One gets used to seeing Black Headed Gulls pretty well everywhere on the canal system (or anywhere else for that matter). But one  of the things that quite surprised us (even more so this year) is how often one sees Common Terns inland these days too. On the canals as well as the River Thames. They really are quite spectacular wheeling and diving, and flashing past the boat.

But from the moment we left Teddington Locks on the tidal river, we didn’t see either. Loads of the bigger Black Backed Gulls, though, and a few Herring Gulls.

Maybe it was the wet weather, but it looked like it’s not just the locks and the boats that get bigger as you head down river…