Whilst having the first cup of Tea and going through the first emails of the day I was stunned to reading about the probable Slaty Backed Gull at Rainham yesterday found by Dominic Mitchell. After a late breakfast Steve and myslef took a stroll over to site and it was all a bit grim to start with but shortly after Loz (blast from the past) located the beast and we got flight views but it wasn't until later when I picked the bird up at the back of the group of whch I asked Adam to confirm and then managed to get these video clips before the bird flew up, over us and out of view. First impressions, opionions and photos seem to make this a good contender for Britain's first slaty Backed Gull, however, these large Gulls can be a rather complex dilema. I have never seen this species before so have no experience or prior knowledge apart from the books at hand. The only thing that I didn't like about this individual is that it seem rather "tall" long legged to me, but I don't know if there is much allowance of overlap with this species..Apologies for the shaky and poor footage and also some of the commentary in the background, Photo below shows another blast from the past "Spider" after seeing this possible first for Britain. St.Marys to Rainham.....
