Arctic Gull Spotted in Snowy Britain

8th February, 2009

A glaucous gull has flown several thousand miles from Russia and amazingly set down at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust's Slimbridge Wetland Centre in a small area within the grounds which is landscaped to replicate the bird's native Arctic habitat.

The juvenile glaucous gull, more commonly seen alongside polar bears in the Arctic, was first spotted in several parts of the wild reserve yesterday before flying directly into the tundra pen within the grounds of the centre, only metres from watching visitors.

James Lees, reserve warden at WWT Slimbridge, who first spotted the gull a few weeks ago, said: "We normally record glaucous gulls most years at Slimbridge but they tend to be at long range. To see this bird sitting inside the grounds almost oblivious to the general public was amazing, but perhaps not as amazing as the fact that this bird chose the tundra pen out of all the different pens it could have landed in. To see such a wild Arctic bird sitting so close to the visitors was a great sight, it's also a credit to our horticultural team who have obviously done a great job making this area look like northern tundra."

  credit: bfi.org.uk