Iceland Gull with Bonaparte's Gull

Both Iceland Gulls with Bonaparte's Gull above them

Iceland Gull on bottom left with Glaucous Gull and Bonaparte's Gulls landing

The gull flock here in Gairloch this week contains a Bonaparte's, a Glaucous and 2 Iceland Gulls. It's always a distant frenzy and difficult to see them never mind get any pics, here are some phonescoped video grabs, hopefully showing them.

There's also an Iceland Gull in the flock!

Looking through the local gull flock by Gairloch yesterday I thought the Bonaparte's Gull looked different from the one I've been seeing.
After looking through a video that I took I can see that there are at least 2 of them!
Video grab attached
#highlandbirds

Looks like the Bonaparte's Gull I saw in October is hanging around Gairloch as I saw it again yesterday. Looks like the same bird anyways.
Thought I'd seen it a few times but never 100%.
Attached video grabs showing features
Also in the same flock was the regular Iceland Gull.
#highlandbirds

Gaelic film fest and snow funding for crofters Read to the end to watch a nice video of a snowy pine forest.

This weeks Wester Ross Round-up was sent to 1111 people. Sign-up on our website.

gairlochtimes.org.uk/gaelic-film-...

To you to George!
Yes I found them, very interesting ( even amazing) indeed.
Cheers!

Never heard of them, thats mind boggling.

Glaucous Gull at Ullapool harbour this week.
#highlandbirds

Video grab of a lively Iceland Gull among a feeding flock by Gairloch today
#highlandbirds

Cheers for that!

There's a lovely Mediterranean Gull by Gairloch just now.
#highlandbirds

Found a Bonaparte's Gull among loafing gulls by Gairloch yesterday.
Poor pics attached phonescoped from 500m in fairly strong winds.
#highlandbirds

Lovely distant views of a pair of W.T.Eagles displaying yesterday.
#highlandbirds

A good couple of mornings dog walking (controlled) on Big Sands beach. Yesterday a Little Stint and this morning a Black Tern. Both quite late for here I think. Distant shots.
#highlandbirds

An early skein of approx 20 Brent Geese heading south along the coast off Melvaig today.

Found this black toad in our garden this morning. Apparently this is melanism, which is due to excessive amount of dark pigment.

Looking at another video it crushes one end open before turning it around to squeeze it out.

I'm not sure, I haven't seen them put a nick in it, so it's either by force or they nick it before bringing it up. Can never see what happens on the ground as its always in long grass.

There's a pair of males and a female around our house and a good supply of hairy caterpillars ( as well as Meadow Pipits of course!) Fascinating to watch them.

Apparently, they sometimes take some hairs off as well but haven't witnessed that yet.

Watching the local cuckoos you can see them emptying the hairy caterpillars gut content to avoid ingesting toxins
#highlandbirds

At least 2 male and 1 female Cuckoo's busy in the area around our house just now (hairy caterpillarsin abundance). Also, there are a lot of unhappy Meadow Pipits.
No sign (or sound) of Grasshopper Warbler yet.

A distant drake Surf Scoter off Gairloch this morning
#highlandbirds

That's a grand job you've done there George

Lovely pair of Greenshank at a local river mouth on way to breeding ground

Lots of R.B.Mergansers on the coast here just now.

Ospreys are back using the platform on a hydro pylon near our main road to town again this year.
Green energy right enough!

Watching a W.T.Eagle soaring over nearby Great Skua territories this morning, at least 9 Great Skuas came up to see it off. Hopefully signs of recovery from avian flu.
#highlandbirds

Cuckoo calling by our house, Gairloch, today, 2 weeks earlier than last year.