Gull ring update and unrelated picture

Views have been expressed, experts consulted and the summary of the investigation of the gull with the strange colour ring is thus.

As there is no metal ring, this is not part of any official program, but may have been put on the bird at a welfare centre or sanctuary of some sort as suggested by a Maarten the Larophile.  Similar things have been seen in Braunton and Weymouth on different species too, but as a nice man called Peter Rock of Bristol (the expert) said "because it appears so tight, my thought is that it was fitted by a non-ringer. I’ve encountered rings put on by people who just happened to have them in their pockets and stumbled into a gull colony… Sounds unlikely, but remember that this is how bird ringing started...."

So there you have it - stunningly inconclusive in its conclusion.  But, should I stumble across any welfare type places over the next few months and years (there is one close to where the bird was seen in fact) I shall quiz them with all the thoroughness of a thorough thing.

Let's have another picture of a Wheatear shall we?

A female Wheatear.