Yellow-legged Gull: Today I finally made the time to see the long staying YLG who has taken up residence in Blackburn, presumably the same bird that has been seen on the lake at Queens Park also spends some time at the M65 Darwen services.
Upon arriving I noticed Leigh's legend Colin Davies sitting in his car so I parked up alongside and we staked out the services, watching all the gulls coming and going, scanning the lampposts and waiting.
Just before Colin decided to leaved we picked the bird up sitting on top of a lamppost opposite the shell garage, it never stayed long and was lost to view.
These large gulls are common around the Mediterranean and northern Europe, but fairly uncommon in the UK. They are often found within flocks of much more numerous herring gull and lesser black-backed gull typically in winter roost on the large Lancashire reservoirs and lakes.
Eventually the bird came back, again sitting on top of the lapposts around eth service station. I did get some funny looks from the people sitting in their cars munching on their Gregg's and McDonalds.
It was worth it though.