Those Hybrid Gulls

Its not quite so simple as a single hybrid type as the Skokholm experiments are 40 years ago which means that the progeny of the egg swaps should have started breeding around the late 1970's so that we could now be looking at 7th generation birds so a whole range of cline within the hybrid structure might be expected. I suspect that most will have bred out the majority of their opposite genes but without doubt some will keep popping up.

Put simply the HG's which hatched in LBB nests subsequently tried to breed with LBB's and vice versa. I think that there was a subsequent bias towards HG's nesting with LBB's but I can't remember why.

However I have seen apparently pure HG's and LBB's breeding together on both Skomer and Caldey and in 2010 there was a hybrid breeding with an HG near the Skokholm landing and it was very easy to see the differences at close quarters in such circumstances. I agree with Dave's vew about Lyndons photo - it looks more like a second generation bird although the leg colour looks too bright in my experience.

The earlier pic from Derek looked a bit darker than most and the nape is a bit clean but everything else from mirrors to eye colour and structure all look more like HG than LBB. I suspect first generation HG/LBB hybrid - it could be 25years old!!!!!

Not sure all that helps a lot - just means that there are probably more hybrids out there than might be expected. I think I read somewhere recently of Yellow Legged Gulls also cross breeding with HG's.