Showing posts with label Larus melanocephalus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Larus melanocephalus. Show all posts

Tuesday, 17 March 2015

Magnificent Mediterraneans In Newbiggin

Last Friday after my usual half past noon finish from work I headed northward up the coast to the seaside town of Newbiggin-By-The-Sea. I met up with Stewart Sexton, whom I had previously only had twitter correspondence with and he had promised me Mediterranean Gulls / Larus melanocephalus!
Now I had seen these gulls before but my views were always pretty rubbish and brief at best and I wanted an opportunity to get decent views of these birds, hopefully in summer plumage!
I'll be the first one to say that I'm not exactly a gull fanatic but Med Gulls are pretty darn special and why they congregate in Newbiggin is a mystery to me.
As soon as I arrived Stew had me locked onto two adults in breeding plumage! Beautiful birds, to me they resemble a much more appealing Black-Headed Gull, and unlike the black heads the Med Gull actually has a black head when in breeding plumage.
Unfortunately the weather was grim at best, not fantastic when photographing a bird that is predominantly grey and white.
In total we had five birds, the two breeding plumaged adults, two first winter birds and a second winter individual.
Great birds, great conversation and nice to put a name to yet another Twitter face.
Check out Stews blog and follow him on Twitter @Stewchat

First Winter Med's




Second Winter Med Gull




Breeding Plumage Adult Med's





David
Nature North East / The Northern Owl Project