Drifters

It's that time of year. A youngster goes and makes a mistake, and all the season's efforts have been for nothing.

This morning it was the turn of one of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

The nesting season has been fun already, what with Herring Gulls muscling in on the Nestbox, the wreck nearly a half a kilometre offshore in Rainham Creek. But, apart from some parental argy-bargy, the youngsters have got by unscathed, until one decided time to explore.

Did it jump, or was it pushed? No way of telling. It just drifted out to the right of the bow, head down and bill on water, wings half-spread to help it float. A quick count up and sure enough it was off the boat. There had been no fuss from the adults.

As the tide started to ebb, it began to drift out towards Bartlett Creek and an adult started to pay some attention, alighting briefly on the water alongside several times. This just acted as a signal to other LBBs and Herring Gulls. I thought things might happen quickly (a chorus of 'mine' was playing in my head) but the birds just circled and dropped towards the hapless chick, turning away.

Eventually the now-motionless speck drifted out to mid-creek, picking up speed and disappearing from view beyond Motney Saltings.

I made a bit of a joke to a couple of the Riverside staff who had stopped by; whether my black humour went down well, who knows. But Lessers have an typical lifespan of 15 years, breed from the age of four and try to raise a brood of three each year. Now if every youngster survived, we'd be up to our armpits. They've eveolved for natural wastage; circle of life and all that.

Lessers do have a problem in the UK- they are amber listed, but at the same time on the global scale are 'least concern'. They have a small but growing toe-hold in the microcosm of Kent.

'Scoping the islands out beyond the Nestbox, the smaller gulls continued about their business. Though hardly a quantifying measurement, early fledged bird to date are up a tad up in comparison to 2015, though still only extremely small numbers. And more and more adults end their breeding efforts each day. Low pressure over the next few days (especially 3rd-8th) might well mean higher tides and few more drifters heading downriver.