Friday 12 August 2022

Cape Gull (Larus dominicanus vetula) Grafham Water

                                           8th August 2022  :  Grafham Water


                                                               

Cape Gull feeding with Gull's.

On Sunday 7th August bird news broke that there was a Cape Gull showing well at Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire !!!!

The Cape Gull (Larus dominicanus Vetula) has never been seen in Britain before and therefore unsurprisingly would be a 1st for Britain.

Arrangements were quickly put into place to head up to Grafham Water on Monday morning , we arrived at 8am and quickly made our way around to the Dam and thankfully had great views of the Cape Gull.

Here are a selection of many photos taken of the superb Cape Gull.



Cape Gull.

Really enjoyed watching the Cape Gull which was somewhere in between LBBG & GBBG in size, it had no 'mirrors' on the primaries , quite long legged (similar to Caspian Gull) which were a blue /  greyish colour , it had a really huge bill and small black eyes.

This bird has been aged as a 2nd summer.







Cape Gull.

Other birds of note were several Yellow-legged Gulls and lots of Yellow Wagtails including a Channel Wagtail.