A brief phone call from local birder Simon Cox had me leave the confines of the farm and travel west for just under two miles to Stone Point. Here Simon had located a fine Iceland Gull sitting on the water between the point and Brightlingsea. Along with Glaucous Gull, Iceland is one of the so called 'white wing gulls' that are scarce visitors to Britain in winter from the arctic, although this winter has seen up to fifty Iceland's on Shetland !
The name Iceland is a bit of a misnomer as they breed on Greenland and not Iceland...work that one out.
The occurrence of this bird has led to what i believe is Toosey's first 'pelagic twitch' with a few locals commandeering the Harbour Masters boat to get closer to the bird !
The local crows had something a little more exotic than Marsh Harriers to harass today, in the form of a Harris's Hawk. This escaped falconers bird is a native of the southern states of the USA and regularly seen in captivity in this country. In their natural environment they hunt in family groups for small mammals and rodents. In the second image the leather jesses used by the falconer to tether the bird can be clearly seen.
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