2nd winter Caspian gull new into roost

A beautiful 2nd winter Caspian gull was new into the Pennington Flash gull roost this evening, and what a bird it was. It seemed almost the darker the light, the more the gull stood out, it's white head like a beacon amongst the masses of other gulls.

After a while the bird took an interest in this buoy and finally flew up and attempted to land on it. 

Unsuccessfully as it turned out, it swayed around for a bit and then flopped back onto the water. However it's spread wings did reveal a small white mirror on P10 which although not completely diagnostic, is a good feature of 2nd winter Caspian gull and something which 2nd winter herring and yellow-legged gulls rarely have.

A white underwing is also a good feature of Caspian gull, herring and yellow-legged gulls are usually much better marked than this. In fact this bird has pretty much everything you could ask of a Caspian gull at this age.

Mid afternoon there were a couple of adult whooper swans on the flash but they flew east at about 15:30. Also this afternoon, male and female wigeon.

The gull roost is always a remarkable spectacle, with thousands of gulls being joined by a couple of thousand jackdaws, the latter seeming to delight in dive bombing the gulls on the water, for reasons which are unclear to me.

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