© A. R. Dean

This Iceland Gull was a regular visitor to Swanshurst Park, at Moseley near Birmingham, in February 2017. It was diagnosed as 'juv / 1W', no doubt correctly on the basis of bill-pattern and very pointed primaries. Note, however, that the iris is not dark. In the field, it was pale grey rather than creamy and 'zoomed' images suggest a somewhat 'peppered' appearance. As the iris will not change from dark to pale 'in an instant', an intermediate appearance is perhaps to be expected in mid-February of the second calendar year. It illustrates how various ageing characters (and ageing overall) need to be treated rather more cautiously than is currently the case.