17th February. Red Sunday

Having seen at least six Red Kites from the Banbury to London train yesterday it made sense to go and take advantage of a sunny cloudless morning. A 45 minute drive along the M40 gave us fantastic prolonged views of at least 30 individuals including 10 in the air together.

Surely England's finest Raptor

Having had awesome views of the Kites we headed back north. A report of a probable juv Thayer's Gull (or hybrid) at Poolsbrook C.P gave us a good excuse for a diversion on the way home. Unfortunately the gull, which had been showing well, flew back towards Erin Tip 20 minutes before we arrived. However after 30 minutes one of the original finders (KRG) picked up a bird that was probably it flying probably towards Staveley. So I probably saw a probable Thayer's Gull or hybrid, which is what most Thayer's Gulls probably are !!! I hate these obscure gulls. Less obscure was Glacous Gull and a 2nd winter Iceland Gull which was claimed as a Kumlien's (another obscure bag o' shite).