The Perils of Overhead Cables!

 1w Caspian Gull

As soon as I arrived at the fishing boats this morning I was joined by the regular 1w Caspian Gull looking for its breakfast. A short sea watch saw c100 Gannets feeding offshore, Auks and Kittiwakes  tooing and froing, a few Red-throated Divers moving west with a couple of Fulmars. 100s of Gulls were feeding along the shore but I couldn't find anything interesting among them.

 Slavonian Grebe on Lade south lake

Mid morning I made my first visit of the year to Lade, seeing the long staying Long-tailed Duck out in the middle of the lake, the Slavonian Grebe was a little more obliging. In the willows Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs were flitting around while a couple of Cetti's Warblers were calling deep in, a Dartford Warbler was showing and calling occasionally just south of the aerial.

I found the young Black-headed Gull pictured below on the shingle below overhead wires at lade, it was apparent that it was very badly injured, so I felt I had to take the tough decision to euthanize it.

As the weather closed in I made my way to the reserve where 2 Long-eared Owls could just about be seen, also 3 Caspian Gulls (2 x 1w + 1 x 2w) were on the islands, the weather conditions made it impossible to see much this afternoon though the 1w Glaucous Gull also came into roost.