Gulls

We had a fairly strong easterly over the early part of the weekend which caused the cormorants some discomfiture and removed quantities of the sand from the beach below Dunrobin Castle, and it was here that....

....our walk was interrupted by the discovery of yet another young kittiwake squatting amongst the cobbles at the top of the beach. This is the third we've found like this, unwilling to stir even when we approached quite close. Previously we've assumed that it was sick but couldn't put it down to bird flu. However, since then, there have been reports - see BBC News, here - that kittiwakes are now amongst the most likely of sea birds to be suffering in the latest wave of flu.

A little further along the beach we spotted this small group of gulls which I think are black-headed gulls, four juveniles in their first-winter plumage and one adult. The adult lacks the characteristic black (actually dark brown) head as it's also in winter plumage.

Happily, they flew off as we approached.