A Franklin's Gull was reported at Crossness early this afternoon. Brian was keen to go but decided to wait for a second sighting as the first gave little detail about the bird's continued presence. When the bird was reported again one hour later, we headed along the A12 towards the Blackwall Tunnel. The traffic was much heavier than expected approaching the tunnel, and the last eight miles took nearly an hour instead of the usual twenty-five minutes. We decided to park in Lytham Close and walk east along the Thames Path past the sewage works to the outfall, where we were told the bird had flown off west and had not been seen for forty minutes!
We decided to wait it out and hope the bird would return to feed among the numerous Black-headed Gulls. Thankfully after two hours, it did just that. It flew in from the west and landed right in front of us showing to within just a few metres. It was only the second Franklin's Gull I had seen, the other being at Abberton Reservoir in 2016.
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| 1st summer Franklin's Gull |
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| Crossness Outfall |
