Bonaparte's Gull returns to Kent for twelfth year ( www.birdguides.com )

A vagrant Bonaparte's Gull has returned to Oare Marshes in Kent for the twelfth summer in a row.

The bird was reported on The Swale, which is adjacent to the Kent Wildlife Trust reserve, during the morning of 21 June. The return marked the twelfth consecutive year that the gull has spent the summer months at Oare Marshes.

First found as a first-summer on 22 May 2013, the gull usually arrives in early July and departs in late August or early September. Aside in 2013, when it was first found, it has arrived in July every year bar 2015, 2018 and 2020. So, the June arrival this year is on the early side.