Monday 22 November – Gulls

I signed up for a BTO online course on Gull ID. There are two Zoom sessions, one was last Tuesday evening and the final one is tomorrow, so I thought I would go and see what was around. One of the best roosts is at Perelle. Naturally, the gulls gather in the middle of the beach where the sea wall gives straight onto the road. They are visible from the slipway but quite a way away. I drove on to Cobo where this Herring Gull was the last of a flock that quickly gobbled up food that was put on the sea wall. I was able to get a bit closer to some on the beach and am surprised to see how darkly flecked the heads are on a couple. Maybe I just haven’t looked that closely before. I certainly didn’t appreciate that it takes them four years to gain their adult plumage. (Another winter, another set of plumage details to get to grips with.)

I think this is an immature (1st-winter with its black bill?) Great Black-backed Gull. The Carrion Crow in the background gives an idea of its size.

I have found the BTO courses very helpful. There’s lots of information about how to go about identifying birds with lots of photos and videos, quick quizzes and homework activities. Their ID videos are also available on Youtube and well worth a look.