Glaucous-winged Gull – Dorman’s Pool, Tees-side, Cleveland, 7^th January 2009

Great news, much needed after the awful experience of north-east London the night before (Burnley had succumbed to a 4.1 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of the semi-final of the League Cup). The bird had been around for since New Year’s Eve, and it offered the chance of a tick (it was a second for the UK) so early in 2009. So it was in my thoughts, very much in my thoughts, in terms of my journey back north after my trip to South-east England in the New Year on Monday the 7th January.

And don’t you just love it when a plan comes together? I left the frozen wastes of St. Albans at c.09:30, and I had a good journey up the M1/A1(M). As luck would have it, news confirming the bird was still there arrived in a timely manner just as I got close to the A18 junction, such that I was able to turn off and continue to Tees-side with no break in my journey. This situation continued with the exception that I desperately needed screen-wash, so much so that I drove past the assembled birders looking at Cowpen Bewley tip and Saltholme Pools in a failed bid to find a garage to fill up at. This merely delayed and frustrated me, as, in effect, I completed a circuit through Tees-side hell on earth, before returning to Saltholme Pools.

Here there were still some 50 odd birders (harsh.... 😁) assembled on either side of the road forlornly / occasionally scanning the gulls roosting on the pools or flying overhead, between the pools and two distant tips.

I was not optimistic. The whole scene was a grey, cold vision of hell, or indeed, hell frozen over. A Short-eared Owl offered a brief interlude, but otherwise there was little positive to report. I was concerned that I was too much after the event, and that the light would go before there was any positive news. There were loads of gulls everywhere, but it was a way too large an area to cover. I struck up a conversation with someone who had seen it earlier, but nothing he said gave me any real comfort.

Anyway, just when I least expected it, there was a flurry of activity across the frozen wastes near Dorman’s Pool. Hopes were raised, and then confirmed by a ‘phone call received by someone nearby. There was then a typically manic Le Mans start as the assembled throng dis-assembled and raced around to Long Drag. This involved driving along a muddy track and parking anywhere, before climbing up onto a slag-heap bank to overlook the frozen Dorman’s Pool. Various birders were already up there and on the bird, and as I looked for a spec., one of them (who turned out to be Jason McManus) offered me a look in his ‘scope. Having got on it I was then able to enjoy prolonged good views as it stood on the ice, preened and drank. These views were illuminated by informed comments between Jason and I and others as we took in its finer details. The bird was very much as described / illustrated.

It was generally the same size, shape and appearance as Herring Gull in the same plumage, but was stockier / heavier and its pot-bellied / drop-tailed stance contributed to this. Its head was largish, and the dark-coloured eye gave a strange appearance, its bill had washed-out colour, its legs were bright pink. The mantle and upper-wings one shade greyer than Herring Gull, with a huge crescent (the secondaries) and large spot (tertials) and ‘faded’ grey primary tips with neat, regular mirrors, and complicated dark brown streaking on the head, neck and upper breast.

I haven’t seen any of the subsequent records (why would you?) but I was reminded of my reaction to ‘Herring Gulls’ or ‘Western Gulls’ with pale primary tips when I lived and worked in California…. 😊.

Glaucous-winged Gull, Dorman’s Pool, Tees-side, Cleveland, January 2009 (photograph credited to Willie McBay).