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Our tip of the week ... go to Pilsworth for a gull sighting

30/ 3/2005

HEYWOOD'S landfill mountain might be regarded as a blot on the landscape by many local folk, but it has started attracting "visitors" from many hundreds of miles away.

Pilsworth tip, which only recently sparked more complaints about the way it has grown to an enormous height in the past couple of years, may be an eyesore to some but it's heaven to others arriving by air just to sample its delights.

Each month, Britain's biggest selling birders' magazine, Birdwatching, records rarity sightings from every region of the UK. And every month for the past three months it has recorded rare Glaucous (pictured) and Icelandic gulls searching for tasty pickings on the Viridor landfill site off Pilsworth Road.

Both species breed in the high Arctic regions, but travel south each winter for the comparative warmth of places like Scandinavia and northern Britain. Usually only about 200 birds are spotted each year in Britain - many of them scavenging for food on landfill sites.

The glaucous is a very large, fierce looking gull while the Iceland gull is slightly smaller with what bird guides describe as "a more gentle expression".

Although to the uninitiated both gulls would hardly draw a second glance, serious birdwatchers regard them as a prize "tick" and travel miles to see them and photograph them when word gets round they are in an area.

But the Heywood honeymoon for both species of gull could soon be over. The Advertiser reported only last month how tipping is drawing to a close at the site and capping is now underway, before the area is landscaped and restored for agricultural use.