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Message: <blockquote data-quote="HH75" data-source="post: 3138935" data-attributes="member: 61">Hi Alex,   Unfortunately, given the complexity of large gull identification, it's not really possible to say with 100% certainty what these birds are based on a single grainy image (and that's not a slight on your camera skills, I have plenty of images like those, especially of distant digiscoped gulls) of each individual.   The first bird, to me, would seem to offer the most hope of being an identifiable Herring Gull (1st-w), given the pattern of the greater coverts and the tertials, and the dark markings on the head seem excessive for a similarly aged Yellow-legged Gull. The second bird, I've seen 1-2 2nd-winters in the past here which looked similar in some ways and which I actually felt more likely (in direct comparison with Herring Gulls) to be odd Yellow-legged Gulls: again, from one image, I wouldn't like to say. Likewise, that third bird would look a bit odd for a Herring Gull but may be one: it could also be a YLGU with retained juvenile coverts and tertials. The fourth bird, for me, has lots of second generation coverts (same pattern as the 1st-w scaps), and seemingly the innermost tertial, and is a Yellow-legged Gull for me. The fifth bird shows some promise for Herring Gull with that head pattern but I would not say for certain.</blockquote>