midsummer goings on in Rotherhithe

It is no ordinary summer here in Rotherhithe, as the female Long-tailed Duck continues to stay on at Surrey Water and was still around earlier this afternoon. I doubt she'll be going anywhere anytime soon given the state of her wing moult, in that she hasn't got any outer primaries at the moment.

female Long-tailed Duck Rotherhithe 29th July 2013

There are lots of gulls on the river at the moment, and I had a nice adult Mediterranean Gull drift over high east today amongst the hundreds of Black-headed Gulls. Large gulls are once again congregating on the mud off the Hilton Hotel, with lots of juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gulls in particular, as well as this 2nd-summer/3rd-winter Yellow-legged Gull today.

3cy Yellow-legged Gull Rotherhithe, 1st August 2013. P8 to P10 are old second generation feathers. P5 is growing with P6 and P7 dropped. Typical moult for a 3cy at this time of year (they usually just have two or three older outer primaries).

Anyway, that'll be it for a while now in terms of updates from me as off on my summer hols later on today.