• Home
  • Blog
  • Photography
  • Writing
  • About
JOSH JONES
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Photography
  • Writing
  • About

Josh's blog

A couple of juvenile Med Gulls

16/7/2018

0 Comments

 
With the second half of July now upon us and birds again on the move, it's well and truly time for part timers such as myself to get back out in the field. Going birding twice in the space of four days isn't something I've done for a long time, and to be honest I nearly didn't bother this morning – it was another sweltering day with long spells of unbroken sunshine across London.

I took a sweaty tube ride down to North Greenwich, where my first stop was the 'beach' on the north side of the O2 Arena. It's a funny site; it always feels like it should be really good, and with a good few hundred large gulls always loafing here, it really should be. Yet it seems to consistently under-perform when compared to the likes of Thames Barrier Park, despite usually holding more birds overall. Furthermore, the birds are often a bit skittish and don't readily come to bread, as they do pretty much everywhere else along the river in London. Today was no different really; it just 'felt' unproductive and my final tally of three Yellow-legged Gulls (one juvenile and a couple of 2cy birds) was disappointing if unsurprising. However, a smart juvenile Mediterranean Gull did appear for a while, although never really showed as well as I'd have liked it to.
With little doing, I decided to cross the river and head to TBP, where I was joined by Dante. Several Yellow-legged Gulls were in evidence, with at least a dozen, including 10 juveniles, logged by the time the tide covered up the spit. Dante also broke his own distance record for throwing a slice of bread, which he was very pleased about. It must have gone travelled about 40 metres. Very impressive. Even more impressive, though, was a juvenile Mediterranean Gull, which showed brilliantly.
Picture
Juvenile Mediterranean Gull, Thames Barrier Park, 16 July 2018
On such a sunny day, it was an inevitability that the harsh light severely hindered photography, but the bird performed so well that it was impossible not to point the lens at it. Interestingly, it bore a white ring ('3891') and is presumably from Belgium or The Netherlands (tbc).
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Juvenile Mediterranean Gull, Thames Barrier Park, 16 July 2018
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    This page

    The musings of a wildlife enthusiast, usually armed with his camera.

    Archives

    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Photography
  • Writing
  • About