Winter Gull Watching

I always try to get one gull watching session in just after Christmas when the tip is working. Lots of Christmas dinner was being delivered to the gulls today at Cotesbach landfill judging by the whiff coming from the dustbin lorries as they passed by.

I am watching from the gateway along Gibbet Lane, which overlooks the flooded sandpit. Some kind person had dumped an old fence where I stand, so I had to move that first. I flushed the nearest gulls on to the water from the bank whilst I was working and I noticed one was very pale. As soon as I lifted by binoculars I realised it was the second-winter Glaucous Gull that has been around recently.

Ten Caspian Gulls today, which was a respectable total for late December.