Gulls and the City...

I took the following photos over a month ago and have been thinking of writing this post ever since, but time passed and I never did. Until Frédéric Malher started a Concours de la "Photo la plus ornitho-urbaine" on his blog les oiseaux en ville. I know... it's all in French, but basically it's a competition for the most urban bird photo, which reminded me of them.

I had gone to check if there were Peregrines at the Tate Modern. I saw signs of them but no bird. On the Millennium Bridge, I noticed gulls such as this Lesser Black backed preening itself on a support, so I indulged in some close-up photos (which I might one day get round to put in my gallery).


An obviously well used spot...
Then, on the other side a juvenile (I presume Herring Gull - do tell me if I'm wrong) with buildings in the background:



And another juvenile (or maybe the same one relocated) with an unmistakably urban background, the Gherkin and lots of building cranes:



As I was walking past St Paul's Cathedral, I had noticed Lesser Black Backed perched on statues, which reminded me of Whitby and Captain Cook's head (do they have any respect?...). It's only when I got to the Bridge that I realised why: there was at least one chick there, when an adult went on the ledge to feed it: hat grey blob in the insert and to the left of the adult on the statue in the second photo. Unfortunately the best I could do as, when one gets closer, one loses the view onto the ledge.