It's still a white out

Stayed at home for the first part of the day and managed to get Glaucous Gull on the "from the garden" list as a 1stW flew by.  Other highlights were two Peregrines having a spat, two Hen Harriers, four Golden Plover, 250 Curlew by The Shunan and of course the Tree Sparrow.

In the afternoon I went back to Marwick to look again at the ww gulls. But look at this...

Could this be a Yank HG?

Answering my own question, probably not. I've had a look at the Lonergan and Mullarney paper and also had a comment or two. The bird does not look big and bulky enough for AHG. In particular the bill looks too slight and as Stewart has pointed out the head isn't bulky enough, nor is it the correct shape, it should be longer and flatter I think. I'm also concerned that the tail pattern wouldn't be correct for an AHG of this age. The shade of grey of the mantle and back are not too far off Iceland, and it should be darker. So probably good try but no bananas.... However, what it actually is is quite another question as I don't think its a Herring Gull.

More pictures of the interesting gull. Many thanks to Alastair Skene for his permission to post these.

These five photos, thanks to Alastair Skene who took them today at Sand Geo.

All comments gratefully received.