Finally found time to throw some bread into the Western Cleddau in the centre of Haverfordwest this afternoon, and low and behold yellow ringed Black-headed Gull 2B31 (read about it's history in Andy Sims post here: https://pembsbirds.blogspot.com/2021/01/haverfordwest-ringed-black-headed-gull.html) dropped straight in. Almost certainly the bird I saw, but couldn't read due to lack of optics, on 22nd October. Here for its third winter. None of the other gulls were ringed (not even metal only).
A great opportunity to study this species up close, and get to grips with the different feather tracts, the impact of wear etc. Interesting to see the variation in bare part colours amongst the 2nd calendar year (2CY) birds too. Look at the wear in the coverts and tertials of this 2CY for example.
