Slaty-backed Gull in Britain?
A Potential First.
A WOW factor adult gull was seen and photographed today by Dominic Mitchell. I think it really looks very cool! A little frustratingly he didn’t manage to see the wing pattern – but surely you feel it will show a full white ‘string of pearls’. The upperpart tone is at the paler end and will, I guess, get much discussed.
For full story and photos go straight here:
There is only one previous European record seen in Latvia and Lithuania. A photo of that 1st European record (taken in Latvia) appears above. More on that bird by Chris Gibbins here:
https://chrisgibbins-gullsbirds.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html
I gave a talk on Gull identification on Wednesday night. A key section was on one what species to look for next in Britain. Slaty-backed was championed. Spooky!