An Inland Sabine’s Gull

Any Sabine’s Gull that turns-up inland and close to home is always worth travelling to see.They are such stunning gulls and are never easy to catch-up with. They often-turn-up after autumn gales, so it was rather unusual for one to arrive in late summer. A near adult Sabine’s Gull arrived at Pennington Flash Country Park, Greater Manchester, at the beginning of August and I kept my fingers crossed that it would hold on till the weekend. Fortunately it did and I managed to get to see it on Saturday 8th August 2015. The bird was showing down to several yards and was very approachable and obliging. I guess that it had never seen humans before. From pictures taken of it when it first arrived, it had an almost complete hood. By the weekend the bird was beginning to show signs of moult. In flight however it was stunning, showing off the typical and very attractive upper wing panels of black, white and grey. Another year tick moving my year list on to 216

Sabine’s Gull – near adult – Pennington Flash, Greater Manchester – Near Adult – beginning to show signs of moult on the hood – Tony Davison©