2cy Caspian Gull
The first fully documented Lancs record.
Fishmoor Res, Blackburn, Lancs,
26-27/02/05 at least - by John Wright.
As I travelled from Blackburn to
Preston during the last week of February 05 I noticed a large number of
‘big’ gulls heading from the coast towards Whinney Hill Tip.
I assumed this was a response to the cold snap we had been experiencing
and hoped that ‘white winged gulls’ would also be part of this movement.
Entry to Whinney Hill Tip has been difficult this winter and I was aware that the access road was also closed so decided to concentrate my weekend efforts on Fishmoor Reservoir.
I arrived at 16.00 on Saturday 26th
and scanned the gulls present on the water from the JJB car park on the east
side of the reservoir.
A reasonable number of Gulls where
present but nothing out of the ordinary. Bill
Berry arrived and we decided to have a look at the roof of the Corus Steel
building, on which the gulls actually roost.
We climbed the embankment of Guide reservoir and checked through the
gulls already present on the roof.
As I scanned I came across a second calendar year gull that immediately grabbed my attention. It displayed a clean white head, small dark eyes and a long black bill. Additional features included a pale mantle, nape streaking and as Bill Berry noted broad white fringes to the greater coverts. A large long winged bird (presumably a male) it was also noticeably long legged.
I said to Bill that it had to be a Caspian Gull – a real 'you’ll know it when you see it' moment - and immediately notified Bill Aspin & Tony Disley. The three of us had made finding a local Caspian Gull our mission this winter and it was exciting to have such an excellent candidate in view.
I thought we would need to see the
pale underwing and the black tail band to clinch the record so I started to film
the bird with my camcorder.
After recording the bird for several
minutes I made the mistake of taking off the camera so I could zoom in on the
bird’s legs, to try to accurately judge the colouration.
Of course when I did this the bird flew and was immediately lost to view amongst the mass of gulls. The gulls relanded but unfortunately the putative Caspian was now out of view. I reviewed the footage I had taken and was convinced of the identification. It appeared to be a classic bird.
Bill Aspin arrived at this point and although we found adult & 2cy Med Gulls in the roost there was no further sign of the key bird. Bill looked at some of my video grabs and he was also convinced.
I had to rush out for a drunken
evening in Preston but sent a couple of video grabs to Bill & Tony.
Bill put these on the East Lancs web site the following morning with the
caveat of ‘apparent’ as I knew the importance of making absolutely sure of
such a tricky ID challenge.
When I woke up at 11am (oops!) Bill
informed me that he had e mailed gull expert Dick Newell – he has a lot of
field experience of Caspian Gull.
Dick had quickly replied with the following comments -
"Looks
pretty good to me. The head and
bill shape, small eye, white head, shawl, greater coverts with broad white
fringes, pale mantle, and last, a point you may not have noticed, the
shadow-line that connects the eyes via the nape are all supportive of 1st winter
(2CY) Caspian. Points missing
are the under-wing (normally white), the legs (length, spindlyness and colour -
normally very pale pink), tail band (normally broad, black and of even
thickness), and tertial pattern (dark with thumb-nails).
It looks a biggish bird, so could be a male, though some males have
noticeably longer bills than this bird. I
think that it is acceptable. "
I was elated
(the
‘thumb nail’ tertial pattern and leg length could be seen in other grabs I
had)
but I also wanted to
secure the additional features aware that a number of Caspian
Gulls had been claimed previously in Lancs (particularly at Seaforth). However, to my knowledge no clinching photographs had been
obtained.
At this point I notified a number of
other East Lancs birders and kept my fingers crossed that the bird would return
to the roost.
I arrived at Fishmoor at 14.00 and, as is usual for Sunday’s (when tipping activity is much reduced) several hundred gulls where already present.
I quickly located the adult Med Gull but there was no sign of the Caspian.
I
left at 15.30hrs but returned at 16.30hrs to find Dave Bickerton & Mark
Breaks scanning the reservoir from the JJB car park.
We walked around to the southern side to get better light and settled in.
Dave soon picked up a 2cy Iceland
Gull distantly to the south and this bird soon circled away towards the
coast.
We returned to scanning the reservoir and at 17.00hrs the Caspian Gull appeared on the water.
The bird gave excellent views and I
rang Bill Aspin to let him know the good news.
He was parked nearby eating a KFC (!) and quickly made his way round to
our viewing position. He carried on
and settled on the western shore so we could try to capture the plumage details
from a variety of angles.
Bill & I then filmed the bird
waiting for it to flap or fly whilst Mark took some still pictures - surely we
would catch the remaining features now!
The bird behaved perfectly and after spending 30 minutes on the water it flapped a few times and then took off and flew towards the roof, flying over Dave, Mark & I on the way.
We could clearly see the broad, black tail band (very reminiscent of a juv GBB Gull) and pale underwings. Thankfully both Bill & I caught these feature on our footage.
At this point the 2cy Med Gull flew
over us and the adult Med reappeared on the water.
Just to add to the moment we witnessed a spectacular sun set.
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Description.
Bill:
Long and parallel sided (the gonydeal angle was shallow). The bill tip
was slightly drooped. The bill colour was black.
Head
& Neck:
The white head and small black
eyes were distinctive. When it was
stood on the roof the rounded rear crown with a long shallow slope to the
forehead gave the bird a characteristic ‘snouty’ look. (It should be noted that when the bird was on the water it
displayed a squarer rear crown & steeper forehead).
The shawl of streaks at the base of the nape was another noticeable
feature.
Upperparts:
The scapulars were grey second generation feathers. The upper scapulars
were rather plain grey but the lower scapulars displayed a clear anchor pattern.
Underparts:
White with some brown mottling along the flanks and on the undertail.
Wings:
Very long & broad – appearing bowed in flight.
On the upperwing the inner primaries showed a ‘venetian blind’
effect, caused by their dark outer and light inner webs.
On the upperwing the extensive white tips to the greater covers formed a
distinctive wing bar visible at rest and in flight. The tertials were dark with a variable white thumbnail
pattern at the tip. This was best
seen on the lower tertials as the pattern had become somewhat worn on the upper
feathers. The underwings were
noticeably pale, particularly the median and greater underwing coverts and the
axillaries.
Tail:
The broad black tips to the tail feathers formed a band of even width
across the tail. Narrow black bars
were noticeable immediately above the tail band.
The bird also displayed a white rump, uppertail coverts and tail base.
Legs: Very leggy the bird stood tall alongside Herring & LBB Gulls. The leg colour was pale pink.
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John Wright (27th Feb 2005).