Tuesday 27 February 2018

An afternoon at Shawell, Leicestershire - February 23, 2018


There had been a juvenile Glaucous Gull and an adult Iceland Gull at the sandpit at Shawell in Leicestershire and both had been reported again this morning and so I went hoping to catch up with them.  It is only a thirty minutes drive to Shawell and I was on site by 13:45.  Dave Grey was already there and he had seen the Iceland Gull, a Caspian Gull and three Yellow-legged Gulls but they had all flown off presumably to the tip.

There were still plenty of gulls in the sandpit, mainly Black-headed, European Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls but also smaller numbers of Common Gulls and a few Great Black-backed Gulls.  I was on site until 16:15, during which time Chris Hubbard and another birder from Northamptonshire joined us but there was no further sign of either of the white-winged gulls or the Yellow-legged Gulls but I did see the Caspian Gull.  There were two Red Kites and a Common Buzzard over the area and another Common Buzzard to the south and a large falcon with jessies caused major disturbance both on the pit and the tip but unfortunately didn’t induce the white-winged gulls to put in an appearance.  I succumbed to the cold eventually and left for home with still many gulls present, although some did appear to be departing and presumably heading for the roost at Draycote Water.

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