Stretford

Herring gulls, second-Winter yellow-legged gull and lesser black-back, Salford Quays

 A milder, sunnier, less windy day today. It was quiet in the garden and even quieter on the school playing field so I decided to go for a long wander. The aim was to fill in a few gaps in this month's coverage by hopping from park to park — Moss Park to Victoria Park to Longford Park then through Firswood across to Trafford Park.

I was approaching Moss Park when I saw the first and only raptor of the day, a buzzard soaring slowly overhead and disappearing in the direction of Trafford Park. Moss Park itself held all the regulars: it's got pretty much the same avifauna as my back garden though it gets chaffinches far more regularly. 

Victoria Park had a bit more variety, the highlight being a dozen chaffinches feeding under the trees in the company of half a dozen redwings.

Longford Park

Longford Park was very quiet. I was a bit concerned that I'd wasted my time but then found that Rye Bank Fields were open to walkers again (the paths in and out being very muddy indeed). The trees and bushes were busy with great tits, blue tits, goldfinches and greenfinches. Over towards the Firswood end of the fields there was a flock of a couple of dozen redwings flitting between the sycamores and oaks.

Black-headed gull, Salford Quays

I bobbed over to Wharfside to do a bit of gull-watching. The herd of mute swans was still haunting the basins on the Salford side and pairs of Canada geese were dotted around. There were still over a hundred black-headed gulls with a couple of common gulls. Here and there there were rafts of large gulls, mostly herring gulls of various ages with about half as many lesser black-backs (nearly all adults) and one bird I had to look at twice.

Herring gulls, Salford Quays

Herring gulls, Salford Quays

One raft of gulls included one which I assumed was a third-Winter lesser black-back at first but something didn't feel right about it. I moved down the embankment and looked at the bird again from a different angle and saw that the grey on its back and mantle was slightly darker and bluer than a common gull but significantly paler than a lesser black-back. I was helped by the bird's mingling with herring gulls and lesser black-backs, it gave me a chance to compare and contrast. The bill was less massive than I expect from a yellow-legged gull and the pale tip made me wonder about Caspian gull but the bill didn't look long enough and overall the bird looked chunkier than I'd expect for a Caspian. Having said that, it looks a lot more streamlined in the photos than it did on the ground. I'm settling for its being a yellow-legged gull, though I'll keep it under review.

Herring gulls, lesser black-backs and second-Winter yellow-legged gull, Salford Quays

Herring gulls, lesser black-backs and second-Winter yellow-legged gull, Salford Quays

Herring gulls, lesser black-back and second-Winter yellow-legged gull, Salford Quays

Herring gulls, lesser black-backs and second-Winter yellow-legged gull, Salford Quays

Herring gulls, lesser black-back and second-Winter yellow-legged gull, Salford Quays

Second-Winter yellow-legged gull, Salford Quays