Hybrid Herring x LBBG

A presumed hybrid Herring Gull x Lesser Black-backed Gull has been present at Sandy Water Park for at least three weeks now.

It shows a mantle colour intermediate between the two, pretty much spot on for Yellow-legged Gull (maybe a bit pale?), a small amount of light diffuse head streaking (should be concentrated around the eye in YLG), a dark red/orange orbital ring, a rounded head and a relatively weak looking beak with the red gonys spot not reaching the upper mandible. The overall size was smaller than both Lesser Black-backed Gull and Herring Gull, and only a little larger than Common Gull. Leg colour, shown in some of the photos bellow appeared a dull yellow with a hint of pink - a typical colour for these hybrids, and not the bright yellow you should see in YLG. The open wing showed plenty of black in the wing tip with only a short mirror on p10. Both wings showed a complete black band on p5 - not the very thin or broken band you see in most hybrids, however not as thick as you'd expect from YLG.

I suppose it's possible that it could be a small female Yellow-legged Gull, but with most features pointing towards a Herring x LBBG hybrid I think it's likely that that's what it is.

Smaller and lighter coloured than Lesser Black-backed Gull. Small amount of head streaking.

Darker than Herring Gull...

...and Common Gull

Yellow pink legs.

Small mirror on p10 an black band on p5.

At the wetland centre, a Merlin chasing a Snipe over the grounds at almost supersonic speed was the exciting to watch. The only other addition to my PWC was a Treecreeper.

A female-type Black Redstart on garage roofs from my front door this afternoon was nice to see - a different bird to the 1st winter male present in November.