Sutton Bingham - Sun 14 Dec

What a difference a day makes! Another late afternoon visit and today I pulled up on the northern causeway and noticed a fair number of gulls gathered on West Pool, somewhat unusual as they tend to drop in straight on to the main reservoir. Scanning this flock it soon became obvious that the vast majority were Common Gulls, with around a hundred present as well as twenty or so more on the main reservoir. I usually only have small counts of Common Gull at Sutton Bingham, so a three figure count was impressive. Another surprise came in the form of seven Mediterranean Gulls also on West Pool, and posing very well...unfortunately the battery in my phone was dead so no chance of getting a few records shots. Turning my back on West Pool I scanned the main reservoir and was amazed to find more Mediterranean Gulls...the final total was twenty-three birds, nineteen adults, a single second-winter and three first-winter birds. This more than doubles my previous site record count of Mediterranean Gulls. The only other birds of note tonight were a couple of Snipe that flew up from the edge of West Pool, presumably to visit the local fields to feed.