Black-Headed Gull #10

Feeling so much better today - just a sniffle remains. 
Hubby is playing at his monthly games group so I decided that I would definitely go out in search of some birds. There was the long staying Ring-necked Duck in St Helens, and this morning a drake Smew had found it's way to Crosby first thing so that's where I headed. I missed the Smew by about 5 minutes as it had flown over to Seaforth by the time I had parked up and walked to the lake. I hung around for 90 minutes to see if it would return and to tick off a couple of other species, but no luck. My second target was way easier to find. It was on a tiny little lake/pond in Victoria Park, seemingly enjoying himself - a very straightforward tick for the smart Ring-necked duck - extra.
My last stop was Pennington Flash to see if I could pick up a bullfinch, willow tit or Stock Dove. After adding a great crested grebe and Lesser Black backed Gull, I managed to tick off the Stock Dove quite quickly too. There were lots of little birds about at the feeding station and more robins than I've ever seen together in the same space - there must have been at least 10 - but no willow tit or bullfinch. Ah well, you can't win them all. 
My favourite shot of the day was this black headed gull taking off from the mirror like water of one of the inner ponds at the Flash. I loved the reflection of the bushes in the water and of course the bird's mirror images too.