Well, the word for today is WIND. This little corner of the world has been battered by gale force winds for the last 24 hours, several trees are down and buildings are taking damage. The pantomime has been cancelled as part of the roof has come off the Southport Theatre. It was also raining & hailing all morning, although the sun did break through for an hour or two around lunchtime. I decided to head down to the Marine Lake, in the hope that there would be someone mad enough to try windsurfing in this stuff. Sadly, an outbreak of sanity has taken over the town and the lake was completely devoid of human life.

So, as my hoped for action shot was not possible I decided to look around for something else. I then realised the level of wind chill factor and decided to look DAMN QUICK, as my ears were going numb. The local gull population sensed potential bread and came in to have a look, so I grabbed a few shots and headed back to shelter. The choice came down to this shot of a Black-headed Gull or a 1st winter Herring Gull. This one won out as the plumage is brighter (the Herring Gull still having it's immature brown plumage) and the light on it was better.

All comments are welcome and greatly appreciated, thanks.