State of this! A Mediterranean Gull in heavy wing moult over Ribchester riverfront today
THE RISE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN GULL CONTINUES! It is interesting to relate my increasing ad hoc local sightings to the fortunes of this bird in the UK. Mediterranean Gull first bred in the UK in Hampshire in 1968 and increased slowly to around 100 pairs by 2000 and then 600-700 pairs by 2010. The current popluation was estimated at around 1200 pairs in 2013-17. This increase is part of a westward range expansion from its ciore areas around the Black Sea that started in the 1950s and in winter our breeding poulation is boosted by more birds from Europe taking it to around 4000 individuals during 2011-15. I imagine that this figure is even bigger now. So, they became so common that I now see one or two around my village in East Lancashire in almost every month of the year, usually when slurry spreading on the silage meadows of the dairy farms causes wandering birds to linger a while. Another reminder that not everything is heading for the exit, these, Little Egrets and ospreys are certainly welcome addiitons to the bird life along the river on my local patch.
Med Gull easily passes in a crowd on the river in Ribchester…
…until it takes to the air and flashes its white wings!