The big white ghost

Adult summer Glaucous Gull at Longannet, Fife, 29/04/2013

Survey season is in full swing and I've contracts to carry out fieldwork in Fife, Argyll and Dumfriesshire. Hopefully the weather will start to improve – I reckon we must be about a month behind following the cold, dull start to the spring. Today (06/05) the Blue Tits in my garden are only just starting to collect nesting material for the bird box.

Winter was certainly lingering the other day when a scan of the gulls at Longannet Power Station's ash lagoons produced a very fine adult summer Glaucous Gull. This species breeds in the Arctic but small numbers spend the winter in the UK, mostly in Scotland. They are seen barely annually in Fife, so this is a decent record.

The Glauc was found with a bunch of juvenile Great Black-backed Gulls offering a great chance to compare their sizes. It is a truly impressive bird with that pale grey mantle and all-white wingtips – it stands out even better in flight when it looks like a big white ghost.

Adult summer Glaucous Gull in flight at Longannet, Fife