I rarely go out without my binoculars. When I do, I feel rather tense, in case an unusual bird should appear. But I decided that a stroll through Gravesend with my two-year-old grandson was unlikely to test my birding skills.
On the way, I showed Sammy the usual sparrows, starlings, feral pigeons and a flock of black-headed gulls loafing about on the Thames foreshore. Then I noticed that some had a blacker head than their familiar cousins, and their wings were not tipped with black, but pure white. These features, along with their blood-red bill, made them look like a black-headed gull with a makeover.
