Lesser Black-backed Gulls
I sent off the record to the BTO and am currently awaiting information to say where and when it was ringed. It could possibly be from nearby Orford Ness, where many birds have been ringed and tracked on their winter migration (see details here).
Also out on the scrapes was this large, immature gull, (left hand bird) that I think is a Caspian Gull.
Immature Caspian and Lesser Black-backed Gulls
I love looking at gulls, but I'm not great on identifying them in juvenile plumages, so if you can positively identify this bird for me, please let me know.
UPDATE: I received an email today (3rd June), telling me that my colour-ringed LBB Gull was ring as a pullus at Havergate Island, an RSPB site in Suffolk, in July 2010. This is the first sighting back in England, but it was reported 3 times in winter 2010 in Portugal and then moved south to Agadir in Morocco, where it spent the early part of 2011 and returned again in winter 2012. Interestingly, this is very similar movement to the birds from Orford Ness, in the BTO research shown above.
UPDATE 2: Just heard from Dominic that the above bird is definitely a Caspian Gull, so thanks for that Dominic and I'll update the Year List:
141 - Caspian Gull
