Pictures by Ray Tipper - More about Ray...
More about Ray Tipper
Ray Tipper began his birding on the North Kent Marshes at the age if eleven. He left his native Britain in 1973 spending most of the next 22 years in Hong Kong. As a trustee of WWF he was intimately involved with its renowned Mai Po Nature Reserve. It was in Hong Kong that Ray turned to bird photography, which quickly became his major interest. He gained associateship of the Royal Photographic Society in 1990, and his photographs appear in journals and books throughout the world. Ray guides specialist birdwatching and bird photography tours and since 1997 has led more than 100 tours in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and Madagascar. He now lives in the Algarve, where his intimate knowledge of its birds has been recognised by his appointment as Chairman of the Portuguese Rarities Committee.
Mediterranean Gull - Ichthyaetus melanocephalus
Mediterranean Gull - adult moulting to winter. Salinas de Olhão
Sixty years ago the breeding range of this handsome gull was restricted to south-east Europe and Asia Minor, namely, Greece, Romania, the Crimea in Russia and the shores and islands of the Black Sea. Such was its isolation that at least one eminent ornithologist of the time considered it could be heading towards extinction. Fortunately, his pessimism was unfounded, although by the early 1970’s the population had fallen to only 17,000 breeding pairs. Thereafter, range expansion occurred both eastwards to the Caspian Sea and westwards as far as the U.K. and the world population now exceeds 250,000. It is a winter visitor to the Algarve and is best looked for on the salt pans of Castro Marim, Tavira and Olhão and Lagoa de São Lourenço and Lagoa dos Salgados.
Mediterranean Gull - adult winter
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