Yellow Legged Gull, Another Tree Pipit, How about a Grasshopper Warbler

Hello there,

Caught this gull in flight. A bit blurry, but I think I can see red ring around the eye, yellow legs. So, YLG or LBB?

This pipit has finer markings on the breast, and doesn't have the blobby clump in the middle... any chance of a tree pipit with this one?


On the way back over the Plain the other evening, I heard something like a grasshopper. Oddly, despite all the grass, I rarely hear a grasshopper out there. But I know *real* birdwatchers report grasshopper warblers out there. So I scanned the long grasses, and saw this some way away. Is there enough detail to make a judgment?

And help gratefully received :)

  • SteveDe said:
    but I suppose that's a red her-ring

        Oh Dear.  :-)   I would kill for a sight of a G.warbler at the mo.  Great collection you have here.

  • Unknown said:
    We were looking for a Little Gull and yes, if it were there it would be at a distance from the hide we were in. The idea was to find it first, then see if it would approach somewhere where we could photograph it easier. I thought the size of the bill was the easiest way to tell it apart from the black headed?

    Little Gulls do have a particularly small, thin bill, but this is not a feature that I have ever previously heard of anyone trying to use to pick one out from other gulls! They are very noticeably smaller than all but the smallest (runt) Black-headed Gulls, and in flight the pattern on the wings is very clearly different (no wedge of white on the leading edge of the primaries, as well as other features such as a dark underwing and lack of any black on the upper wing on adults, and a Kittiwake like black W on the upper wing on juveniles).

    On the ground, the small size is again a very good initial pointer, with adults lacking any black in the folded primaries, and juveniles black, rather than brown, above.

    Richard H said:
    The grasshopper warbler is a very difficult call. Visually the most distinctive feature is it's streaky back, which is obscured here. On the other hand, I don't think anything discounts it from being a GW (it seems the right size, shape and habitat) so if you heard one call, this quite possibly is it.

    It's not the best of photos for a conclusive identification, but the general 'jizz' is just what would be expected for a Grasshopper Warbler (they tend to have this 'pointy at both ends' appearance!

  • Hi

    1st photo is a LBB on overall jizz mantle colour and bill shape

    2nd photo is problematic- breast streaks could be either but the flanks fit TP as does the broken eyering  -

    3rd photo is a Gropper on shape, face pattern and jizz;

    Others may differ

    S