16th April: 4 Common Terns were my 1st of the year, but little else, though plenty of Blackcaps, Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs singing around the lake.
17th April: an early morning visit in light drizzle found presumably the same 4 Common Terns, a Dunlin moulting to summer plumage and a Common Sand flying around the west bank. A few hirundines and the same singing warblers. I didn't have time to visit the SE corner where a Sedgie or 2 have been seen recently. 3 Shelduck are still regular, though this number moves up and down a bit and still 5 or 6 Snipe. There are still good numbers of LWHG loafing on the spit, mostly 1w/2w Herring and LBBG, but very few BHG and just a couple of Common Gulls today. I did, however, see my first Yellow-legged Gull of the year here this morning - a 2cy bird, which was keeping itself to itself standing in the water on the end of the spit. A couple of record shots in the gloom - 1 almost in focus shows most of the feather detail, the other gives an idea of structure. I didn't see the legs or open wing, but the tail had a nice black terminal bar with some further black spotting above it and a white upper tail. The GCs were dark centred on the outers, there is some replacement of the LCs and many scaps are also replaced. It had an obvious dark eye mask and a heavy black bill.
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