Saturday 27 December, 2014. I called twice to North Shields fish quay and river mouth to scan the gulls and make surveys. A first-winter Iceland gull graced the scene, delightful to see in morning and afternoon, with dark eyes and barred pale biscuit-brown plumage. Several other birders came today to connect with it. I noted a distant adult herring gull of the northern race on the Black Middens amongst the usual offering of mid-winter gulls. The photograph shows a first-winter herring gull at the fish quay on 25 December 2007. Dan Turner
