A bit of a gull fest...

I altered my plan of going 'scotering' today in Carmarthen Bay when I heard yesterday evening that the Thayer's Gull had been seen again at Burry Holms, on the Gower, and this proved to be a good move as I saw it well, albeit after over 4 hours on site.  Heading home I wondered if I had time to do any birding before dark, and calculated that if I put my foot down I could get to Llys-y-Fran Reservoir just in time to go through the gulls once before dark.  What a good decision that proved to be.  Within a minute of setting up my 'scope, slowly scanning through the closest flock of Lesser Black-backs, I came across a juvenile Kumlien's Gull - a much paler bird than the dark affair found by Mike at Newgale.  I had seen Brian S's car in the car park, so tried to call him but was met by an answer 'phone, but luckily about 2 minutes later he came bouncing around the corner and was straight onto the bird through my 'scope.  As Brian was watching the bird, I picked up another 'white winger' flying across the reservoir, unfortunately it continued away from us heading north and was lost to view, but the brief views of a clear (albeit pale) tail band suggested it was also a juvenile Kumlien's, paler than the first bird.  About 20 minutes later Brian picked up a bird further up the reservoir, and I quickly confirmed that it was a juvenile Kumlien's Gull, but hang on, surely that is a darker bird??  A quick scan back down the flock revealed the original bird still there, so we had 2 Kumlien's Gulls, possibly 3!  The 3rd bird was dark, but not as dark in the primaries and tertials as the Newgale juvenile.  Apologies for the poor photo, but the light wasn't great and it wasn't especially close (this is bird 1).  Brian also had the adult Ring-billed Gull, an adult Yellow-legged Gull, and 2 Med Gulls before I arrived.

And according to Birdguides, there were 2 Green-winged Teals on Newgale Marsh this afternoon, and the near-adult Glaucous Gull was also seen.