Garganey and gull

Nice pair of Garganey at damp Scaling Dam this afternoon.

A colour ringed gull was amongst the large gulls and when it finally emerged it was a little problematic. The colour ring was a long orange ring with dark numbers/letters (too far away) on the tarsus and there was a metal ring (that perhaps looked too narrow for a BTO) on the left leg. It was a first winter/summer bird. The tertials were almost entirely dark with just a little pale fringing. Bill was all black but not especially heavy. Size was argenteus size. Breast and belly were not especially clean white, although that feature did not show well due to angle. In flight the tail had quite a broad subterminal dark band and there was an obvious pale window in the 2aries. Overall the bird was quite dark with a paler head, white behind the eye and on rear crown. Didn't really seem to fit Yellow-legged Gull but the tertials were odd for argenteus .... Not sure really.

Sand Martins and House Martins were present but little else of note. The Garganey were nice though.