A fairly quiet mid morning visit to Dorney Lake today after a couple of the waders departing yesterday evening. At the Start End 2 fem/juv NORTHERN WHEATEARS were feeding in the grass. Nothing on the Reserve Pool. On the Seasonal Pool were the regular Common Sandpiper with a juvenile Little Ringed Plover.
At 11:30 I was just about to walk back to the car when c120 Herring Gulls dropped in onto the pool. All the birds were 1st,2nd and 3rd summer birds. Unusually this is the largest flock I've seen since early spring. Checked them all for colour rings, none seen.
They had all departed within the hour due to being flushed by two low flying Red Kites and a rower on the Retun Lake. On the way back to the car my first autumn YELLOW-LEGGED GULL perched on a buoy at 750m on the main Rowing Lake (Kevin Duncan)