Local birders had wondered
where the gull hid each day before it went to roost at Moatlands. The mystery was solved by top birders
Marek Walford
and
Fraser Cottington. After a good day featuring
Slav grebe,
a pair of scaup and laughing gull (distantly at
Burnthouse lane) the two stopped off at
McDonald's on their way home.
"Wouldn't it be great
if we saw the Laughing Gull here?",
quipped the former
... moments later they did!
.....
. ..
Since then locals who hadn't already seen the bird have bought chips and tempted the yank off the lamp posts...
A big thanks to Kit Day for the creative use of KFC chips!
BTW Use cold chips (preferred
to bread!) to lure the gull down from a post, after you've located it. It
isn't drawn by the frenzied feeding of BHGs and they tend to make it a bit
more flighty.
Click to
see a short video
Laughing gull
- Reading Gate Retail Park,
Feb 11th
onwards