The third weekend twitch in a row this year (regrettably, in a way, since I feel guilty for neglecting Canons) and it was bound to happen: my first big dip of the year.Slaty-backed Gull, first for Britain (and in London!), would have been my first first for Britain and I was very excited about getting this bird. Phil picked me up at about 6.30am and we were on site with hundreds of other birders within an hour.
I saw naff all, I couldn't even get on any of the Caspian Gulls - three Pintail was the highlight of the day. Nothing but a painful and boring waste of time when I could have been on my patch. What made it even worse was knowing that I could have easily gone yesterday but declined a lift offer in my confidence that it would stick for at least one more day.
Thanks to a lift back courtesy of Kojak in company with The Monk and Posh the day was not made even worse by having to travel back home on the sodding train and underground.
