Wrong, its a Herring gull. KM informs me that there are features pointing to Herring
plus he has measured the bill length which is too short for Caspian.
This bird was found by KM in October and has been around since then.
A bright and breezy morning at Redcar Tarn with a moderate SW>5 but some sunshine at 5 degrees.
A good show of gulls today but very flighty with more gunmen disturbance . Apparently the farmer has obtained a license to cull a number of Canada geese which is taking place just 2 fields from the tarn despite a public outcry about wounded birds being found around the tarn plus one dead bird this morning.
Most of the big gulls were in the crematorium grounds as well as the neighbouring field . A very confusing morning with what I thought was a Caspian, but less advanced plumage than yesterdays bird, stood out among other Herrings. This bird was later confirmed as a Herring with some distinctive Herring features plus a measure of the bill proved too short. Gull birding is more of a science than a hobby.
Shortly afterwards when this bird had flown the original Caspian appeared in the pond field by the water before moving to the crem field. After that my head started buzzing with both birds appearing and re appearing.
Anyway, its great to get a Caspian gull and thanks to KM and Redcar Tarn I,ve had more Caspian gull sightings than I have Great Black Backed this year.
Late afternoon was just a quick visit to Horton Bank Top to check the gulls and water which produced the usual water fowl along with 4 Herrings and 2 LBBs plus the usual small gulls. Luckily there was nothing that looked like a Caspian !!!
BS