Yarmouth

It had stopped raining for at least one day today so I headed for Ryde and Seaview for a spot of seawatching. As I was driving through Newchurch I changed my mind and decided to head to Fort Victoria to see if I could spot the Glaucous Gull which had been seen there during the week, despite it not having been seen since Thursday.
I saw plenty of Black-headed Gulls, a couple of Mediterranean Gulls, four Great Black-backed Gulls, a Great Crested Grebe and a Guillemot but no Glaucous Gull. I met a couple of other birders one of whom, Ian, said it'd had appeared to be sick so, unless it's still around but not in the immediate vicinity, it's either moved on or it's snuffed it.

At Yarmouth estuary and ponds, there were plenty of Wigeon, by far the most numerous birds, Teal, Curlew, a solitary Mute Swan, Black-tailed Godwits and a pair of Gadwall. The gulls were mostly Black-headeds (still no Glaucous!). At the scrape were a Greenshank and more ducks. Bird of the day though, was a distant female Hen Harrier, a bird I've not seen for a long time.

It was nice to meet Steve, who writes the blog The Wild West (he found the Glaucous Gull last week), as well as another local birder, Ian.

I don't know if the gull will ever reappear although I'll keep an eye on the relevant websites. The forecast is appalling for tomorrow and I am back at work on Monday so, if it does turn up again between Monday and Thursday, it'll go unseen by me.