Spent lunchtime walking round the Lodge in the hope of picking up the recent Wood Lark. No sign again, but Lesser Redpoll on the Gatehouse niger feeder.
As the Kumlien's Gull had been showing well during the day, Gurn and I popped over to the brick pits for another look. I'd just stepped out of my car when Pete called to say it was briefly at Stewartby before disappearing again. We checked a few of the lesser pits without any luck before ending up at Stewartby with plenty of other birders. It eventually flew in to the middle of the roost and gave good views. Plenty of debate was sparked from one vocal individual about its identification.
The views tonight were quite good. It's a very striking bird, and one you won't miss if it turns up in your gull roost! Two-tone bill, with grey washed primaries, a hint of grey on the mantle, and the rest of the bird is virtually white. It also has a pale eye, but this was difficult to discern on gull-roost views. The build was heavy (for an Iceland Gull type) but still smaller than most Herring Gulls, and between that and a Lesser Black-back. To be honest, if you chopped off its primaries, you wouldn't look twice before calling it an Iceland Gull, despite its build.
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