Iceland Gull...

A couple of days ago a local birder at Seaton found a smart Iceland Gull loafing around on the river at Axmouth in Devon. It was seen a couple of times in the subsequent 48 hours which prompted Dave Helliar and myself to race down and try to catch it when it was reported again yesterday afternoon.

Gulls can often disappear quite quickly once they've bathed and rested and getting from Chard to Axmouth (although not far on the map) can take a long time if the traffic is slow. This time we were lucky though. We parked up near Coronation Corner by the river and quickly located it on the opposite side with a handful of Herring Gulls. It gave great views allowing photographs and a little video too.

Iceland Gull: R Harris

Iceland Gull: R Harris

Iceland Gull: R Harris

Iceland Gull: R Harris

True to form after about 10 minutes of good viewing time the bird left on its own, flew high and headed west towards Beer further along the coast, not to be seen again. We were pleased we'd timed it right on this occasion.