The fourth Caspian gull I have managed to find at Pennington Flash in the past
five weeks, and they have all been different ages, 1st winter, 2nd winter, 3rd
winter (today's bird) and sub-adult. This once rare species in Greater
Manchester is now getting quite frequent, in fact it's almost more frequent
than yellow-legged gull at the flash, though both species still present a
challenge unless seen well.
What an absolute cracker this bird is, a 3rd winter bird which has previously
been seen at Redgate recycling, Gorton over the past few weeks and which is
probably also the bird which has been seen on the River Mersey at Widnes.
These birds really do move around the North West!
Spot the Caspian gull! It really stands out with it's dark eye, pear shaped
head, long bill, slim body and distinctive jizz.
Most colour ringed black-headed gulls at the flash have blue rings with white
writing and were ringed at the Flash, but today I found this yellow ringed bird on the car park. This bird was ringed as an adult at a breeding colony at Wejdyki, Warmińsko-Mazurskie, Poland on 22/05/2015, a distance of 1574km (979 miles), and it's at least 10 years old.
Since it was ringed it's been seen elsewhere in Poland during the summer, and last winter was reported from Atherton. So it appears to winter in Greater Manchester and return to Poland to breed.
This fits in nicely with the blue ringed bird 2T62 that I saw a week or two ago which was ringed at the flash in winter but then seen in Poland in summer.
A flash tick for me, two Muscovy ducks.
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