Saturday 14 January 2017

The Mere roost - Gulls galore

I hadn't missed much at the Mere and was soon joined by Rob Dowley and Anthony Griffiths, all of us hoping for a repeat show from the first winter Glaucous Gull?

It was not to be but we stuck it out until the bitter end! Amongst the estimated 3,000 Gulls, majority Black-headed (and not a Med in sight), Common were certainly Common, a scattering of Herring, and Lesser Black-backed plus this 4th winter Great Black backed Gull....


If there was a highlight, 2 adult Yellow-legged Gulls, one smallish probable female and here's the bigger of the two...



Mike Stokes and I had scoped the drake Mandarin, way across the mere some 600m away three days previously- it was a tad closer this evening, hiding behind a bush! Just this single 'clear' shot!


The January/Shropshire list rolls on to 83 with Treecreeper, Great Black-backed Gull and Yellow-legged Gull from today :-)