Having a Laugh on Merseyside

In my view and of course if it is possible, it is well worth making the effort to see any North American bird in Britain. So when a Laughing Gull was discovered at New Brighton, on Merseyside, around the 5th of February, I had this bird on my radar. Keeping my fingers crossed, I hoped it would remain until the weekend, giving me the opportunity to travel to see it. It wasn’t a lifer, as I’ve seen three or four previously in Britain, but it would be nice to see another. We arrived at New Brighton in very foggy conditions, seems the weather has been against us all weekend! Anyhow the bird was performing on the local beach by Fort Perch Rock and the Lighthouse. The first winter Laughing Gull had obviously got into a routine, as it would regularly commute between the beach and a nearby small lake, where it would roost on the pontoon and feed on scraps, provided by the public to the flock of feral pigeons and Black-headed Gulls. It was really showing well but unfortunately was rather a shabby and sickly looking individual and appearing to be not in the best of health. Plumage wise was very untidy and a drooping wing is never a good sign. Nevertheless it was flying OK and actively feeding. I must admit it looked better at a distance than it did close-up.

Displaying a broad dark brown tail band with white upper tail and rump, dark blackish-red bill, dark blackish-red legs, pale smokey-grey to the mantle and upper-wing. Dark smokey brown wing coverts and primaries with the secondaries and greater coverts with dark brown centres, fringed and bordered white. The head showed signs of a smokey brown hood with white eye-crescents. The overall appearance was a very contrasting smokey grey bird, slightly larger than Black-headed Gull and slightly smaller than Common Gull.

Further down the beach towards Leasowe, we saw a couple of very obliging Snow Bunting – so the Year List moves on to 131.