Mediterranean Gull (M.O'Clery).
Rare birds have been thin on the ground this autumn, with hardly any Nearctic waders to hold the attention of birders, so instead of beautiful full-frame photos of Western Sandpipers, Franklin's Gulls and Blackpoll Warblers we must make do with watching the basic 'bread-and-butter' species.
Many Kerry birders* enjoy seeing Mediterranean Gulls as they have at least a little flavour of the exotic about them, but numbers at Black Rock have risen from 41 on 2nd October, to an all time county record number of 55 today. So even the slight air of rarity about Mediterranean Gulls is rapidly diminishing.
* Except for Davey Farrar, who barely tolerates them, and doesn't believe in counting them. "Heap of shite" he is often heard to mutter.
