The Lesser Black-backed Gull chick on the roof opposite the Greenock office was having a tough time of it this morning with its parents taking turns to swoop down on it, in between spells of loafing on their usual perches. At times the "attacks" looked quite violent. The only possible explanation seemed to be that they were encouraging it to fly. Sure enough, by the end of the morning, all three birds were gone. By my reckoning, there were 36 days between leaving the nest and fully fledging. Ferguson-Lees, Castell and Leech says 35-40 days (including 2-3 days brooded in the nest at the beginning), so that sounds about right to me.
This evening, the Mute Swan flock off Langbank had increased from the usual 30 or 40 to about 70-80 birds.