Cherry Blossom (Mediterranean Gull red-7P8) had returned to the Seton Burn this evening, and was probably one of 2 adults feeding in stubble off Fishers Road behind Port Seton earlier - flushed by a car alarm. c. 2000 gulls either side of Seton at that stage, and 4 Swifts feeding over Blindwells.
This is her 6th return, and she's now at least 8 yrs old. A history of previous sightings is here. Hopefully she'll be returning here for many years to come, the max recorded age of Med Gull is 15 yrs 3 months. By comparison, Rossi the Ring-billed Gull has just returned to the icecream parlour in Essex for the 11th time, and the Isle of Dogs bird in London just returned for the 14th time, but the maximum recorded age for this species in the wild is just over 27 yrs. Closer to home the adult at Dingwall has been present for 6 winters.
Update - still present on the shore west on Sunday afternoon (2 more shots below), with a Whimbrel on the beach and an unidentified LWHG. A dark skua sp very distantly over Forth evaded confirmation.
Still there Monday evening; Mute Swan numbers reached 20; first influx of Commic Terns with 12 Common and 3 Arctic (1 juv) on shore with 65+ Sandwich.
No comments:
Post a Comment