Tuesday 11 June 2013

Candles, 11th June 2013

Despite having fully intended to keep an eye on things at the tip during the spring, work and life got in the way, and it suddenly became ten weeks since my last visit. A bit of free time coincided with a drizzly grey sky today, and a quick lunchtime check yielded a surprising count of c500 LBBs, feeding only yards from the visitors' car park. It wasn't long before the first dark grey mantle appeared, but the odd jizz cried hybrid, presumably a Herring x LBB. There were however at least 5 genuine Yellow-legged Gulls: an adult or near-adult with a few dark specks on the lesser coverts; a 4cy with a dark-centred tertial; 2 smart 3cy, one with more grey wing coverts than the other; and a square-headed 2cy. Along with at least 6 Herrings, it was a very pleasing haul - I must keep on it.