Flight of gulls

A very bright and breezy morning at Ferry Meadows. The floodwater's now declining, leaving shallow pools on the riverside meadows which are a favoured feeding and loafing habitat for large flocks of gulls. The majority of these are the ubiquitous black-headed gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus, but there's also a fair scattering of common gulls Larus canus.

This in-flight shot shows the characters of the latter species (which appears not to be on the BlipBigYear list yet) rather well. It's a somewhat larger bird, though much smaller and daintier than a herring gull. It has a rather small greenish-yellow beak, and the legs are a similar colour, very different from the bright red beak and legs of the black-headed gull. In winter the head is streaked with grey, but in summer it's pure white. Unlike the herring gull the common gull has dark eyes.

This species is reasonably common inland, and has even appeared in our garden once, but I suspect it's often overlooked. If you've not seen one before, try looking closely at any large flocks of black-headed gulls, where you may find a small number lurking.