A few more Meds

A very light early morning east breeze quickly switched to west and freshened slightly. Sunny and very warm.

South shore

Janet checked early morning

First summer Kittiwake by No.1 outflow

Plenty of Black-Headed gulls feeding on the outflows. At least 120 around this morning

Herring gull with a crab, but not a regular shore crab. Note the
flattened rear legs, this is a velvet swimming crab.

The gulls normally remove the claws off crabs this size before swallowing them.
It suggests that this crab was soft, that is, it has recently shed its carapace and
exoskeleton. The new exoskeleton takes a few days to fully harden.

Young Cormorant and a Black-Headed Gull

Linnets on Red Nab, 4 more between lighthouse and waterfall 

Rabbits everywhere, they have had a successful breeding season........there's a shock

I checked later in the morning as the rising tide was corralling the shore resting gulls (Malcolm)

Mediterranean gulls 6 at least. Definitely 4 first summer birds and at least 2 adults

This clip demonstrates how the rising tide move the gulls together and closer to the sea wall. It begins on 2 adult Meds, there are 2 first summer later in the clip. A couple of Common Gulls and the rest are Black-Headed.

First summer (left) and adult (right)

Adult and first summer

Two adults with a nice Black-Headed gull for comparison 

These two adults on Red Nab later looked to be the same birds

A second check in the evening saw just a first and a second summer bird. So at least 7 Mediterranean gulls seen today as I didn't spot a second summer in the morning.

Herring and Black-Headed gulls plus the first summer Kittiwake on No.2 rail

Peregrine falcon 2 seen on two occasions around the NE corner of No.2 Power Station. A large and smaller bird noisily exchanging prey mid flight. It wasn't clear if it was an adult feeding a young or passing food to another adult (to feed young?). It wasn't even possible to see which bird passed the prey, the Power Station security are understandably suspicious of anyone using optics to look beyond the perimeter.

In the Nature Park 

Ringlet 3

Common Blue 2

Large Skipper 1

Large Skipper