Part of the far side of the Ocean was iced over this morning, and a group of Gulls were resting there. They looked fairly settled, until I got round there with the tripod, when I quickly spooked them all - TWICE. Its the tripod, honest, I need not to hold it like a gun.
This is one of the Herring Gulls, Larus argentatus, this one in the group on the ice. It looks like a third year bird, with limited development of the white windows in this plumage. The beak looked quite adult oddly enough, and the head was quite white.There is a lot of dark further in on the wing, just visible on the underside here.
There were several Common Gulls, Larus canus, around, both that I had good views of having relatively whitish heads. Nothing else they could be, but its interesting to note the variation. Earlier in the year I have tended to see much darker streaked heads, but the moult to summer plumages is a long way off, so it must simply be individual variation.
Good numbers of Goldfinches
