Big gathering of gulls on the fields immediately to the West of Fairfield nature reserve this morning, attracted by slurry spraying operations. Perhaps 600-750 in all, with Common, Herring, Lesser black-backed and Black-headed gulls all in evidence. Can someone enlighten me as to the attraction? The slurry itself is a pretty toxic liquid that presumably the birds can’t feed on, so is it a scent-based attraction harking back to the days when it was invertebrate-rich bedding muck that was spread on the fields, or is it that the spraying brings worms to the surface in the same way as heavy rainfall?
The feeding station was fairly quiet today, none of the usual corvids, pigeons and pheasants, just robin, dunnock, blue and great tit, chaffinch, a solitary female reed bunting and a blackbird. Nice view of a female bullfinch in the hedgerow alongside the footpath.
