Black-headed Gulls

juvenile Common Terns

this newly fledged family were learning to fish -- the light was poor  - the juvs often sat on the boardwalk handrail watching the water intently they would then drop from the rail into the water --with amazing frequency they actually caught small fish -- at other times they employed the more usual flight and plunge dive although the latter was often more of a belly flop but even so they were hitting fish on 70% of dives staggering for birds that have only been flying for a week

adult Common Terns

Lesser Black-backed Gull

this bird on the patch today seems to have a confusing mix of immature bare parts and rather adult like uppers -- some shots show other birds present for plumage tone comparisons

going macro

after many years I have bought a macro lens -- been out trying it on a few damsels and a new Common Darter --

? gulll and a few others

initially we had the upper gull down as a 2cy Caspian, always fairly distant, but comments from a couple of colleagues have caused me to reassess the bird and I think it best left as a ? at present -- inevitably it flew off without anyone seeing the wing or tail pattern

still lots of gull potential on the patch with 11 species so far this week including a fine adult Little Gull last night,  13 Meds  and 13 Meds including 3 colour ringed birds;

3rd from bottom an easy ID even on this view -- bottom two a slightly odd looking 3cy Common Gull? head pattern not just staining and upperpart tone distinctly colder and darker than adult and 2cy Commons and a very white dainty head shape?