Birdwatch: a newish arrival to England's southern shore means gulls galore

They once mainly bred near the Black Sea, but the Mediterranean gull is now commonly seen in KentI rarely go out without my binoculars. When I do, I feel rather tense, in case an unusual bird should appear. But I decided that a stroll through Gravesend with my two-year-old grandson was unlikely to test my birding skills.On the way, I showed Sammy the usual sparrows, starlings, feral pigeons and a flock of black-headed gulls loafing about on the Thames foreshore. Then I noticed that some had a blacker head than their familiar cousins, and their wings were not tipped with black, but pure white. These features, along with their blood-red bill, made them look like a black-headed gull with a makeover. Continue reading...