Ivory Gull

Ivory Gull in Ayrshire, December 2006

A message on my pager alerted me that there was a 1st winter Ivory Gull in Ayrshire. Although I had already seen and Ivory Gull in the UK I was keen to go as this bird as I had never observed a 1st winter individual. I phoned Craig to see if he was up for the twitch, and he was! Roy was also keen to come. We arranged to leave the following morning around 0830.

By mid-morning we were heading up the M74 and making good time. Then a negative message on the pager, stating that there was no sign of the bird….feck! However despite Roy’s confession that he had dipped about a trillion Ivory Gulls previously, we decided to continue on in the hope that is would be relocated! We were about eight miles from Ayr when a pager message stated that the bird had been relocated in a field a few miles east of Ayr from the A70……wahoo……twitch on! As we continued along the A70 we could see a line of birders on the side of the road. We parked up, got our kit together and legged it across the road. The Ivory Gull was the only bird in the field…….nice! However, we could have only been watching the bird for a few minutes before it flew off! We drove up and down the road for a while, checking fields, hoping to relocate it. There was no sign, so we decided to check Greenan, where the bird had spent much of the previous day. This area looked superb, however there was no sign of the gull! The next message on the pager informed me that the bird had been relocated a couple of miles further along the A70. We legged it back to the car and sped back to the A70 (well within the speed limit of course!). When we arrived we could see the bird in a small field on the Northern side of the road. We got excellent views of the Ivory Gull, the bird was feeding on worms! At times the bird flew directly over our heads, an awesome sight!

After watching and photographing the bird for a few hours, we decided to head back into Ayr to look for the long-staying Iceland Gull. As we walked along the river Craig picked the Iceland Gull out as it flew overhead.

The bird flew around for a bit, briefly landed on a building before settling on some rocks on the river. We got superb views of this adult Iceland Gull, brilliant end to the day!