Reports of a potential first for Britain yesterday and I had managed to miss all the reports!
Brian managed to visit the site yesterday as he was only 30 miles away after working all day in his son's garden. I was left hoping the Cape Gull would remain for at least a further day to get the opportunity to visit.
At 5.30am the gull was reported as still present, we met up with Brian and were on the road by 6am. After a relatively short trip (63 miles) along the M25 and A1, we arrived at Grafham Water and headed along the walkway/cycle path bordering the reservoir. In the distance, we could see a large gathering of birders near the water tower. We soon joined them and quickly located the Cape Gull, which was resting on the railings leading to the tower. Panic over! we could now study the bird in more detail.
The Cape Gull spent the majority of the time we were on site resting on the railings, but did fly down to the reservoir edge to feed on a dead trout, and occasionally flew down onto the water's surface when photographers threw bread onto the bank although it didn't seem remotely interested in the bread
There were Lesser black-backed Gulls, Yellow-legged Gulls, and numerous Black-headed Gulls present on the railings allowing for some nice comparisons between the larger species. The Cape Gull was slightly larger than the Yellow-legged Gulls and had a massive bill and long greenish legs.
There may be up to five subspecies of Kelp Gulls with L.d.dominicanus being the most widespread and found in New Zealand, Antarctica, and South America, whereas subspecies L.d.vetula commonly known as Cape Gull is found in Southern Africa.
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| The water tower and railings |
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