Straight gullin'

Another day, another visit to Dogsthorpe Tip. Today, I had eight Yellow-legged Gulls on and around the tip, despite only managing to get to check around half the birds present. Six of the eight were 1st-summers; the other two were 4cy/5cy type things - some of these boys can be a bit indeterminable in terms of age, particularly when at distance through a few fences. Here are some first-summers:


Big male


Another classic & v. striking bird


Quite a dirty-looking individual with streaky head



Caspian-esque


Scapulars almost fully-moulted but shitty-looking coverts and tertials.

And below are some older birds; note the first-summer though in the first shot:




There were very few gulls at Tanholt. Guess most must have been using 'The Dog' as they were actively tipping here.