Herring gull lunch

Sometimes sketching in a city can involve a whole lot of nature and wildlife experiences, and a sketching meetup in Stockholm yesterday turned into a little nature adventure. First, even before we started drawing, we had to wait under an awning for a surprise thunder storm with heavy showers to pass by. It was over pretty quickly, though, and we went down to sketch by the water at Bergsunds strand.

Right after drawing the boats above, I and my five fellow sketchers had to seek shelter again under a roof, to escape from another roaring thunder storm for about half an hour. It was quite spectacular, and we weren´t the only ones who were watching it in awe. I didn´t manage to sketch the weather, but the phone captured a quick proof:

I heard later that the heavy rain flooded a few underground stations and part of a department store in Stockholm.

Anyway, the rain and thunder subsided eventually, the sun came out, and we got back to sketching again.

See that little bird to the right in the sketch? It´s a herring gull chick, and was not at all the main focus of my drawing. He was just walking around on that tree trunk, chirping a little. But here´s what suddenly happened, right in front of our feet, while sketching. A very everyday scene in a bird´s life, I guess, but I´ve never seen it so up close, and didn´t expect to either, in the middle of the city.