Thursday 21 February 2013

Priorslee and Horsehay - Iceland Duo

Nice to be able to get some birding done again and with hopes of connecting with a Glauc, I managed not one but two white wingers in the Telford area - both 2nd Winter Iceland Gulls - I'm not complaining :-)

The first Iceland was at Priorslee lake, where Dawn Balmer and I had brief views. It was pretty mobile and soon relocated to the jetty on the far side! Plenty of 'record quality' shots!



The nearest it came was a brief hop onto one of the buoys!



There was a bit of contrast to the primary tips, noticeable on the water and even more so when looking at the flight images. Kumleins is always a possibility....






The primary markings don't appear to be strong enough and depending upon the lighting, pretty constant in shade along all the primaries (or darker on the inner ones!)



Farewell to the 'ugly bugger' then and I moved on to Horsehay, where a really cute Iceland Gull was waiting!




One or two wing flaps....


It settled down alongside an odd Herring Gull with Caspianesque eye and bill. The mantle shade and size were all wrong though (Tom had seen this same birds at Candles too - short legged!)




With at least two birds about, they need to be differentiated and what better than a descriptive term?

'Cutie Pie',  the sweetest Iceland you ever did see.....