Cape-tastic! A Trip to See "That" Gull

Any birder who has their ear even remotely close to the ground must have heard about the amazing find of a "first for Britain" Cape Gull at Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire last Sunday. Found late morning on Sunday, it spent the entire day loafing around the dam area of Grafham Water, enabling those who were quick off the mark a comfortable tick. I couldn't go that day - I'd been out all day Saturday on my Honey Buzzard/friend reunion trip and my VLW would have taken a dim view of me rushing off again the next day. However I had no commitments on Monday. What's more at only 1.5 hours drive from home and, seemingly on show the whole time, this bird was about as nailed down as a first for Britain could be so it was a bit of a no brainer on my part. I did half contemplate going mid morning after doing a spot of work first but soon realised that I would not be able to concentrate on any work for constantly worrying about seeing the gull so in the end I decided to head off first thing (or what passes for first thing for me) "on news".

Monday dawned and RBA reported that the bird was still there following its usual routine of feeding on a dead trout before loafing on some railings. So a little after 8:15 a.m. I set off, stopping to refuel the Gnome-mobile before following the Sat Nat instructions which took me along A421 east towards Grafham Water. So it was that at about 10 a.m I arrived in the car park, found a spot, tooled up and hurried off in the already strong heat along with hoards of other twitchers. It was one of those special twitches where just about everyone in the birding world was there and the bird was reliable. Those on the way to see the bird had a certain amount of nervousness optimism and those who had seen it already were busy catching up with the social side of things. I fully expected to meet some fellow Oxon birders and indeed met CO on his way back who told me that IL and GW had just left as well. In addition at the twitch itself there was NH and MC so it was quite the social event that I was expecting.

It was about a 15 minute walk around to the dam in the south east corner. As I got closer I could see the crowd leaving the railing area and heading to the far corner. The bird must have gone to feed on more trout I guessed, and so I hurried on: still a little nervous that I had yet to see it for myself. I needn't have worried as when I arrived, there he was, quite unmistakable, loafing near a half eaten trout and tearing bits off periodically. I busily set up my scope and set about taking photos and video.

My first view of the Cape Gull. It had a surprisingly "leggy" appearance

When seen at close quarters it was a very distinctive bird

Cape Gull (larus dominicanus vetula) is a subspecies of Kelp Gull that frequents southern Africa (hence the name). Kelp Gull is a large Great Black-backed like Gull of the southern hemisphere, occurring around the coast of the South American continent,  along the coast of south east Australia and across New Zealand (nominate l.d. dominicanus), around the coast of the southern half of Africa ("Cape Gull" l.d. vetula), as well as a few islands with their own subspecies. Cape Gulls have gradually been extending their range, creeping northwards up the coast of Africa with perhaps a dozen records on the Iberian peninsular and a couple in France - one even turned up in a Paris zoo recently. With this gradually progression it was entirely possible that one would turn up eventually in the UK though one could see how it might easily be overlooked in a large flock of gulls. So full kudos to the finder for spotting it in such an unlikely inland location given their coastal preference. Mind you, actually the location would have helped tremendously as it offered such good views of the bird at close quarters that it was able to be identified.

So what marks a Cape Gull from a Great Black-backed Gull? Like all gull ID, it wasn't one thing but instead a suite of features: the bill was large and pale with quite a bulbous tip; the top of the head was flat with a dark eye (a feature of the Cape subspecies), the legs were a greyish green and it was dark backed about mid size between a LBBG and a GBBG. The bird had been aged as a 2nd summer though was quite advanced in its plumage for such an age. It had just a single dark tail feather left and the lower section of its folded wing was dark brown but the overall impression was largely of a fairly mature dark back. The innermost primaries and secondaries had moulted to next generation showing the start of the broader white band to the trailing wing that is characteristic of a Kelp Gull.

In flight you can clearly see the single dark tail feather left
and next generation innermost primaries and innermost secondaries

After feeding for a while it flew out onto the water for a clean up before deciding that it wanted a dessert and headed back to a different trout. However, it didn't seem that hungry so after pecking at it half heartedly for a while flew it back to the water for a final wash. Eventually it decided it was clean and so flew back to the railing for a good post-wash preen before going to sleep. The twitching crowd (perhaps a couple of hundred birders) duly followed it back to the railings and papped away vigorously from all angles.

On the water...

...and on the railings.

Having a good preen

Seeing this bird so well at such a close distance was great but I couldn't help but wonder whether I'd pick it out in a roost of birds floating on the water at dusk on a cold winter's evening - the chances were probably low. Still it at least offered another species to look out for in a roost and meant that there was more reason to give GBBG's a closer grilling.

Aside from the star bird there were some other species to be seen as well. We were treated to a wonderfully close fly-over of an Osprey with one or two others distantly on view periodically over the water. There were some Yellow-legged Gulls about, Common Terns were hunting over the water and quite a few Yellow Wagtails were calling in the fields below the dam. Swallows were hawking over the water and a single Redshank dropped in to feed along the margin. Apart from that it was the usual water fowl loafing around in the heat. In terms of the current heatwave the water was definitely low with large areas of dried mud exposed in the shallow corners. Still Grafham Water is such a vast expanse that there was plenty of water around yet. 

A Bonus Redshank

After a while I decided to head back, passing other birders still coming the other way. Back in the car I drank half a bottle of water in one go to quench my thirst - it had been hard work in the baking sun. Then it was time to crank up the car air-con to 11 and set the Sat Nav for home, basking in the warm glow of a "first for Britain" tick. 

Addendum

Given how settled the bird looked, I was fully expecting it to stay around for some time to come. However it soon started to be less reliable and by Thursday there had been no further sign of it. Thank heavens I didn't do my usual thing of waiting a while before going to see the bird as I would have missed it!