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10 October 2014 A medley of white-wingers

I hate gulls. Actually, that's too much of a generalisation. I hate the 'large white-headed gull' complex that Larid nuts such as my mate Rich cannot get enough of. Lump the lot, I say. White-winged gulls, however, are a different story. Glaucs and Icelands: I love them. But I have a particularly soft spot for another white-winger: Mediterranean Gull.

In part this is because they are daftly named: I've never seen one on the Med, and their scientific name melanocephalus, while correct, means 'black-headed'. And, as you may have noticed, there's already a Black-headed Gull. My love for 'Meds' is also due to their scarcity during my youth. Back in the 1980s, my Leeds patch - Eccup Reservoir - was one of the most reliable places in Britain to see a Med Gull. Scanning the gull roost every Saturday afternoon became a competition: who would be the first to spot the regular adult, and who might unfurl a first-winter from the masses. Nowadays, they seem to be everywhere: a real success story. But that doesn't make them any less special.

Yesterday I was working in Lowestoft. I ate my fish 'n' chips on the beach at Pakefield. And was immediately mobbed by a quartet of adult Meds, all fully white winged and glorious. Rudely, however, they refused to go far enough away for my 500mm to get the entire bird in the frame. So I am largely left with a medley of images that will be binnacle in due course - but are worth enjoying for now.