When I first started birding in my mid teens,i often looked through my bird books and Richard Millingtons superbly illustrated Twitcher's Diary in Birdwatching Magazine and often dreamed of seeing many of the rare species illustrated.
But it was two species that always stood out to me,both from America,one was Western Sandpiper and the other Franklin's Gull.
In January 2012,i added Western Sandpiper to my life list at Cley in Norfolk,unfortunately not the brightly marked juvenile i had hoped for,but a wintering adult,a cracking bird all the same though!.
The other species Franklin's Gull had eluded me for one reason or another,until a fine adult bird was found at RSPB St.Aiden's near Leeds in West Yorkshire,an hour from home.
I checked my phone for news all day and when i left for home,the bird was still there.I quickly scoffed my tea and then i was on the road.
Just under an hour later and i was parking up outside the reserve gate,got my gear together and i was off.
I could see a small group watching the bird about three quarters of a mile away and i walked as fast as i could.
On arrival,the bird was seen straight away and what a cracker!,the combination of jet black head,big eye crescents and scarlet bill,darker grey upperparts and white subterminal markings in the primaries made for a very distinctive bird and all I had hoped it to be.
I watched as it rested at first,as it had a slightly injured leg,but then it began displaying and calling to the surrounding Black-headed Gulls,putting on a great show.The call was slightly Lapwing like and even in flight i could pick it out from the Black-headed Gulls on call.
This bird is thought to be the adult seen in Yorkshire last summer and the same bird seen in Norway in January 2021 and Belgium in March 2021.
Sadly after a good hour and a half i had to leave and get home for work the following morning,but what a privilege it was to enjoy such a smart bird and finally add this species to my life list at last,my 480th species in Britain.
St.Aiden's RSPB,What A Superb Reserve. 
A Pretty Tame Juvenile Grey Heron. 
A Couple Of Record Shots Of The Stunning Adult Franklin's Gull,Standing Out Well And Truly Amongst It's Commoner Cousins.
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