Reserve. Apparently a Glaucous Gull had been seen a couple of times today, but we failed to find it and I also didn't find the Waxwings that had been feeding on the reserve earlier today, despite staking out the berry laden tree they'd been using. A redhead Smew was a nice bonus amongst the numerous Shoveler and Gadwall on the Birchwood pool. As dusk approached thousands of Jackdaws were heading to roost, as Pete suggested; a Hitchcock moment.
Redhead Smew at Moore Nature reserve 04/01/13
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