Confiding Razorbill & Kumlien's twitch

On Saturday 16th February, after far too long since I was last birding (mainly due to the awful weather last weekend Sat=gale force winds, Sun=rain all day) I was out late morning and by 11am I was at Asda looking for the Razorbill, I located it on Lake Lothing but the Razorbill was much further west, where I could see our esteemed chairman was getting stunning views and taking pics with his phone! I quickly drove round there and had a quick chat with Derek B and he showed me his inevitably excellent phone shots. I walked over the waste ground at Riverside by the eastern end, I looked where it had been and of course it wasn't anywhere to be seen! After 10 minutes, I eventually spied it swimming just east of where I was and it eventually swam back (although it was never seen right in front of me, with views Derek had enjoyed earlier). It frequently dived and this was the time to get into position and hunker down. It then swam towards the near bank and I managed to get a few shots before it disappeared again. Contacting Maurice B, he said he was going for the Kumlien's at Lackford at 1pm, so I drove back home, showered and OFB very kindly picked me up. Within a couple of hours, we were drawing into the Lankford Lakes car park, my first ever visit here. A Marsh Tit showed well and flew to the vegetation beyond the car park. From the reserve centre an impressive array of feeders revealed Goldfinches, Siskins and eventually 2 fine Redpolls feeding from a feeder to the left. Moorhens fed around the base too, the view looked over a fine pool. Walking around to the Sailing Lake, there were feeders at the back here too and a constant supply of Redpolls (1), Siskins (5), Reed Buntings (4) regularly fed there. On the Lake we arrived at 2.30pm and saw a male Goldeneye which came really close at one time (alas no camera), 3 Pochard (2 males & 1 female) and 2 Pintail (male and female) at the back. We also saw a Yellow- legged Herring Gull at the back amongst the Gulls. At 4pm, the excellent Kumlien's Gull snuck in at 4pm it was seen amongst the Gulls just left of buoy number 4, a 3rd calendar year bird, very similar to Iceland Gull with two-tone bill, a little grey on the mantle and 3 slight grey chevrons on the primaries. Overall it stood out with a very pale buff- white countenance. Also really good to see old friends like Richard from Bungay, Barry W, Paul & Jane F and Chris L. A big thank you to OFB and especially Maurice B for driving us over there and back again.