Returning Iceland gulls

Warrington's returning adult Iceland Gull was back today for at least its 6th winter. It usually frequents an area between Warrington College and Tesco superstore, and often you can see it flying across the A49 or sometimes it might be on a roof, though if it chooses a flat roof it can disappear out of view for long periods. Thanks to John Tymon for alerting me to it's presence today. John first saw the bird as an adult six winters ago, so it's possible that it has been returning unnoticed for a lot longer than that and it's true age is anybody's guess. Why it should keep returning to spend the winter around Warrington town centre is an even bigger mystery, I would have thought that the pickings would have been greater if it joined the throngs of gulls at a local landfill site. Still, it's a beautiful bird and a very welcome addition to the local avifauna.

Click here to see some photos of the bird from last April

John first saw the bird near Decathlon today but it wasn't there when I arrived. I parked up and walked towards the college and found the bird on the lawn in front of the college, feeding alone on worms which it brought to the surface with that strange little dance that so many species of gull perform.

In previous winters this bird has very rarely roosted at Pennington Flash, but an adult appeared in the roost for the first time this winter about eight days ago and has been seen on at least one other occasion since then and may well be the same bird.

It's got a pretty impressive bill for an Iceland gull, it's head shape and bill ratio look more like herring gull than common gull which is how Iceland gulls usually look. Iceland gull is supposed to have a bill length of less than 50% of the head length, whereas glaucous gull would have a bill length of greater than 50%. This bird clearly has a bill length in excess of 50%. Another unusual feature of this bird is the lack of streaking on the head at this time of year. Typically both Iceland and Glaucous gull would have quite heavy streaking in mid January. I suspect that this is quite an old bird, which may explain the lack of streaking. However, on primary projection alone this bird is clearly an Iceland gull and not glaucous. Also look at the large eye, proportionately much larger than one would expect on a typical glaucous gull.

This is another returning Iceland gull, a 3rd winter bird in the Pennington Flash roost. This bird has been returning regularly to roost at the flash since it was a juvenile and spends it's days feeding at a recycling centre at Atherton or at Cutacre country park.