Yellow-legged Juvenile

Yellow-legged Gull, Axe Estuary, 17/07/2015 ( Copyright T D Wright )

I McLean had this bird first on Friday and when I got to the Tower there was nobody there so I thought I'd missed it. However, a quick scan and I stopped on a juvenile that was much larger than the Herring Gulls. It had a pale head with dark smudge around the eyes and a pale 'nose', the above photo is in the evening shade so try this one...                                                                                                                                              

Yellow-legged Gull, Axe Estuary, 17/07/2015 ( Copyright T D Wright )

Very panda-eyed, eh? The tertials were dark and pale-fringed and highlighted by the pale markings on the greater coverts, which start off dark then become paler as they draw alongside the tertials ( see Couzens & Nurney's I.D. Insights book ) which, combined with the whiteness of the tail and the wing-pattern ( slightly paler inner primaries not obvious like on Herring Gull ) convinced me that I'd relocated Mac's YL Juv.  I took some video too which shows the tail briefly with nice dark band plus the dark-spotted white base. Completely dark bill is also a feature. The head looked paler before the low Sun cast its evening shadow in front of the Tower hide. Must start getting there earlier...        

Linnet, BHM, July 2015 ( Copyright T D Wright )

                    The small finches have been dropping onto BHM to feed, picking around these shoots. Not sure what they're feeding on. Anyone know?