Gull Behaviour

Black-headed Gulls at play.

I watched these gulls the other day flying against the wind on a lake. They kept diving down and catching dead leaves that were floating on the water. They would then fly along and dropped them again and then find another leaf and do exactly the same. It appeared like they were just playing a game on a dull windy day for something to do.

Mute Territorial

More Mute Swan action with a Male chasing off a pair of interlopers.

The Pursued

The Pursuer

Sometimes they chase the unwanted for quite some distance, but on this occasion he could see that they were getting airborne so he started his slow down using his large webbed feet like water skis.

Off go the pursued to another adjoining lake.

The Fenland at Dusk

A short drive out on the Fenland revealed a misty dull afternoon with the occasional sun being regularly blocked or partially obscured by the thick cloud and mist.

Before dusk arrived and the sun setting, I was able to find and take some shots of the largest flock of Lapwing I have seen in a long time. 

I was thinking to myself, 'This could be the entire contingent of the East Anglian flock of Lapwings here flying about before me'. Although not all appearing in the images taken, I would roughly estimate 300+. 

A very encouraging sight.

The next three images are a variation on a theme.

Below. 

Miserable isn't it.

My local Birding colleagues will recognise exactly where I was during this shoot.

I am fairly sure this flock were Golden Plover that eventually grounded with the Lapwing.

I think this below is a mix of Lapwing and Golden Plover

Jay Gets the Berry

The ever resourceful Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius) never misses a trick when food is involved.

I took these distant shots (which I had to crop) across marshland when I observed the bird flying into a tree. He was stretching out and downwards balancing with one wing on branches to get the largest berry, which looks like a Haw berry.

Red Nose

"Smells OK"

"I'll have this one"

"Scrumptious"

"Oops! its that idiot with the camera again, I'm out of here".