Birds Photographed in the UK in 1998

Jonathan Wasse

Glaucous Gull Larus hyperboreus
Aldeburgh, Suffolk, April 1998.

A beautiful 2nd winter bird. It's quite possibly the same
bird that was present as a 1st winter in 1997
(see 1997 photographs).

Iceland Gull Larus glaucoides
Southwold, Suffolk, April 1998.

A cracking 2nd summer (or possibly 3rd summer) bird.
One feature that I find is not stressed enough in the
field guides, is the characteristic bright "bubblegum"
coloured pink legs and feet, common both to Glaucous
L. hyperboreus and Iceland Gulls. This is when
compared with Herring Gulls which have paler pink legs.

Purple Gallinule Porphrio porphyrio
Earith, Cambridgeshire, Summer 1998.

1998, "Year of the controversial/dodgy rarities".
Being a bird of an eastern form, the prospect of it
being a genuine vagrant seemed credible at the time.
This was until it was soon traced to a nearby garden
centre, from which it had done a runner.

Egret sp. Egretta sp?
Christchurch, Dorset, Summer 1998.

Well, what is it? Is it an aberrant juvenille Little
Egret E. garzetta or a genuine Western Reef
Heron E. gularis, or a Egret-Heron hybrid?
In my opinion it was too bizarre to be a Little Egret.

The "grief" Heron in flight. The shape of the bird,
both in flight and on the ground, had the look of a
minature Great White Egret Ardea alba about it.

Black Stork Ciconia nigra
Benacre Broad, Suffolk, August 1998.

After spending most of the summer months in northern
Scotland, this 1st summer bird moved south, eventually
settling in the Benacre Broad and Blyth estuary area
of north east Suffolk.