I was enjoying the stillness of the garden the other day when my visitor arrived, with much flapping of wings. We made polite conversation for a while, but my unspoken thought was “Have you come to stay?”
It was a couple of years back that not one, but two, gull chicks fell off a neighbouring roof. Their parents resolutely declined to feed or otherwise acknowledge them. So we were obliged then to make the journey to Mallydams Wood, the RSPB sanctuary, at Peter James Lane, Fairlight. They took them in with some reluctance to join more than 100 others, they said, who were similarly unable to fly.
Fortunately, this young one showed great promise and launched itself off the table and across the grass. Its first attempt was doomed, but a second try landed it on top of the Hebe shrub and thence up and away, to my great relief.
Image Credits: Kenneth Bird .