After the influx of Yellow-legged Gull (YLG) on the 11th July there was a steady trickle of juveniles through the seafront over the rest of the month, with birds present on all four of my subsequent visits. My guess is that the birds on the 11th had taken advantage of the southerly airflow to make a direct sea crossing from the coast of France — they all seemed tired and were reluctant to fly despite the frequent sources of disturbance along the beach.
In contrast, the birds seen later in the month seemed be enjoying a more leisurely stop off. Individuals were observed all along the seafront but the best place seemed to be the boating lake (which was closed to boaters for the whole month). Here they would land to bathe and preen, briefly joining the local juvenile Herring Gulls, after which they would move off in a westerly direction along the seafront. In this post I’ve gathered together photos of all the individuals observed.
14/7/2023
Four birds, three of which were at the boating lake, all of which were lovely in their own way. Looking at the second and third birds below it’s amazing how different they look depending on the lighting and pose.
23 July 2023
Two juveniles on this date, by this point in the month mixing with the now plentiful juvenile Herrings and allowing for some useful side-by-side comparison with that species.
Only caught this one in flight, but luckily its identity was quite clear with a neat tapered tail band, white upper tail coverts and pale markings on inner primaries forming a weak window.
25 July 2023
Only one on this date on The Stade beach against strong sunlight. Small, neat individual with a funky outer tail feather.
28 July 2023
The three on this date, all at the boating lake, were a real motley crew with various a-typical features.
While the tertial markings, bill structure, primary window and moulted scapulars all feel great for YLG this bird had a thick black tail band and dusky legs. I’m increasingly realising that leg colour (particularly dark shins) is not a very useful feature for separating juvenile YLG and Lesser Black-backed Gull.
Very dark individual (particularly noticeable on the greater coverts which have no piano key patterning) with a rather ‘open’ facial expression. All this might lead down the Lesser Black-backed route but it was too large, had a heavy bill with expansion at gonys, a nice YLGish tail pattern and a typical weak primary window.
This one looks really odd, the bulge around the neck indicating it had recently swallowed something large. While that throws the proportions off a bit I think the features overall are an ok fit for YLG.
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