The coastal fields at Goring Gap have, in recent years, become the go-to site to look for Caspian Gull in West Sussex. In neighbouring East Sussex, they are regular enough between Newhaven and Eastbourne but they remain peculiarly scarce here.
That said, this year has seen a rather poor showing, with two in January followed by absolutely none, until today. I stopped by at Goring Gap rather optimistically this lunchtime, as I have done several times over the last few weeks, and to my delight this time there was an absolute peach of a second-winter Caspian Gull in the small loafing flock.
I put the word out on the news services and on our local birding WhatsApp group and soon a handful of Worthing birders were there to enjoy this early Christmas present, until it flew after 40 minutes! Hopefully there will be some more Casps this winter.
