Following helpful comments on the adult gull from Derek Charles and Jamie Partridge it is now clear that this bird was not an Iceland Gull.
Both Derek and Jamie have visited Iceland and observed hybrid Glaucous x Herring Gulls. One pointer seems to be the rather slight dark markings on the oiuter primaries as are visible here -
- these markings are apparently variable on these hybrids and can range from almost Herring Gull-like to a few slight grey streaks as shown on this bird.
The long projection of the primaries beyound the tail is apparently typical of this hybrid (aka Viking Gull) and of course differs from the pure Glaucous Gull structure of relatively shorter primaries -
... an instructive bird ! and thanks again for comments Derek and Jamie
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