I played the front nine of the Blue this evening. Other than the poor quality of my golf, the most notable things were the influx of flies which, in turn, brought an influx of gulls. Looking closely, there were actually four species of gull on the fairways:
The most numerous are Black-headed Gulls. There is a resident flock that is usually on the Blue and Red course fairways at this time of year. There was a mixture of ages and plumages with young birds accompanying the adults and sub-adults.
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| Black-headed Gulls [8th Blue] |
Lesser Black-backed Gulls are much larger and have dark wings. They fly over in large numbers going to and from Farmoor where several thousand roost, but I only see them occasionally on the fairways at Frilford. Today there were twenty or so feeding with the Black-headed Gulls.
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| Lesser Black-backed Gull [4th and 8th Blue] |
Likewise Herring Gulls often fly over. Today one was feeding with the other gulls near the 4th green. These are large gulls - they are the one most likely to steal your ice-cream at the beach - and have light grey wings with a black wingtip.
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| Herring Gull [4th Blue] |
Most unusual was a Common Gull which was in amongst the Black-headed Gulls. These are slightly larger than a Black-headed gull but daintier than Herring Gulls which they resemble. They are not as common as their name suggests, but do call in occasionally - there was one on the reservoir in January 2021.
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| Common Gull [4th Blue] |
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