The imm female Goosander was still present on arrival showing nicely in the NW arm. However, shortly later, she flew to the small remaining spit amongst the gulls, then swam out to the middle of the pit before taking to the air and flying off strongly SE. The male Shelduck was still present and the other waterfowl were similar to yesterday. Snipe are still present in good numbers, often feeding on the remaining islets and flying around in small groups. A Chiffchaff was seen a couple of times on the western side, found through frequent calling.
LWHG started arriving in good numbers from 2pm and there were probably 2-300 to look through, mostly Herring with a few LBBG and GBBG. At about 2:40pm I picked up a striking 1st winter Caspian Gull. This bird was unringed and I thought initially was a different bird to that seen in November, but now I'm not so sure. It showed well in the afternoon sunlight, but was always fairly distant for photos. A couple of records are below, which show most of its features well enough, although it was preening at this stage, so the pose is never quite natural and the colours are affected by the strong sunlight.
Edit: having compared these record shots below with those taken before (see here), I think it is probably the same bird as before, even though it didn't give that impression this afternoon. Both birds show a dark brown feather towards the end of the inner greater coverts on the right side, which stands out as a dark mark against the other washed out inner greater coverts. I don't think this is a usual feature.
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