When is a Patch Tick not a Patch Tick?

After a morning spent digging the allotment and re-cladding part of the garage, I rewarded myself with an afternoon stroll around part of the patch, Paston Cliffs. I was optimistically hoping for an early migrant but it seems that 2pm is dog walking rush hour, and with most dogs off the lead little was about walking the grassy cliff tops near the paddocks to the west.

There were however lots of gulls on the beach so I spent some time scanning through them, among them I found a Caspian Gull a patch tick I though, but actually I have seen one here in 2015. Most of the gulls were large but with the few Black-headed Gulls I found a single Little Gull, possibly the bird from Bacton earlier in the week? Surprisingly this was a new patch tick, as although I had seen Little Gull here in the past it was before this was my patch!

By now the dog walkers had disperse so I walked towards the Gas Terminal, a group of Linnet and Skylark were in the fields and singing loudly. I thought I saw a female Reed Bunting drive into the brambles but on closer inspection 8 Yellowhammer exploded out from their cover. On the cliff edge 2 Oystercatcher probed the path edge and 7 Stock Dove fed in the bare field, where the Caspian Gull had relocated from the beach with most of the gulls. No Bluethroat, Black Redstart or even a Wheatear but an hour well spent, if no one looks nothing will be seen.