*Kelp Gull (third calendar year), Grafham Water, Cambs - the first for Britain*

THE LEAST INSPIRING MEGA RARITY I’ve seen is how some people have described the Kelp Gull at Grafham Water but for me it’s been a very interesting ID lesson. I wonder how many of these have passed in the crowds of black-backed gulls in the past and I half expect that this one will eventually get gazumped from its first for Britain status. It was nothing if not very co-operative for a large gull, on view all the time along the dam wall of Grafham Water on the hot and sunny afternoon I visited it. A quick whizz through its identification features: jet eye; bulbous-ended bill; flat-headed profile (at times); black mantle and long jade(?) legs was all news to me having only seen them in South Africa and Argentina, where there is much else of more interest to look at. It loafed around in the water and later on the railings of the walkway to the valve tower. Aged as a third calendar year, it is in active moult with the six, old outer primaries retained and the inner ones regrowing. With so few gulls present it was also nice to see such a variety - Great Black-backed, Lesser Black-backed, Herring, Yellow-legged (2, one even giving the wings-closed long call) and Black-headed as well as the Kelp Gull all standing helpfully in line in a ready-made ID collage on the railings. Also here were five or six Yellow Wagtails and a few Common Terns. The last (and only) time I was here, was way back in the 80s for a Leach’s Petrel. It was unrecognisable with a bank of solar panels below the dam wall and tall trees all around the reservoir.

KELP GULL AT GRAFHAM WATER - first for Britain