Gulls in Bridlington Harbour

A brief shopping trip to Bridlington allowed me to check out the birds in the harbour. With the tide in there were not too many species around, just large numbers of Herring Gulls of all ages. A single Lesser Black-backed Gull, a few Common Gulls and a lone Black-headed Gull provided some variety and the only waders present were about 20 Turnstones feeding on scraps left over from the day's visitors.

The birds come so close that even someone with the poor photography skills that I possess can manage a few decent pictures. Here are a couple of the best ones that I managed.

Bridlington Harbour

Despite the fact that there are some signs of spring around such as flowering snowdrops, lesser celandine and even some leaves opening on small trees, a short trip to Bridlington harbour yesterday afternoon proved that winter is still in town with a number of wintering waders still obvious.

Along the southern side of the harbour wall 18 Purple Sandpipers were feeding amongst numerous Turnstones. The Turnstones here are quite amusing, having learnt to scavenge for chips. Yesterday a couple were eating their fish and chips with a crowd of Turnstones assembling on the wall next to them. When eventually they threw a piece of fish batter to them, one lucky Turnstone ran off with the spoils, chased by three others; I hope they shared it nicely!
Others waders present on the beach were Redshank, Dunlin, an Oystercatcher and a few Sanderling.

In the harbour there were hundreds of Herring Gulls waiting to be fed with chips, donuts, ice cream or whatever else was thrown their way. Most of the birds were adults or first winter, with a few second winter birds. Also present was a single adult Yellow-legged Gull making itself available for study at close quarters: three feet to be exact!

That was it for birds as my wife dragged me off to the shops to search for fresh shrimps for dinner.