Laughing Gull, New Brighton 7th February 2015

On Tuesday 3rd February 2015 a first-winter Laughing Gull was discovered on the pontoon used by roosting gulls & waders on New Brighton Marine Lake by visiting birder M. Brown. I strolled along the promenade from my house the following Saturday & had great views of this very accommodating bird. This was my first attempt at phone-scoping a record snap.

Although being the 6th record of this American gull for Cheshire & Wirral, it's the first twitchable bird. The previous five records being:

1977 New Ferry, adult, 3rd August (Dr R.J. Raines).
1978 Hilbre, first-summer, 16th May (T.R. Cleeves, J.B.O. Rossetti).
1985 Latchford Locks, Warrington, second-winter, 21st November (S.W. Kennedy); presumed same, Woolston Eyes, 30th (D.S. Bowman, B. Martin).
1997 Houghton Green, adult, 12th January (K. Foster).
2001 West Kirby, first-winter, 2nd October (C.J. Butterworth, L. Greenstreet).