Local birding and a big twitch

Our visitors this Christmas are relatively new birders and desparate to see a Brambling.  So, my mission yesterday morning was to stake out our local woods to see if any could be found there.  After topping up the feeders and waiting for an hour all I could come up with was loads of Great Tits and Blue Tits, a Marsh Tit, a Nuthatch, a Greater Spotted Woodpecker and a Bullfinch.  Looks like they will have to wait for another opportunity to see their Brambling.

This morning after much "umming and aahing" I decided to twitch the Ivory Gull near Hull.  After a long and worrying drive with lots of weather forecasts about the forthcoming storms, I arrived in one piece and found the Gull relatively easily as it loafing around the shore line.  I waited an hour to see if it would come in any closer but as the weather worsened, I decided to give up and got a right a soaking on the way back to the car.  I did manage to obtain some decent scope views and a couple of record shots of what was a cracking bird and well worth the journey.

Managed to get back home safely only to find that my birder's wife had dropped and smashed £40 worth of wine on our driveway.  Not her fault, but just a dodgy wine carrier..grrr!  Hey ho at least I got back safely.

Ivory Gull