Caspo

4th November - my first November visit was a quick lunchtime check on a lovely bright and sunny afternoon.  Almost the first bird I looked at was a large gull with a monstrous bill preening in front of the island - I was pretty sure it was a Caspian Gull and when it turned side on, I could see that it was indeed a 2nd winter Caspian Gull.  This is the first 2w Casp I have seen here and I wondered whether it might be a returning bird from one of the many 1w we had here last winter.  The fairly distinctive bill certainly looks similar to a 1w bird seen here in November last year - it has a fairly distinct convex slope on the tip of the upper mandible and an identical pale tip.

It was always a little distant, but I took some records in different poses to try and capture most of the features.

Apart from a Chiffchaff with a strident call at the end of the viewpoint, nothing else of note.  I didn't have time to complete a circuit - I would like to take look at the athya flock, usually on the NE side, as a female nasal banded TD has turned up again and is likely to be the regular bird, BFK, noted here every year since October 2011.