Linacre Lifer!

I set off for a walk around Linacre yesterday morning, not really expecting to see much. It was grey, drizzly, mild (8 degrees), and pretty foggy. The middle reservoir was quiet, with just a few Tufted Ducks and Mallards floating about. When I got to the top reservoir, however, I noticed a small group of gulls in the middle of the water. I expected them to be the usual  Black-headed Gulls that over-winter on site, but when I looked at them through my binoculars I noticed that there were 10 Herring Gulls (5 adults and 5 juveniles/1st winters), and one adult Common Gull.

This my second record of Herring Gull at Linacre, the first was an adult that was present for just 1 minute on the ice in December 2010, and was the subject of one of my first ever blog posts (see here).

The Common Gull was my first ever record at Linacre. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me today, so I didn't get a photograph. It sat with the Herring Gulls for about five minutes, before flying off high to the south. Lovely record!

Here's a photograph of another one I saw a few years back, with a Black-headed Gull, for comparison.

Common and Black-headed Gull

Common Gulls breed in the UK, but many of the  birds we see at this time of the year, come here for the winter. Here's a link to an Estonian Common Gull that I saw and photographed  in Essex.

Apart from the gulls, the only other bird of note was the ringed Little Owl, that was sat in the usual tree again.