Paul and I had another look at the gull roost this evening. Looked like the biggest so far with 2,000 on the water at 4pm soon growing to 6,000 at 4:45pm and c1,000 more gulls arriving from the east around 5pm, giving a final count of 7,000 mostly LBB. Again a strung out roost so we can only cover a small portion before the light goes. 3 adult Yellow-legs and an adult Med from those we could see. 4 Great crested grebe, pair Goldeneye. 2 Greenfinch and Redpoll flying over.
Most interesting bird was what appears to be a Ring-billed/LBB hybrid. Head on it looked like the old Ring-bill had returned with its beady eyes and streaky head, bright yellow parallel bill with an obvious black band but as soon as it turned sideways the mantle was much too dark just a shade lighter than the surrounding LBBs and about 3/4 their size. We've wondered before, given the regularly returning Ringers long association with the LBBs, about why we don't see any hybrids so nice to finally get one.