Glaucous-winged gull

Found myself in Castletownbere pre-dawn, and more worryingly, pre-shop opening! Luckily, when the spar did finally open its doors at 9.00 am, there were hash browns aplenty, along with lashings of tae.

Even more luckily, yesterday's glaucous-winged gull was picked up again off the main pier at about 9.45 am, with the help of some well-aimed bits of bread. And rather corking it was too...

Not the most useful wing shot, as I think the primary tips are slightly bent, which makes the white look less extensive than it was, but its the best I managed to get. The grey on the primary tips also seemed to vary quite a lot, depending on the angle & the light - sometimes it looked quite dark-winged. I think the shots here show up as darker than in the flesh. I'm sure better shots are out there, but I was very pleased to get such close views!

Early days of 2016 on the patch

The first couple of days of the new year have been quite productive, nailing black-tailed godwit, black redstart and a lone purple sandpiper, first gleaned on the 31st Dec (56). Think the purp is only my 4th record for the patch, but they do seem to show up at Long Strand during big storms. Good to know!