The guardian of the bridge over the Foveran Burn

This is a black headed gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus in its winter plumage. It is only black-headed in the breeding season and in reality it is then a dark chocolate brown. Chroicocephalus comes from the Greek word choria meaning colour and cephalus which means head. Thus  Chroicocephalus means coloured-head. Ridibundus comes from the Latin ridere which means laugh. So essentially the scientific name means laughing coloured-head, or coloured-head laugher.

This individual is extraordinarily tame and is often seen on the bridge waiting to be fed.

Extra. I never cease to be amazed by the power of the internet. I came across this photograph on the said internet a couple of days ago, quite by chance. It shows two young soldiers serving in the army in France during the First World War. The man on the right lived next door to us when I was a child!