Happiness is ...

... eventually finding the Ivory Gull.
In the morning I continue to test my theory that Baleshare was the place to look for the errant Ivory Gull but I only ended up coming back laden with driftwood. General gloom setting in when I got a phone call saying it had been seen again by Loch Fada on Benbecula.
Twenty minutes later and a new species is now on my British species list. It is not a great photo as the bird was in long grass and was too busy eviscerating a gull carcase to pose for me. It is also a young bird and so perhaps not as pretty as an adult would be.
That said it did let us get close- they are known for it. Probably not a surprise when you live on the edge of the sea-ice all year until blown off course to the balmy Hebrides- compared to a Polar Bear I looked quite friendly.
Three birders there so a big Hebridean twitch.