2 adults first seen 7 ish flying over H wood up the valley but not seen at ogde or calf hey, 2 adults again present at holden wood 11ish........maybe 2 may have been 4...
Driving form Blackburn 4ish and hundreds of Gulls around Belthorn and some on Ogden. Funnily enough I thought I saw a Med Gull in December at Holden Wood ad it was the size of the bird and the wings which made me think that was a Med Gull. I did not take a photo of that. When I saw these birds flying something about the size just struck me as different to B H Gulls. I know they are slightly larger. I have seen them at Leighton Moss, Marshside, Martin Mere in full breeding plumage and they just look odd there but in Rossendale they just look so different! Managed to see 6 species of Gulls on the visit.
Other birds seen:-
Holden Wood:-
1 grey heron
plenty of Canada geese
6 mallard
3 teal
1 coot
2 moorhen maybe 3
2 great crested grebe - 1 in adult plumage other still winter
3 wrens
4 reed buntings - 2 singing males and 2 different females
103 b h gulls
2 common gulls
1 lesser black backed gull over
4 lapwing
1 oystercatcher
1 curlew
6 cormorants
1 kestrel
1 song thrush in song
Ogden:-
31 b h gulls
7 mallard
1 g b b gull
3 cormorants
15-20 woodpigeon
1 herring gull
1 sparrowhawk at top end
1 buzzard
1 song thrush in song
calf hey:-
1 great crested grebe in adult plumage
2 mallard
1 kestrel
2 green woodpecker
1 g s woodpecker
2 mistle thrush singing
1 treecreeper
more coal tit and goldcrest seen than blue and great
2 dunnock in song
2 mallard
about about 13 gulls
@ Craig - how long did you see it for? Kevin heard one at back end of last year, I saw something slip into rushes really quickly when it was icy back in January which was smaller than a Moorhen. I have never heard one in the area.
