Whilst going through the 100's of gulls that had gathered near to where we were getting extremely trigger happy with, surprisingly the closest bird to us, about 4m's away was a adult Yellow-legged Gull .. !!
Possibly one of the returning birds from last season ..
Now trying to isolate the bird at times was tricky and when in the frenzy of 100's of gulls would be near-on impossible to find, but it seemed to return to the front and again be the closest bird ..
In mid moult and not quite looking its best with plenty of worn feathers still to be replaced ..
Some inner primaries are still growing though upto P6.
Appears greater coverts dropped and some secondaries are sheathed.
Tail moult not started.
Yellow-legs begin the moult much earlier than Herring gulls and should be looking superb by October, hopefully still to be found on the beach all over winter, if so expect a few more images !!
1 comment:
Great series Mick, lovely detail and quality
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