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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fozzybear" data-source="post: 1889997" data-attributes="member: 69297">Med Gulls are not uber-rare but if you don't get to the right places then they're easy to miss out on and Gulls can be a bit of a nightmare to ID too!I've come to the conclusion that I have a deterrent effect on Peregrines and Hobbies as I've not seen either* but on the day I went away on holiday a Peregrine turned up in town within walking distance of me! :-O I've had one local birder look at me as though I was an idiot because I'd not seen a Hobby, which wasn't nice! I think it's partly because I spend so little time at places where Hobbies are found - I don't drive and I don't travel away from my local town very much!On holiday I've seen quite a few widespread panics of the birds at Cley that could have been due to Peregrines but never seen the bird that caused the disturbance. It's irritating in a way but one of those things where I know eventually I'm going to see them, it's just a matter of time. I don't really want to go off hunting for them based on other people's sightings though, even though that would be a way to scratch the itch as it were. Even if it takes me a long time I'd really prefer to stumble upon one myself as that would feel much more special. Hopefully I've got many years of birdwatching ahead of me so plenty of opportunity to find one!I always think that a bird you've not seen isn't really a bad thing, although the 'currency' in birding circles seems to be your life count the person who has seen them all doesn't have the anticipation and the joy of that first sighting to look forward to!*apparently when I went to Skomer in 2007 (on one of the holidays that first got me interested in birdwatching) there was a Peregrine zooming around the cliffs but I was pretty sick that day due to a combination of a bout of lactose intolerance and the heat and a lot of walking so I don't remember seeing it, although my brother did.</blockquote>

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