Just a Med

Gotta start the birdy year somewhere, so after a refreshing few days on the east coast with too much rain, far too many other liquids and not enough fly-by Waxwings, I gave the rising tide a crack at Ainsdale over lunch today.
It was way too dark, and mucho choppy, while the brisk cold south westerly made it hard to scan the troughs for very long.
Plenty of Common Scoters offshore, Cormorants and the like, but I was soon distracted by a nice adult winter plumage Med Gull, with a fine five o’clock crown shadow bobbing around in a nearby channel.

All was well until a prize doofus on a blow-cart spooked the roosting gulls and my lunchtime white wing drifted up the beach to hunch into the wind looking as miserable as only a cold gull can after the beach has had a good winter scouring.
I had hoped for a few more gulls today (although Meds are always cool), but there were only about 150 in two loose groups, thanks largely no doubt to the blow-cart bandit.
There will be other days….