A day off

Thanks to flexi-time, I managed some mid-week birding today; I began at Cotham Landfill in hope of the Glaucous Gull that John Hopper has had in at the roost at Hoveringham the last two nights. Unfortunately, there were few gulls present for some reason, and the Glauc wasn't amongst them; however, a nice 1st W Caspian Gull popped up briefly. The gulls then got disturbed by people on the landfill, and dispersed, so I cut my losses and headed patchwards.

1st W Caspian Gull

Despite less than ideal conditions (windy, with a couple of fairly serious snowy squalls), I added two addition to the patch yearlist - an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull and 2 Mistle Thrushes, both in fields at Besthorpe Village, putting me on 81 for the year. Other highlights included the 2 Bewick's Swans in the fields north of Merring Marsh with 7 Whoopers, and 14 Whoopers in the field next to Trent Lane (including 2 juvs). 3 Goosander were on Ferry Lane Lake, but there was no sign of the 2 Smew reported there on Monday (as expected), and the 2 Curlew were on the Silt Lagoon, as they often are. 

I wrapped things up at Langford, waiting for the Bittern to fly into roost in the reeds north of the boardwalk, but not tonight.