The wonderful healing powers of gulls

It was really enjoyable at Chouet yesterday and today. Lesser Black-backed Gulls are still numbering up to 450-500, although it is noticeable now how the proportion of immatures is nudging up. 2nd summer birds are becoming more numerous (up to 15-20 per day) and there are only slightly fewer 3rd summers. 1st summers are the scarcest, but on a good day now they can nudge close to double figures.

The highlight today (without a doubt) was the return of LBBG White 6S7. This was only the 2nd gull to be colour ringed for my project (on 28/05/08). I saw it 13 times over the spring and summer of 2009 - all at Chouet, Guernsey. However, when I last saw this bird on 11 August 2009 it had a crippled left leg and I actually wrote in my field book that I thought the leg was broken. The gull looked in a pretty poor condition. I feared that this bird would not survive its autumn migration, let alone the whole winter. Imagine my joy today when it turned up at Chouet Landfill looking in tip top condition without even the sign of a limp on its (once) seriously damaged leg. Gulls never cease to amaze me with thier powers of recovery (given half a chance).

LBBG White 6S7 on 02/08/09 (just before I thought it broke its left leg) - PKV

I will post further information on the past few days when I get a chance on Monday.