Elsham, 17th April 2013

A good day of spring gulling nearly got forgotten amongst a busy couple of weeks at work, but a few checks of the gull fields on the Lincolnshire Wolds back on 17th April, I got the set!

Despite a constant stream of mainly Herring Gulls SW all day, there were still c1500 settled in the fields, and late morning I came across another 2cy Caspian Gull, making a least 4 different individuals through here in the last few weeks.

Lunchtime down on the carrs produced another few hundred gulls sleeping it off, and a 2cy Glaucous Gull had joined them.

Finally, back up on the wolds before I left in the afternoon, and a 2cy Iceland Gull made a brief appearance before heading off into the wind. All very nice.
Back home, there was something naggingly familiar about the Casp, and looking through previous photos, I reckon its been here before - 4 months ago! Certainly very similar...

Bonby, 8th April 2013

As I was passing, I couldn't resist another quick look at the gull fields, but they were deserted. The floods still held a small flock though, last week's throngs having apparently taken advantage of the fine weather at the weekend to migrate. More large gulls dropped in, and amongst them was the third 2cy Caspian Gull in eight days - lovely!

Bonby, 1st and 3rd April 2013

A much better few days in Lincs was still devoid of summer migrants but the continuing easterly wind seemed to be dissuading the gulls from leaving, and a remarkable 4,500 smalls were still feeding on the wolds and loafing on the carrs. The first look produced a mucky-faced 2cy (female?) Caspian Gull amongst the hordes.

There were also plenty of Meds, with 3 on Monday (adult, 2cy and white-ringed 4cy 35L6 with black marks in the outer primaries), and 5 on Wednesday (same as above along with a pair of adults, one of which was green-ringed but code not read). A very brief 2cy Iceland on Wednesday may well have been the bird from February.

Back on home turf it was hard to find anything amongst the gulls at Candles on 4th except for a dinky presumed intermedius.