Catching up.... this from a couple of weeks back (27th Dec), when a cold front and associated biting northerly winds and snow showers swept through. After a disappointing seawatch, I checked in at the Dams for an hour or so, where I was hoping the newly-scraped central area may attract gulls at high tide; aside from the excellent selection of Scandinavian Herring Gulls, after a while this beautiful white-winger dropped in, evocatively just as the snow began to fall.
I must've checked the bathing and loafing gulls at the Dams hundreds of times over the last six years, and one of my local birding anomalies during that time has been the total lack of rarer large gulls there - but for an Iceland Gull that half-heartedly circled and thought better of it a couple of winters ago, not a sniff, until this bird. It's interesting to speculate if the more extensive and depth-variable water resulting from our recent habitat improvements has already made it more attractive these species? Either way, a perfect start for the new-look Dams.
