Wednesday 28 December 2011

Glaucous Gull in Leicestershire

Albert Village Lake,  Leicestershire.

As it is still 'the season to be jolly', you know Christmas and that, it was time to celebrate the occasion by hunting down a 'white-winged angel' or two.  The first trip of the day was a sojourn just over the border into Leicestershire to search through the Laridae at Albert Village Lake.  On my stroll down to view the lake, good numbers of Redwing and Fieldfare were logged along with the odd Bullfinch and Lesser Redpoll.

Initially it was not looking to good at all as the nearby landfill site did not seem to be fully operational.  As a result there were not many larger gulls knocking about.  There were however plenty of Black-headed Gulls loafing around along with around 40 Common Gull.  After further scrutiny an adult Yellow-legged Gull popped into view amongst a small group of Lesser Black-backed Gull.  Following a bit of disturbance at the tip a small influx of Herring Gulls occurred but there was still no sign of anything more interesting.  I was about to call it a day when at last I picked up a near adult Glaucous Gull taking part in a bit of a wash and brush up.  The northern brute showed well for just ten minutes before it took flight and disappeared towards the old landfill area.     

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