January 15th
After a gale force NW wind and near freezing temperatures overnight we arrived at Reculver just as it was getting light for an hour long seawatch. In the event there wasn't a great deal to see just the usual 450 Dark-bellied Brent Geese and 481 Cormorants as well as 2 Great Skuas E, 2 Red-throated Divers, 4 Gannets W and 1 Kittiwake.
After this we had a walk along West Brook Valley and saw 1 Common Buzzard, 1 female Bullfinch (110th), 8 Long-tailed Tits, 3 Chiffchaffs, 2 Goldcrests and 2 Redwings.
Half an hour at the Towers after lunch produced 13 Little Gulls W, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 1 large auk E, 7 Red-throated Divers E and 3 Sanderling.

Today I received ringing details of the colour ringed juvenile Great Black-backed Gull I saw at Reculver on 21st December 2015. It had been ringed as a pullus at Gylteskjaer, Tvedestrand, Aust-Agder, NORWAY on 3rd July 2015. This means that it had flown 942 km SSW.
A significant proportion of Great Black-backed Gulls seen in Kent in the winter originate from Norway.

Great Black-backed Gull (JZ738)