I think the last time I had a garden Brambling was in the mid 80s in Sussex, so really happy to see this one today at Crabhall! Such smart birds. Also very lucky that Lisa had cleaned the study window only the day before!
We searched for the Bonaparte's Gull late afternoon without success, but a minimum of 25 Mediterranean Gulls included at least a dozen first-calendar year birds, one bearing a green ring which could not be read. A large white-winged gull got the adrenalin running for a few seconds, until we realised it was a leucistic Herring Gull. A flock of 26 Brent Geese included a single dark-bellied bird (a first calendar year). Earlier a Red-breasted Merganser, initially on the shoreline with the the Wigeon flock (which numbered 64 - rising slowly).