Last Saturday afternoon, with much screeching and peeping, this year’s Lesser black-backed gull chick fledged from its home amongst a neighbour’s chimney pots – the same location and, presumably, the same pair of gulls as I’ve posted about here before (in The eggs have hatched!, June 2019 and Fledging, July 2020). I’m never sure whether the chicks’ departures from these rooftop nests are deliberate or accidental – some over-jealous wing-flapping, perhaps? But this year it was certainly well timed to miss the scorching heatwave – I can’t begin to imagine what the temperature would be on the rooftops in full sun.

I’m pleased to report the fledgling has made it through its first couple of nights and days. When I headed out early Sunday morning for a walk, it was sitting across the road in the local church grounds, an adult on the roof top keeping an eye on it, and that’s where it seems to have remained, a relatively safe and sheltered spot next to a very busy road. Fingers crossed for its continued survival!

p.s. The top two images were taken when it was still in the ‘nest’; the photos are dated 11 and 12 July respectively.