Exton & Topsham - Thu 29 May

Well today was one of those days when a really rare bird turns up in twitchable distance and I was stuck at work with no chance of going to see it until later in the afternoon! To make matters worse this was a species that I had previously dipped and was well up there in my "most wanted" list...and despite being present for nine days had not been correctly identified...it was a 1st summer Ross's Gull!
So after a long wait and a close eye on the birds news I finally got off after work and drove straight to Exton and the small railway station as the bird had last been reported from here. I was the only birder on site which did not bode well and over the next couple of hours I had managed to see a distant Little Gull, a very smart summer-plumaged Knot feeding with Dunlin and a few Sanderling, a couple of Whimbrel and good numbers of both Bar-tailed Godwit and Black-tailed Godwit.
A few more birders turned up including a couple who had been watching the bird very recently just to the south...but for some reason had not shared this with the bird news channels, thanks guys! I did happen to locate a small gull but I could not convince myself that this was what I was looking for...so I waited and it got later and later.
Fortunately I had been in contact with a few mates during the course of the day and as a result I got a phone call a couple of minutes after 6pm telling me the bird was showing at Bowling Green Marsh RSPB reserve at Topsham. What followed was a sprint to the car and a mad drive to the other side of the estuary and then another sprint to the reserve. Ten minutes later I was watching a very smart and very cute looking Ross's Gull! Within seconds of my arrival the Ross's Gull took flight with a large number of Black-headed Gulls (and a Mediterranean Gull) affording me a good look at the black-tipped wedge-shaped tail amongst other features. Luckily it landed and spent the remainder of the time that I was on site sitting around looking pretty.

To be perfectly honest I didn't really look at anything else whilst I was at Topsham and when the rain set in I took that as a sign to get on home after nailing my second lifer of the week!