Glaucous Gull and other good bits

An early morning visit to Foreness to blow away some cobwebs coincided nicely with a rising tide and clear blue skies (not to last).While we were watching the usual mixture of waders dodging the waves, a juvenile Glaucous Gull flew in and landed on one of the rocks.

It was one of those OMG! moments (for an innocent like myself) and the usual confused fumbling between bins and camera ensued, although fortunately the desperation wasn't warranted, as it stood there for a quarter of an hour.

It stayed until the last rock was covered, then joined the large gull flock offshore. 24 Purple Sandpipers stayed on the breakwater until the tide covered that too, and flew to the high tide roost on the other side of the point.
We saw four Snow Buntings feeding on the bare earth by the water works, and were joined by Rae Boulden - as we told him about the Glaucous Gull, it flew over our heads and onto the putting green.
As the black clouds approached we checked the Fayreness roost, and the Gull flew in there too.

On the way to Thanet, Steve Ray told me had seen the rifle range Black Redstart, so we drove that way and sure enough it was there, on the wooden wall, just like the one this time last year.