A miserable wet afternoon with rain showers and drizzle on a W>4 with dark skies.
I set off for Fly Flatts but seeing the mist on the hill tops I decided on Mixenden.
As I arrived DJSs car was parked up so I pulled in behind it and as I was tackling up a Calderbirds group message from Dave saying an Iceland gull had just landed on the east bank of the reservoir.
Dave was amazed that I arrived before he had put his phone away.
The gull was very fidgety moving between the banking and the water, constantly being pestered by the other gulls consisting of several Herrings and LBBs as well as the usual small gulls.
Getting pictures was not easy from such a distance as gulls flush so easy so we did,nt want to take any chances , plus the weather was dark and wet and I was only on a 300mm lens on my old Canon 7d mk1 camera body.
As usual, at this site, the big gulls took off around 1430 hrs, as they always do, but spread out in different directions and the Iceland was lost . Unfortunate for JJL as he was just walking on the banking and missed the bird by seconds. If he had scanned the gulls from the south bank where he arrived he would have seen it, oh well, thats birding. Twitchers can drive hundreds of miles and miss a bird by minutes.
So once again, it proves that anything can turn up anywhere, its just a matter of getting out there and having a lot of patience. Well done Dave.
BS