New Species – Curlew Gull

I was joined by Will today on the estuary today with us both having the intention of finding a juv Yellow-legged Gull. There were around 15 juv Herring Gulls but no YLGs. While looking though, Will found this Gull...

Herring Gull with deformed beak

Pretty weird! It’s done well to survive so long. Doing a google search it seems like this type of deformity isn’t too unusual.

There was also an adult Med Gull on the estuary which was wearing a white darvic ring. Annoyingly it never came close enough to read it.

The only other gull of note was a Common Gull.

Whimbrel numbers are now up to nine, Curlew at c90 and the Blackwit is still knocking around. We got brief views of Dunlin that flew in and touched down on the water for a couple of seconds, then realised it didn’t like our patch and flew off.