A FIRST FOR ENGLAND (and the UK)

Luck had that I was over in North Lincolnshire when the 'tweet' came informing me that the Thayer's Gull that had been seen on and off near Elsham was back. I was half way through a survey and so did the decent thing and completed my mission before heading off for the Yanky Gull and some lunch. Checking my twitter feed I grimaced as the boy had done one...arse!! I went anyway. Luck again as I bumped into a couple of nice birders who informed me the gull was back just around the corner, cheers.

The distant dark shape of a juv/1st winter THAYER'S GULL a potential 1st for England. We now wait 20 years for the BOU to deliberate over its ID credentials. Unlike the Irish chaps who have sorted their gulls out and god bless them whapped them on. The crucial one being the adult at Killybegs, Co Mayo in feb 1999 the one that I and a few of the 'A' team twitched last century.

1st winter at Cork dump 1990

adult Thayer's Gull at Killybegs, Co.Mayo feb 1999

probably coming to a tip near you?