The not-so-common Common Gull

In most winters common gulls are present in small numbers at Ferry Meadows and the Rowing Lake, usually among the much more numerous black-headed gulls. But this winter they seem to have been decidedly scarce - this is the first one I've spotted in 2020 and brings my bird list up to 83 species, a much lower number than this time last year when I'd already spotted 99. It's been a bit of a miserable year for overwintering birds - no local waxwings, very few redpolls and even some of the resident birds seem elusive - I've not yet spotted a marsh harrier, yellowhammer or a raven.

I spent the evening at the local wildlife group monthly talk, which was all about Project Godwit, which aims to secure the rather precarious UK population of breeding black-tailed godwit. Interesting and ground-breaking work, though I'm not entirely sure whether it's good value for money - I can't help thinking that the very large amount of funding may have been better spent on wider nature conservation initiatives.