Caspian Gull: Take a look at yet another superb North West gull, this 2cy Caspian has been showing on and off for a few weeks now and seen between Formby in the south to Birkdale in the north.
After dipping this bird yesterday and having very tight time restrictions throughout the week and most weekends due to the bird surveying work I have undertaken and the weekend wedding photography, it was brilliant to actually connect with it.
I got on the beach early morning and as I pulled up in to a parking bay I bumped in to Zac Hinchcliffe, who had just filled his SD card with shots of the bird and was kind enough to point me in it's direction.
One of the reasons the bird has been in the area for such a long time is probably down to the fact it is in heavy moult as this image shows.
Note the secondary flight feathers have almost all moulted.
The bird is very striking and stands out against the local juvenile Herring Gull and Lesser-black Back Gulls. With its almost white head and breast, long legs and it's classic Caspian long, narrow bill with an attenuated tip.
What a beast!
Ainsdale beach at this time of year is brilliant, especially on a very sunny day, like today. There were hundreds of Sandwich Tern, Sanderling, Dunlin and a couple of Grey Plover.
However it gets busy fast, and in no time at all the beach was full of dog walkers, families and their flying footballs!
I was astonished how oblivious people can be, as while I sat on the beach clearly photographing a bird, not one but two different sets of families thought it would be fine to walk practically over me and right through where the bird was. Like I wasn't even there, incredibly ignorant folk.
