Polar gulls

Dungeness - mild, wet and windy - The intention this morning was to check out the Patch, but en-route news came through concerning a Glaucous Gull found by DW that had just landed on the beach by the rubber house. And what a brute of a bird it was, an enormous 1st winter specimen as big as a Great Black-back. Whilst watching and photographing the Glaucous Gull from the car the regular Caspian Gull flew in and they preened together side by side for a while.

                                1st winter Glaucous Gull, Dungeness

                                1st winter Caspian and Glaucous Gulls, Dungeness

  A wander down to the beach by the fishing boats yielded another white-winger in the shape of a 1st winter Iceland Gull, presumably one of the duo that has been hanging out at the Patch. Offshore a few Gannets and auks came and went along with our first Fulmar of the year.