What's the price of bread?

For some reason today, when I lobbed the bread bait out today, the question 'how much bloody cash must I have spent feeding gulls in my life?' went through my mind. I didn't get involved too much to work this out, but I guess it must have strayed into the low treble figures as the years and my autistic traits mount up.

And today the gulling did pay off in local terms. Rainham was a bit gash with tipping away from the foreshore so the tip face couldn't be seen, but a couple of Yellow-legged Gulls were about. No major haul though. Round to Crossness, having navigated the QEII bridge on the first Saturday of the school holidays, and things were better here - a nice juvenile Med Gull (well, 1st-winter strictly speaking as a couple of grey coverts were coming through) plus 3 juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls together on the foreshore. Wader action was limited to 4 Common Sandpipers and a Redshank, and 30 or so Swifts that zipped through were evidently heading south. A ringed Great Black-backed Gull on the mud had come from Denmark, where it had been ringed as a chick in June 2012 with this sighting being the first outside of there.

juvenile Yellow-legged Gull, Rotherhithe 19th July 2014

Back in Rotherhithe, there was a cracking juvenile Yellow-legged Gull again by the watersports centre on Greenland Dock that was ripe for papping. Also my earliest ever juvenile Common Gull here in London enjoyed the bread I chucked out into the Thames near my flat early evening.

juvenile Common Gull, Rotherhithe 19th July 2014

And while in Waitrose [edit: I don't normally shop here before anyone calls me 'the richest birder in Britain' again], two reduced loaves of bread were purchased - wholemeal (better for the gulls), 32 pence each. Hope the gulls enjoy their feast tomorrow.