Wednesday July 16th

I lingered at the Peregrine Watch - talking! But with an eye on the activity over the river, there was not much, some flights by Peregrines, and they could be seen perching in various trees and in the quarry opposite. A much greater interest was a large dark (blackish) gull which passed up and down a few times, at first I thought it was a hawk, but it had the head of a gull. A juvenile gull? Possible, but this bird flew like an adult, and its plumage was not like any of the young Herring or Black backed Gulls, much blacker. The size was comparable to a Herring Gull, possibly a little smaller. As it left the Gorge, flying over towards the Zoo, it was mobbed by a Herring Gull, and the two together looked similar in size. Shearwaters sometimes pass through, but its slight hawk-like appearance, and the reaction of the other gull makes me wonder if this wasn't a juvenile Skua. There were no tail streamers of the adult Skua. Have any Skuas ever been seen in the Avon Gorge?