I'd just finished another four mile stroll around the George with little reward when news arrived of a Ross's Gull on a lake at Thameside in Essex and although I'm not in the habit of dropping everything on these first reports when news came through that it had flown but returned to the lake the twitch was on with just one small problem in that I had a lunchtime appointment with my grand-daughter in Little Easton and I never let the grandchildren down. I made the call to say I'd be there as planned and set off with Suzanne to Thameside knowing my time on site was limited to around fifteen minutes so I needed the bird to be there or I'd have to leave with no time to wait for it's return and luck was on my side. I parked up in a small parking area with room for just two cars and with Suzanne staying in the car we had the option to move if required and this cut a few hundred yards off the trip but more importantly a few minutes were saved. After a walk of about a mile I found the twitch of around thirty birders and to my relief the Ross's Gull was sat on the water about 50yards out and even flew closer after a couple of minutes. I grabbed a few poor record shots (the light was challenging) and after twenty minutes left for the walk back to Suzanne so we could continue our trip to Little Easton. They say fortune favours the brave and on this occasion things worked out for me. I encouraged the Jims to make the trip from home and I'm happy to say they did and they connected with what was a life tick for Dad and an Essex tick for both obviously as the bird is a first record for Essex and gave me my second Essex tick of the year after the Red-rumped Swallow at KGV. My Essex list now stands at 285.
Year list now 200
