London chicks

We're just about through that really slow period. Hence the lack of updates on here last weekend - didn't exactly think people would be interested in last weekend's action of returning Redshanks, a lone Yellow-legged Gull and a couple of Oystercatchers that flew over Rotherhithe.

Post-breeding dispersal and a few youths during the week has started to speed things up, at least in the gull department. And so today I toured around Rotherhithe - where I found a nicely fledged juvenile Common Tern on Surrey Water; good to see that a pair has again bred in Inner London. Then, the other side of the peninsular I found my first Herring Gull chick locally. Bizarre how the simple things in birding life can please you.

my first ever locally bred Herring Gull chick.

And given that it was a year ago pretty much to the day that this lovely Bonaparte's Gull turned up at the outfall at Crossness, I thought it was worth a check one year later. It wasn't there admittedly, but a juvenile Mediterranean Gull - the first of the year - was quality that I hadn't had for a few weeks. There were also a couple of hideous looking Ruddy Shelduck x Shelduck hybrids that I found in Barking Bay initially, before they flew onto the mud by the outfall. A couple of Yellow-legged Gulls were also present, and it was all nice and enjoyable. Until a heavy rain shower punished me. I'd left my coat in the car...