Caspian Gull

Hopefully good candidate for Caspian Gull (adult), Richmond Bank

Leucistic first winter Herring Gull, Richmond Bank

Blackbirds in the garden

The berries in the garden which seem to be the thrush version of brussell sprouts!

Leucistic Black-headed Gull, Pennington Flash

The Mute Swan cygent and its mate the drake Mallard at HGF. They have just stuffed themselves!

A picturesque scene of the northern end of HGF in the snow. Most of what you can see was under water a year ago, until the water extraction started!

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Quiet Christmas so far. The only time I have ventured out was yesterday when I decided to have a wander over to Richmond Bank. On arrival I soon realised that the tip was not open (I am dense - I should have checked) and my first instinct was to turn around and go home. I did decide to stay (fortuitously) as there were just enough gulls hanging around to keep me interested and I have found before it is sometimes easier to bird here when there are few gulls around. I don't get that urgent sense of constant scanning and wondering if something interesting has just dropped in elsewhere!

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A small flock of around 10 Bullfinches were in the bushes and a lone Fieldfare kept me company while I was there - seeming to constantly scold me for daring to set up next to its berry bush!

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I had only been there for perhaps a few minutes when I saw a gull and immediately thought - Caspian Gull! Having had problems earlier this year with dodgy record shots not really displaying what I saw in the field, my first instinct was to study the bird first and photograph it later (probably a mistake). This bird seemed to tick all the boxes to me. Unfortunately it decided to depart shortly after I started photographing it. I did manage to see the primaries and P10/P5 looked good for Caspian to my inexperienced eye.

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To me the bird looks structurally spot on with the parallel, straight bill, small dark eye forward of centre, small head with distinctive Caspain shape, bulging chest, bulge under the vent and pointed rear end. The legs also appeared long and grey/pink. The mantle was around as dark, if not slightly darker, than an argentatus Herring Gull of which there were probably 20 or so kicking around. What I didn't really notice in the field was the "staining" around the eye. Obviously an form of streaking on the head will cast doubt on the ID of this bird.

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Having looked at the head of this bird closely on the computer, I have decided to go for the stained head rather than plumage streaked head option. I know I would say that when a crucial ID is in the balance, however I feel that the discolouration is very even and relatively faint - I would expect variation in colour intensity if this were true streaking (there is no variation at all here). Also the top of the head, chin, back and sides of neck and throat are all pristine white - why no discolouration elsewhere? So just maybe the bird has been grubbing around in the dirty grey ice that predominated the landscape or something similar. I can't call this based on any experience - I have previously disregarded all other promising sightings of Caspian Gull due to either lack of experience or a failure to confirm all ID features. This will be my first Cas if it is proven.

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Also present was a first winter Yellow-legged Gull and a leucistic first winter Herring Gull. There were maybe 400-500 large gulls hanging around today. On the way back to the car a Snipe flew over calling and seemed to jink its way through the power lines. Back at the car park a female Kestrel was constantly calling in apparent frustration at not being able to nail one of the House Sparrows hanging around - not for the lack of trying though!

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Yesterday I nipped over to Pennington Flash for a brief wander. The only interesting bird was a leucistic, adult Black-headed Gull. A few Goosanders and a small flock of Teal were hanging around one of only two open pools of water. I heard a Willow Tit calling nr the Edmondson Hide and managed to see it and later saw another one at the feeding station where 8 Bullfinches were also present.

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I haven't spent much time at the feeding station though a brief visit today was enjoyable for bumping into John Tymon. While we were nattering a couple of Skylarks flew over and then at least 160 Linnets appeared and landed in the trees by the treatment works. I haven't seen the Linnet flock for a couple of weeks - wonder where they have been? Yesterday a Peregrine was on one of the usual pylons and a couple of Buzzards are regularly hanging out.

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The garden has remained busy - Tree Sparrows max is around 65 for the past few days. A Mistle Thrush and 3 or 4 Fieldfares are now virtually resident and feeding on the orange berries which always seem to be a last resort for thrushes. I must make an effort to identify the bush sometime.

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At HGF the juvenile Mute Swan had started to recognize me and come begging for food when I turned up with wheat. Yesterday the drake Mallard appeared to have invited a few relatives to the pool - 49 Mallards were feeding on the wheat I put down. Soon after the Mute Swan appears to have departed - gone yesterday afternoon and today. Today 29 Mallards were stood on the ice with 16 Wigeon and 3 Gadwalls. Almost forgot - one the swans that hung around for a few weeks before the ice arrived was a ringed bird - blue, right, SYS. This bird was ringed as a male cygnet at Elton Res (Bury) in 2007 and had spent most of its time since in the Farnworth area.