Hereford-by-the-Sea

 Herefordshire is a landlocked county with the seaside between one and two hours away by car. We do, however, have a watery connection to the sea via the River Wye which runs into the larger River Severn near Chepstow. Hereford does have its own 'beach' near the Victoria Bridge where locals can often be found enjoying safe and easy access to the river...

Swan and Cygnets on Hereford 'beach'

For this reason, we are blessed/plagued (delete as appropriate) with seagulls that have taken up residence in Hereford and the rest of the county by following the River Wye and its tributaries. Being excellent scavengers, the gulls find plenty of food morsels and scraps discarded by the human population - you do wonder whether the Hereford-born gulls still know how to catch fish?

This recording was taken from our back garden on 21 July...

... you can hear the bleating of the youngsters and the cajoling of the parents as they offer encouragement and protection.

The gulls nest on the rooves/chimneys nearby and July is a particularly noisy time of the year.  The young gulls have fledged and are developing their flying skills under the watchful (and very protective) eye of their parents...

...which seems to bring all the other gulls out...

 It is not uncommon to see young gulls on the ground ...

Young gull in a neighbour's front garden

...unfortunately, this one appears to have a damaged wing and, a few moments later, came to a sticky end...

Another road casualty?

...possibly when our neighbour reversed their car into their garden/parking space without seeing the bird. However, when I looked 10 minutes later the cadaver had disappeared. A few days later, I heard of another neighbour who had 'adopted' a young gull with a damaged wing and was feeding it on sardines. So maybe the cadaver was only stunned?

In a few weeks, the gulls will move out into the countryside and we will have peace and quiet once more.