Lesser Black-backed Gull
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Larus fuscus
Locally common Summer visitors with 160,000 breeding pairs in Britain plus 5,000 in Ireland.
Widespread in Winter.
Winters south to South Africa.
Adults are a much smaller bird, with slimmer build, yellow rather than pinkish legs, and smaller white "mirrors" at the wing tips.
The Adults have black or dark grey wings (depending on race) and back.
The bill is yellow with a red spot at which the young peck, inducing feeding (see fixed action pattern).
The head is greyer in winter, unlike that of the great black-backed gull.
Juveniles have scaly black-brown upperparts and a neat wing pattern.
They take four years to reach maturity.
Their call is a "laughing" cry like that of the Herring Gull, but with a markedly deeper pitch.