Two more 'interesting' birds!

You all know how useless I am at identifying the numerous bewildering members of the large white-headed gull group: here's another! I know it's just a Herring Gull, but I don't recall seeing such a dark hood on one before. Maybe I need to look at more of them! This one was on the beach at Salthouse yesterday afternoon.

The second oddity was photographed flying over the Cattle Egret at Stiffkey yesterday. I didn't notice this long-winged dark bird until it was flying away: at the time, I assumed it was a Red Kite in silhouette. When I looked more closely at the bird, however, I noticed that its tail was most unkite-like and that it lacked any of the usual contrasting wing patterns. Its wing profile seems strange too: almost skua-like. Any thoughts?