Gulls on Ice

I've not seen the gulls gathering mid winter before. Normally they appear as the ice forms leaving a pool in the middle of the lake for them, and when spring approaches as the ice melts.

I thought an overcast day might make photographing them easier. In bright sun when I tried before, it was so hard to control the highlights, because they are so white. I'm using a 100-400mm f5.6 and I think there's just not enough light. Although I did have it at f18 for depth of field and maybe I could have opened up more. Obviously it's cropped which doesn't help the resolution.

When they take off en masse and circle it's quite a spectacle, but that takes patience! And the background then is not that interesting.

I'll have another go when they return next.