A good day turned bad

Felt a tad bizarre when I woke up, leaving the house with more than one layer. By recent standards, the morning was positively chilly. Checking in at the Long-tailed Duck on Surrey Water revealed it was still present, and then 22 juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the mud by the Hilton were all presumably local birds as some were still being accompanied by their folks and begging for food.

There was little on the mud at Crossness, but as the tide rose, more Black-headed Gulls congregated at the outfall and in amongst them was this beautiful juvenile Mediterranean Gull.

juvenile Mediterranean Gull, Crossness 21st July 2013

It was really agressive to all the Black-headed Gulls, calling away regularly, but after an hour or so it presumably realised its petulance wasn't getting anywhere so it chilled out a little bit. Not much else doing, bar a couple of Common Sandpipers, though views of the Common Terns at high tide here are always excellent so I had a bit of a papping session in the now bright light.

adult Common Tern, Crossness 21st July 2013

juvenile Common Tern, Crossness 21st July 2013

A lovely relaxing morning until I got back to my car. I found the back windscreen smashed and the boot crumpled. I first thought someone had nicked stuff, but the lovely people in the house at the end of Lytham Close had seen it all. Transpires that one of those cowboy scrap metal vans backed into my car and drove away. Miraculously, they'd got part of the registration number and the company it was so, with a little bit of detective work, I managed to track down the driver and get all the details required. Nonetheless, I'm now carless and, once again, left questioning the dignity of the majority of the human race.