The Joy Of Gulls

Gulls are fascinating, frustrating and frequently baffling. When you first start looking at gulls in bird guides they're quite straightforward: they're all in pristine adult plumage with flat lighting and it's a doddle. Then you go out on a blustery Winter's day when the light's anything but flat and you're faced with a bewildering array of young plumages and changing tones of grey as birds fly around and you wonder what you're looking at. So you go online and soon you're even more overwhelmed by the wealth of detail involved in identification. And then you discover that as well as the variations with age, the subtle differences between some very closely-related species and subspecies, and the almost casual way that vagrant gulls may turn up anywhere, there's always the chance you're looking at a bird of mixed parentage. It can become intimidating, so many people get put off and give up, which is a shame.

I'm not in any way a gull expert — every year by Easter I've become confident that I can identify a yellow-legged or a Caspian gull 70% of the time when I see one and then come September I'm starting the learning curve all over again.— but I enjoy doing a bit of gull-watching. I thought it might be worth putting together some very general notes from my own experience for people like me who are baffled but still game. They probably won't be enough to clinch an ID but they may be enough to provide a starting point when you see something "not quite right."

• If you've found a gull that looks a bit unusual concentrate on making notes on what you're seeing rather than trying to make an ID.

• Some birds you're never going to identify. This is OK.

General identification tips

• At all ages concentrate on:
• The size, general impression and jizz of the bird
• Shape of head
• Shape and colour of bill
• Colour of legs and feet
• Colour of eye and eye ring
• In adults note:
• Colour of upperparts
• Colour of primary feathers
• Any mirrors on primaries
• In younger birds:
• The colour(s) of the back and wings
• Tail banding, if any

Some of these details are outside the scope of these notes, you'll be using them to confirm or deny a possible identification.

Benchmark species

These are the species that used to be "all the gulls of Britain" in the books when I first started birdwatching.

Little gull

• Tiny, delicate-looking and with a tern-like flight
• Immatures pale with a black W on their wing
• The contrast between the pale upperwing and black underwing of an adult is striking even at a distance

Black-headed gull

• Small, silvery gull, pointed wings have very prominent white leading edge and thin black trailing edge
• Thin, pointed bill
• Depending on the age, time of year and lighting the bill and legs can be anything between watery orange and dark crimson
• Breeding adult unmistakable with its brown hood

Black-headed gull, Pennington Flash

Common gull

• Medium-sized gull, dark grey back, wings slightly rounded at the tips, rounded head, pointed yellow bill, legs grey to yellow
• Adults in breeding plumage have an open facial expression and beady eyes 
• Adults in Winter often have a smudgy dark ring on the bill

Common gull, Stretford

Mediterranean gull

• General impression from a distance is of a ghostly pale common gull with a dark, blunted bill
• Breeding adult unmistakable in its black hood

Mediterranean gulls, Martin Mere

Kittiwake

• Medium-sized gull, dark grey back, more pigeon-like proportions than other gulls with quite a lot of chest, pointed yellow bill, legs black
• Immatures pale with a black W on their wing

Herring gull

• The archetypal big grey-backed gull
• Females tend to be slightly smaller and have more rounded heads than males
• Adult: pale eye (very rarely dark), silvery upperparts, yellow bill with striking red gonydal spot (where the bill bulges about two-thirds along the base) and pink legs (though some may have yellow legs)
• Scandinavian herring gulls are bigger and slightly darker

Lesser black-backed gull

• More elegant looking than herring gull, at all ages
• Immature plumages always darker and colder than herring gull

Iceland gull

• Smaller-headed and slightly more delicate looking than a herring gull
• Very pale with no black to the plumage

Great black-backed gull

• Huge
• Ponderous, powerful flight

Great black-backed gull, Leighton Moss

Glaucous gull

• A ghostly edition of a great black-backed gull with no black in the plumage
• Salmon-pink bill of immature birds very striking

Glaucous gull, Hollingworth Lake

Birds that used to be "herring gulls"

Yellow-legged gull

• Like a big, hefty herring gull with a long, blunt bill like an old fashioned butter knife
• Adult upperparts common gull grey, not much white in the primaries
• Immature plumage more like a paler, warmer version of lesser black-backed gull than darker version of herring gull

Caspian gull

• A big gull but elegantly-proportioned: as a lesser black-backed gull looks more elegant than a herring gull a Caspian gull looks more elegant than a lesser black-backed gull
• Long winged, rounded head, long neck, long legs, long bill
• Immature plumages seem to get a whiter head at a younger age than do herring gulls and yellow-legged gulls

Probable (possible?) Caspian gull, West Kirby
I puzzled over this for ages and I'm still not wholly convinced

American herring gull

• I've only seen these in the States; I'm not convinced I could tell an adult American herring from a Scandinavian European herring gull;  both are big and husky
• First Winter American herring gulls are peculiar: from a distance they're almost uniformly brown

Visitors

Bonaparte's gull

• Like a small edition of a black-headed gull with a small black bill and short bubblegum-pink or puce legs

Ring-billed gull

• Intermediate in size between common gull and herring gull
• Square-headed like a herring gull but wings like a common gull
• The black ring on the bill is more distinct than the smudgy effort on a Winter common gull

Laughing gull

• Everything about a laughing gull looks stretched out: a very long bill. a low flat head, long wings and a long rear end after the legs

Like I say, not expert notes but I hope they're helpful.

The Wirral: West Kirby and Hoylake

Sketch map of West Kirby, Red Rocks and Hoylake

The North Wirral Coast is very productive for birdwatching, has some excellent walking and is easily accessible by bus and train (the trains run every quarter of an hour). There are a few waders on the estuary all year round, the numbers increase enormously on passage and in Winter. At this time of year it's always useful to take a turn around the marine lake at West Kirby for sea ducks or even divers. The Red Rocks area is a good place to check out passage migration and do a bit of seawatching. Hoylake offers a big sandy beach popular with gulls, ringed plovers and white wagtails.

Hoylake beach looking towards the Dee Estuary

You can walk to Hilbre Bird Observatory from Red Rocks or West Kirby. Being an overly-cautious sort with one eye on the train timetables home I've never got any further than Middle Eye, the island before Hilbre so I don't cover it here.

West Kirby on the Dee Estuary is at the end of one of the Merseyrail lines. Cross the road from the station and go straight down Dee Lane and you'll get to the marine lake. There are generally a few gulls and a wader or two loafing round on the slipway if it's not in use by the sailing centre. The South Parade makes up one side of the lake and a retaining walkway takes you around the outside. Towards the southern end check out the rocks by the small concrete platform, this is a favoured roosting spot for redshanks and turnstones. Any sea ducks will tend to be at this end of the lake.

Scaup, West Kirby Marine Lake

Redshanks, West Kirby Marine Lake

Walking round the perimeter of the lake gives you a chance to check out both the lake and the Dee Estuary. Most of the waders near the lake will be dunlins and redshanks, black-tailed godwits and curlew will be further out. And there's always the chance of something else being out there if your luck's in. Brent geese winter off Hilbre, sometimes a few will come in to graze on the edge of the lake.

Light-bellied brent geese, West Kirby Marine Lake

Walking north from West Kirby to Red Rocks the paths run through a thin strip of sandy marsh. A high path runs alongside the golf course, if you're doing this walk in Summer look out for lizards basking on the boardwalk. There are a couple of lower-level paths running parallel to this that work better if you're not steady on your pins. Most of the passerines will be skylarks and meadow pipits, as you approach the reedbeds around the small pond you'll bump into a few reed buntings, in Summer you'll find reed and sedge warblers.

Walking from West Kirby to Red Rocks

In Spring and Autumn the trees and bushes along this stretch are always worth checking out for passage migrants.

Red Rocks

Red Rocks is a small outcrop of the local red sandstone. It's a good vantage point for a bit of seawatching on the turn of the tide.

From Red Rocks you can walk down to Hoylake's North Parade either along the beach or, if the tide's in, along Stanley Road then turning left and down King's Gap. This is the beginning of a long stretch of roads and paths that would eventually take you over to New Brighton. Look out for wagtails on the beach and by the golf course: pied wagtails are around all year round, in Spring they're joined by white wagtails on passage.

Ringed plovers, Hoylake.

Quickest way to Hoylake Station from the beach is to go down from King's Gap: the road takes you straight there.

Useful links:

• Hilbre Bird Observatory blog
• Dee Estuary Birding latest sightings

Hope Carr teaser

I've only recently started visiting Hope Carr Nature Reserve just outside Leigh. It's quite compact but also quite productive. Birds seen on today's visit included buzzard, peregrine and sparrowhawk, quite a few shovelers and bullfinches and a couple of willow tits. And, on the second attempt, I managed to see the Blyth's reed warbler that's been hanging round the brambles for the past week or so.

Blyth's reed warbler, Hope Carr NR

Blyth's reed warbler, Hope Carr NR

Blyth's reed warbler, Hope Carr NR

I'll provide a map and directions in a future post.

Hollingworth Lake

Sketch map of Hollingworth Lake

Hollingworth Lake is a small Pennine reservoir just outside Rochdale. It's popular both for walking and watersports and can be very busy on a sunny holiday afternoon. It can provide a couple of hours' decent birdwatching in the course of a pleasant stroll. There are enough pubs, cafés and chippies for you not to need to take a packed lunch with you.

Hollingworth Lake

The lake itself attracts good numbers of wildfowl — mostly mallards, mute swans and Canada geese — and gulls, mostly black-headed. They're joined by common terns in Summer. There's usually a few tufted ducks, every so often they'll be joined by goosander and once in a while a goldeneye or a common scoter may visit. And whenever there's a large number of ducks and gulls there's always the chance of something special.

Male common scoter

Getting to Hollingworth Lake is very straightforward so long as the trains are behaving themselves. 

• From Smithybridge Station walk south up Smithybridge Road over the canal and after about half a mile you'll reach the lake. This is much the quickest and most direct route.
• From Littleborough Station go under the subway and turn right down Canal Street, walk about a mile along Hollingworth Roaad and you reach the lake.
• The 458 bus goes from Littleborough Station to Hollingworth Lake. It then carries on to Rochdale via Wardle (if you have the time and energy you can stop off at Wardle for a walk round Watergrove Reservoir).

Common tern

Most of the gulls and ducks congregate around the car park. There are usually a few common gulls and lesser black-backs around. Last year a glaucous gull hung around for a couple of weeks enjoying more than its fair share of chips.

Glaucous gull

There's a path around the lake from the car park, eventually turning round to join Rakewood Road. A little further along there's a small road on the left going to the visitor centre. The little bit of woodland around the car park is worth checking out for the usual suspects. In Winter you'll probably find siskins amongst the finch flocks and you might find lesser redpolls. From here there are a couple of paths through open pasture land that will eventually take you into Littleborough.

Looking North from Rakewood Road

Returning back to the lake, a little bit further up Rakewood Road there's a small lane on the right. Go down here, passing the play area, this skirts the south bank of the lake. The lake is pretty much hidden by wet woodland for the first hundred yards or so. The path then loops round, keep an eye out on your right hand side here for the short path to the hide. This overlooks a shallow pool separated from the larger part of the lake by a thin spit. This can be a good area for waders.

A common sandpiper.
The unusually thick base to its bill was the result of its struggling with the hard, thick mud of the 2018 drought.

Grey wagtail

The trees thin out as you carry on down the lane to the café, giving you another chance to check out any waterbirds on the lake. Following round the lake margin the next landmark is the outdoor activity centre. It's worth checking the pontoons here to see if the usual lapwings have any company. The rest of your journey is a meander round the edge of the lake, taking you back to the bottom of Smithybridge Road and Lake Bank.

Hollingworth Lake

Number-crunching

Having noticed that my bird list for Pennington Flash had got to 98 species I got to wondering about some other sites. I've just done a quick trawl through my records for the past thirty years (they're not complete: there's eight years' worth missing in the middle because I've put the notebooks safe and can't remember where) and  here's a few highlights:

• Bowling Green Marsh 90
• Brandon Marsh 69
• Carrington Moss 77
• Chorlton Water Park/Sale Water Park complex 85
• Crosby Marine Lake 87
• Crossens 87
• Dawlish/Dawlish Warren 115
• Elton Reservoir 81
• Exe Estuary 75
• Frodsham Marsh 93
• Hollingworth Lake 66
• Hoylake/Red Rocks 68
• Leighton Moss 132
• Leasowe 57
• Marshside 100
• Martin Mere 145
• New Brighton 49
• Pennington Flash 98
• Seaforth 92
• Topsham 79
• West Kirby 75

Snipe, Leighton Moss

Just kicking around in everyday life and keeping your eyes open seems to do no harm:

• Manchester City Centre 33
• Bolton 48
• Radcliffe 66
• Rochdale 60
• Salford 55
• Stretford 69
• Wigan 59

And if you'd have asked me I'd have said the garden list was in the high twenties, it turns out to be 44.

Just goes to show. (I'm not sure what.)

Pennington Flash

Sketch map of Pennington Flash

Pennington Flash has become one of my regular visits. For years I read about it and thought it out of bounds as it didn't seem feasible by public transport from where I live. One day I had a bit of an explore and it turned out to be dead easy once you know how. Over the past couple of years, and rather to my surprise, my list for this site so far is 98 species. The official list for the site is currently 244 species.

Pennington Flash includes the flash itself, a big lake created as a result of mining subsidence, a collection of small pools, thin wet woodland and a couple of meadows. There are good numbers of wildfowl all the year round, with yet more coming in for the Winter. You also stand a good chance of seeing kingfishers as they fish around the pools. The woodland offers all the usual suspects and you have a very good chance of seeing willow tits here. Pennington Flash is particularly popular for its Winter gull roosts; amongst the hundreds of gulls there there's usually something interesting to find (eventually!): Iceland, yellow-legged and Mediterranean gulls are regular and most years at least one Caspian gull visits.

Dusk from Ramsdale's Hide

Getting there via Leigh

• The V1 bus runs regularly every quarter of and hour from Manchester to Leigh. It's a quick service using the Leigh Guided Busway which is a sort of hybrid bus/tram affair. If you're travelling from outside Greater Manchester it's probably easiest to get a train to Salford Crescent and pick the bus up from there (the bus stop is across the road and a block to the left from the station exit).
• The 34 bus goes from Piccadilly Gardens to Leigh is less frequent and takes a little longer.
• The 126 bus is an hourly service between the Trafford Centre and Leigh. If you miss that you can wait for the 132 bus to Wigan, get off at Sale Lane and get the V1 from there.

Once you arrive at Leigh Bus Station you need to go over to the bus stop on King Street (the side of the bus station opposite to the shopping centre) for the 34 or  the bus station for the 600 910 610 bus (it was easier when they both had the same bus stop but you won't have a long wait either way). Depending on the traffic it's a five or ten minute bus journey. You need to keep an eye out for the junction with the dual carriageway, your bus stop is just after the fire station on the left hand side. From here, cross the road and the main entrance to the country park is opposite the Robin Hood.

It's also possible to walk down the canal from Leigh town centre. It's a nice walk on a fine day. Or get the 584 or 588 to Plank Lane, cross over the canal and either walk along the canal and drop into the country park or go in via the entrance with the little car park a short way down Slag Lane.

Getting there from Wigan and St Helens

• The 600 601 910 610 from Wigan to Leigh and the 34 from St. Helens both go down St. Helens Road past Pennington Flash. The bus stop is nearly opposite the Robin Hood pub. As  you pass through Lowton keep an eye out for the industrial estate on the left, you'll know it because there's a big vet's building by the road. When you see that you know your stop's next.

The main entrance to the country park is just down the road.

Reedmace by Bradshaw Leach Meadow

The country park

Coming in through the main entrance and passing by the little car park you'll have a choice of paths: 

• If you turn left the path takes you round to the south bank of the flash. You'll pass the East Bay Hide and then reconnect with the main path at the bridge over the brook. In Autumn this can be a productive diversion, the hedges around the meadow seem to be a popular stopping point for migrating passerines.
• If you carry on straight ahead the tree-lined path passes Bradshaw Leach Meadow then enters some thin woodland before joining the other path at the brook.

From here you'll walk through the main car park. The country park is very popular, even so it's worth taking your time here to see what's about, especially when the resident wildfowl and gulls out on the water are joined by Winter visitors. The visitor centre is at the end of the car park, this is where the toilets are. 

Black-headed gulls, Horrocks Hide

From here, follow the path along the margin of the flash to the F.W.Horrocks Hide. This overlooks the beginning of the nature reserve end of the flash.The spit of land jutting out in front of the hide is worth checking out, particularly during wader passage. Gulls and, in Summer, terns loaf around with the cormorants at the far end. Later in the year look out for family groups of goosander.

Be warned: this hide is always cold, even in Summer! Mind you, on a really nasty Winter's day you can check out most of the gull roost from this hide rather than feeling quite so exposed as you would standing by the edge of the flash.

A Temminck's stint had turned up and had settled down in a nice place out in the open for a snooze so that everyone to see it from the F.W.Horrocks Hide. Just as everybody got their bins and telescopes trained on the stint this drake mallard came along and plonked himself right in front and wasn't for moving for more than an hour. The brown smudge behind the mallard is the top of the stint's back.

As you come out of the hide the path leads on to the Tom Edmondson Hide and beyond. There's the usual woodland species — mixed tit flocks in Winter, a nice selection of warblers in Summer. The main path is effectively a causeway between a series of small pools. You'll often see dabchicks, teal and shoveler though water rails and reed warblers tend to be heard more often than seen along this stretch.

The Tom Edmondson Hide is built on similar lines as the Horrocks Hide but feels a lot less exposed. It overlooks a couple of pools and a small reed bed with a small gravel patch separating the pools. Ducks often rest up on here and you may see snipe feeding here. These pools are probably the best places to find gadwall at Pennington Flash. There's usually a few herons and often a little egret. It also seems to be a good spot for finding juvenile kingfishers in late Summer.

From Tom Edmondson Hide

Juvenile kingfisher, Tom Edmondson Hide

A few yards further along the path forks. Check out the brambles and reeds here, it's a good place for finding warblers and it seems to be a preferred haunt of singing Cetti's warblers. Not much further is the Ramsdale's Hide. This overlooks a pool which is open to the flash proper. More ducks and waders and very nice too.

The path continues on to the main path. If it's been wet I'd generally prefer to retrace my steps and rejoin the main path there. If time's short or the weather bad you can follow the path back down towards the play area near the visitor centre and visit the hides down here.

Carrying on from Ramdsale's the main path leads on to the canal that acts as the northern border of the park. The choices from here are:

• Turn right and continue in a loop around the wooded areas and small pools, eventually getting to the rest of the hides.
• Turn left and have a wander round the northern part of the park. This is less productive from a birdwatching perspective but is a nice stroll.
• Walk down the canal back to Leigh town centre, which can be a pleasant walk on a Summer's afternoon.

There are three hides and a viewing point in the eastern side of the park. Anticlockwise from the play area the hides are:

• Pengy's Hide. This is a small hide which gives you a full view of one of the pools you can see from the Tom Edmondson Hide. There's a small feeding station by this hide which gives you a taster for the next hide.

Bluebells, wild garlic and three-cornered leeks, Pengy's Hide

• The Bunting Hide. This overlooks the main feeding station. It's worth making yourself comfortable and waiting to see what comes along. Reed buntings and stock doves both sometimes reach double figures and you'll often see good numbers of bullfinches. You may need to wait a while for the willow tits to turn up but when they do they give very good views.

Willow tit

• Teal Hide, including a hide used for educational purposes. This overlooks a pool with a small reedbed at the far end. The Teal Scrape is another place often favoured by family groups of goosanders.

Walking back from these hides it's worth checking out the flash again to see if anything's flown in while you've been having a wander. The car park oystercatcher may also make an appearance.

As you leave the park the bus stops are on your right. All the buses from the stop on this side go to Leigh Bus Station. Cross the road for buses to Wigan and St. Helens.

Useful links

• Leigh Ornithological Society 
• Greater Manchester Birding Forum — Pennington Flash sightings

Frodsham Marsh

Sketch map of Frodsham Marsh

I don't visit Frodsham nearly as often as I should. Frodsham village is pretty, easily accessible by train and the marsh offers some very good birdwatching. The habitat is a mixture of wet farmland and water management lagoons bound by the M56, the River Weaver and the Manchester Ship Canal. I treat the brook called Holpool Gutter as the western boundary. Further west lies Ince Marsh.

The rivers and lagoons attract wildfowl and waders, the fields and lagoon edges attract good numbers of passerines and both these attract the attention of birds of prey.

Sadly the excellent Frodsham Marsh Bird Blog is no more. The last time I checked the annually-updated site list currently standing at 261.

This is a working area; most of the paths are used by vehicles. Be prepared to encounter potholes and muddy patches of track.

Lordship Lane

Starting from the train station, walk up to the junction with the main road and make a decision:

• Turn right, cross the road and turn into Ship Street to go down to the eastern end of the marsh.
• Turn left, cross the road and continue down then turn into Marsh Lane to go down to the central part of the marsh.

(In principle it should be possible to go straight to the western end of the marsh from Ince or Helsby stations but I've never done it.)

Both routes take you over the M56 and through wet farmland. The finch flocks are mostly linnets, goldfinches and chaffinches. You might strike lucky and see one of the coveys of grey partridges.

Ship Street

Ship Street narrows after it crosses the motorway and eventually takes you down to the Weaver Bend. There is nearly always a variety of ducks and waders on the river and it's always worth working your way through them in the hope of finding something unexpected, even if it's "only" a wintering common sandpiper. As you follow the bend round clockwise you'll find yourself walking around the ICI Tank and eventually back to the lane that becomes Ship Street. From here you can either retrace your steps and walk back to Frodsham or you can complete the circuit and walk along the river towards Marsh Farm and then either walk down the path towards Manchester Ship Canal or walk down Brook Furlong Lane to explore the lagoons.

Don't be too dismissive of the factories beyond the marsh: they're favoured perching places for peregrines.

Marsh Lane

If you turn left and go down the main road you'll pass a lot of very picturesque buildings (nearly all of which have heritage plaques on the wall) before you come to Marsh Lane. Walk down here until you get to a fork in the road. The road to the right goes over the motorway and becomes Brook Furlong Lane. If the weather's been very wet lately this is probably the best route into the centre of the marsh — it's the shortest route and the track's in better condition.

I generally turn right and follow Marsh Lane to its end. (It wasn't until I started putting the notes together for this blog that I realised I usually walk clockwise around sites.) The lane runs parallel to the M56 for a while giving you a chance to check out the field and hedgerows on this side. Be careful as the noise of the motorway traffic can drown out that of vehicles coming along the lane. Once over the motorway the state of the track becomes pretty lamentable. It can be worth it, though, particularly in Spring when the fields are peppered with wheatears and other passerines on passage migration.

Eventually you'll come to the junction with Lordship Lane at the model aircraft flying field. This stretch of Lordship Lane follows the southern boundary of No. 6 Lagoon. A circuit of this lagoon is well recommended. Whichever direction you take as you walk down the lane it's worth keeping an eye out for stonechats, there's usually a pair or two hereabouts. No. 6 Lagoon is the only one with a large stretch of standing water; the eastern half is shallow open water and the western half is under reeds. This water can hold large numbers of ducks and waders.

Black-tailed godwits, No. 6 Lagoon

On the other side of the track, No. 3 Lagoon is wet pasture dotted with wind turbines. In Winter there are good numbers of lapwings, redshanks and golden plovers. A large flock of ravens do the tidying up around here. You have a chance of seeing buzzard, sparrowhawk, peregrine or marsh harrier any time of year and in Winter you may find a hen harrier or a merlin.

Raven. This was one of the thirty-odd ravens kicking about No. 3 Lagoon late on a Winter's afternoon.

If you turn right onto Lordship Lane at the model aircraft field and carry on walking past the junction with the path that goes round No. 6 Lagoon you'll eventually get to Holbrook Gutter. In Winter you may see flocks of curlew feeding in the fields on your left as you walk down the lane. Holbrook Gutter is a brook that meanders its way along the western border of No. 4 Lagoon. Cross the bridge here and check out the field opposite the fertiliser factory. In Winter there's usually a lot of lapwings here, there may be some geese or whooper swans and you might find either a little egret or a great white egret further out on the margins of the Gutter. From here it should be possible to walk through to Ince or else retrace your steps a little and take the path down to Helsby but I've not done this yet so I don't know how feasible this is in practice.

A steady meander round stopping regularly to enjoy the view and try and find out whatever it was that flew into that bush over there would take two or three hours, a lot less if you get a push on and/or just go round one part of the matsh.