Things quietened down and I got bored and started photographing the gulls moving up the valley, presumably to Beddington. When I looked at my camera I realised that I had captured what looked to be an interesting gull (weakly continuing the grey theme), potentially an adult Yellow-legged. Upon further scrutiny it's just given me a headache. The upperparts appear darker in some photos than in others and in some photos the underneath of the flight feathers are quite dark, recalling Lesser Black-backed; whereas in others it appears to have a more Herring Gull-esque underwing. In some photos the wingtip pattern looks quite good for Yellow-legged too, but, again, not in others. Have I captured two separate birds or is this all a trick of the light? I'm utterly baffled. At the moment I'm erring on the side of a pale graellsii Lesser Black-backed Gull.
Enjoy (Make sure you look at all the pictures to get the full idea):
