Ross’s Gull – River Plym, Devon, 19^th March 1988

Good one this – well twitched; once again the man chooses the right moment to make his move. On the morning of Saturday the 19th March I worked on the F to D Flowlines Project at Wytch Farm before I thrashed through west Dorset and Devon to the River Plym. I parked up alongside the A374 which parallels the west bank of the Plym east of Plymouth. And, fantastically I had located the bird within seconds of tumbling out of the car.

It was a small gull, in distinctive immature plumage, both when at rest and in flight. It was quite flighty, and was sometimes harried by other gulls, and for this reason the views obtained were brief.

When flying over the mud-flats it had a deep, deliberate but quite fast wing-beat. It showed a striking contrast between the darker fore-wing and the blackish W mark, and the light grey or white looking hind wing.

When resting on the mud-flats it appeared hunch-shouldered and short-legged, and the W on the folded wing appeared as a black line with a large white-grey crescent towards the wing-tips. The grey of the wings and mantle was of a similar shade to that of an adult Herring Gull, but a slightly lighter grey extended to the nape, giving the appearance of a neck ring like that on an adult. It also had a black eye mask and ear spot.

Some considerable while later I caught up with a second. This was a ‘pretty in pink’ adult, which was one of a small influx that occurred at Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire in January 1993. I also saw another adult at both Marton Mere and Fairhaven in spring 2008.

Ross's Gull, Plym estuary, Devon, March 1988 (photograph courtesy of Rob Chittenden)

Ross's Gull, Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, January 1993 (photograph courtesy of Pete Ewer?)

Ross's Gull, Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, January 1993