A wet and very windy time at Redcar Tarn, Keighley on Monday

When I set off the sun was trying to poke through the clouds but within a few minutes the clouds had descended and rain was starting to hide anything in the distance. I carried on though.

As usual you can click on an image to see it in higher resolution, especially if you are on a laptop or PC, in its gallery. In the gallery you can click on the “i” and see some more words about some of the images and read the camera settings.

I managed to have a walk along the tree lined side of the Tarn without getting too wet, the trees protected me from both the wind and the rain. I also spent some time in the car with gusts of wind really buffeting it about. To get airborne the gulls just needed to spread their wings and up they went.

Even though I remember signs on the other side asking people not to feed the birds bread the feeding frenzy when it happens it is quite something to watch. The gape on some of the gulls looks impressive. Several people turned up with bags of different kinds of bread. Unfortunately this is not good for some of the birds. Some of the food has little nutritional value for the ducks and geese but they can fill up with it and then not forage for proper food.

It is likely that some of the ducks and geese there are ones released by their owners. Previously being in captivity and fed by humans some were quite happy for me to walk near them.

I like the photo of the three Black Headed Gulls. (It is possible that initially it is shown cropped as just 1 gull.) The one on the left looking left, the one on the right looking right and the one in the centre coming straight on.

I also like the photos of the four flying Herring Gulls. Impressive birds , even if they are juveniles.

I must admit to not being sure of the ID of some of the gulls. I’m pretty sure with the Black Headed Gulls but the others could be a mixture of Herring Gulls, Lesser Black Backed Gulls, Greater Black Backed Gulls and Yellow Legged Gulls – in that order of probability. I would love for someone to tell me if it is possible to ID them and what it is about them that makes that possible.