Most people, including some bird watchers, are quite happy to say "gulls" without specifically identifying or ageing the bird in question.

Pre-roost gathering

   Especially in the winter months, a large number of gulls gather on the sand banks at Pickerings a couple of hours before dark. This is a pre-roost gathering for a wash and brush up after feeding all day on the rubbish tips etc.   This is a good time to scan through the gulls and try to sort them out.

 A few hints on trying to sort them out for beginners. I have kept the identification simple so not to put you off.

The commoner large gulls seen regularly in the winter on the river or sandbanks at Pickerings Pasture include: 

Greater black-backed gull,    Lesser black-backed gull,    Herring gull.

Each of these species goes through four plumage phases over four years before they reach the adult plumage shown in the field guides.

Herring gull

Greater black-backed gull

The two smaller species seen on a regular basis at Pickerings Pasture are Common gull, (which is not particularly common) and Black-headed gull (which is very common but has a brown head in summer or just a dark spot in the winter). These two species go through two plumage phases before they reach adulthood.

Common gull

    Another gull which is spreading over the UK and is seen regularly at Pickerings Pasture is the Mediterranean gull. This bird is just slightly larger than a black-headed gull. It is quite an easy bird to identify as an adult; it has pure white wings with no black tips. In summer its head is black down onto its nape.Young birds are harder to tell.

 Mediterranean gull and black-headed gull

   Another gull which has been seen at Pickerings Pasture is the Yellow-legged gull. It now turns up every year in this area and it is relatively easy to identify an adult. It is similar in size to the Herring and Lesser black-backed gulls but its darker back plumage is in between the two (ie darker than a herring but lighter than a lesser). Again, younger birds are harder to tell but have a paler head which attracts your attention. 

   Occasionally rarities have turned up at Pickerings Pasture and these include both Iceland gull (about the same size as a Herring gull) and Glaucous gull (similar in size to Greater black-backed gull. Both these species are fairly easy to identify: the adults are white with no black on the wing tips and the juveniles of both are a biscuit colour and are fairly obvious among the commoner species.

 Iceland gull 

      Next times you are at Pickerings try to sort out some of the gull species: it does get easier and who knows - you may find a rarity.  

An adult mediterranean gull in winter plumage on the sandbank at Pickerings.

 Glaucous gull