Friday 13 February 2009 - Iceland Gull in North Warwickshire - 13/02/2009

Friday 13th February 2009

Dosthill Lake, Warwickshire

After spending the past few days off work and stuck at home with a case of 'oriental bird flu' I decided to alleviate the onset of cabin fever with a quick scan of the 'West Midland Eye Sore Centre'..... sorry I meant 'Water Ski Centre'.  There was no sign of the juvenile Iceland Gull that has been knocking around recently and there wasn't too much of anything else either except 3 Common Goldeye.  Wishing I hadn't bothered I then drove the short distance towards Wilnecote Tip area to view the Gulls there.

Kingsbury Landfill Site, Warwickshire

Upon turning into Rush Lane I noticed a large congregation of Gulls along the lane that veers right towards the brickworks.  It appears that a new landfill site as been set up here now that the old Wilnecote Tip has been filled.  I parked up before the railway bridge and walked across the old landfill area to view the site.  Luckily the Gulls were resting on the steep quarry face and most of them were showing really well.  I therefore picked out the obvious juvenile Iceland Gull without delay.  After watching the bird for a while I decided to get a few digi-scoped shots, typically though just I was setting up the camera the flock were spooked and flew off with most of them heading towards Dosthill Lake.  Also on site there was an adult Yellow-legged Gull, 12 Great Black-backed Gulls, 45 Herring Gulls, 400 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 15 Common Gulls and 1,200 Black-headed Gulls.