Friday 10 February 2012

BUDGET GULL MASTERCLASS: New for 2012

Sick of standing out at your local smelly tip in a howling gale? Sick of standing out at your cold local reservoir in damp gloomy winter conditions trying to tell the difference between 2nd winter northern Herring Gulls and 2nd winter eastern Caspian Gulls or 3rd generation Caspian x Herring Gull hybrids? Bored of looking through 10,000 gulls at 1 mile range in the mist in the hope of picking out that elusive Glaucous-winged Gull, or even a bog-standard Iceland Gull? If so our BRAND NEW BUDGET GULL MASTERCLASS will be a perfect treat for you... and not half bad for only £4.95 per person(see below for your chance to receive a 20% discount).

Join our resident expert Ollie Metcalf B.A. (Budding Amateur) on a fantastic summer tour as we will help you learn about gulls in a whole new way. We will tour a wide range of habitats such as Scarborough and Bridlington Beachfronts on an August bank holiday weekend in the hope of delivering a fascinating range of gulls – don’t worry we’ll ignore anything that’s clearly not an adult (Receive a 20% discount if you promise not to ask any questions about any brown gulls during your tour). We guarantee nothing that may/may not represent a CASPIAN GULL will be seen (way too difficult), or your money back.


The expert guide

Itinerary: Day 1: What exactly is a gull?

Gull



Not a gull


Magpie © Teemu Lehtinen

Gull



Not a gull


Robin © Diamonddavej

You’ll soon be up to speed after a full day in the field with our crack team of experts.

Days 2&3: The gulls...

We will show you the incredible Herring Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Common Gull and Black-headed Gull. Spend time learning about these beautiful birds and how to identify them during the breeding season. It will be a pleasure to watch these birds as we eat ice cream on the seafront. You'll take away all you could possibly require to be able to ID these tricky birds all by yourself.


Herring Gull © Kurt Kulac. The bog standard 'seagull'


Yellow-legged Gull © Julio Reis. The bog standard 'seagull' with Yellow legs!


Lesser Black-backed Gull © Henry Bucklow. Like a bog standard 'seagull' but with a slightly darker back and yellow legs


Great Black-backed Gull © Andreas Trepte. Like a bog standard 'seagull' but with a black back and pink legs


Common Gull © Benoit Nabholz. Like a bog standard 'seagull' but a bit smaller. If you are lucky you might even glimpse a Kittiwake which is pretty much the same really.


Black-headed Gull © Hans Hillewaert. Has a brown not black head.


Mediterranean Gull © Martin Olsson. Like the Black-headed Gull but with a black head not a brown head

Note we can’t guarantee that you will see any of the above species, or that what we tell you will be correct but at least the ice cream will be nice (probably).

Please feel free to email for details.

COMING SOON, part of our Budget Masterclass Season: Budget Tits.

2 comments:

  1. Count me in ! I thought that they were all Sea Gulls at Beddington until you explained the difference. I also believe I have been seeing the Greater Mediterranean Gull in winter plumage but can't be sure....

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  2. Cheers Johnny - going to be requiring a second session at this rate! Luckily I've had some helpful information on which gulls prefer which fish and chips so the battle is almost won!

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