Thursday, 1 January 2015. This morning there was a first-winter Glaucous Gull at North Shields Fish Quay. I watched it from 10:50 – 11:20 a.m. on the fish quay rooftop through telescope and binoculars. It had a rather bright pale pink bill with black tip, black eye and sported typical plumage for this species, but it was not the largest specimen I’ve ever seen. Several other excited birders also managed to see the bird. This may be the same individual I saw fleetingly on Tuesday 30 December as the light faded. I returned 15 minutes later (11:35 a.m.) and spotted an immature white-winged gull in flight, which I thought was the same bird. I quickly snapped some photographs, my camera was readied, during the brief minute it flew beside the quay – hoping for a nice Glaucous Gull flight shot. On returning home to examine the photos – it turned out the second bird was in fact a second-winter Iceland Gull! Do you agree? Both Glaucous and Iceland Gulls are arctic breeders. The 3 photos show: two distant shots of Glaucous Gull on roof [(1) facing left to the left of the adult blue-grey herring gull and (2) left of and below flag, facing right, head tucked in) plus Iceland Gull in flight. Dan Turner
