Caspian Gull at Fairlands

In an effort to work off the Christmas booze and food, and get a bit of exercise I went over to Fairlands Valley this morning. Wasn't too sure how it would go as I haven't managed to walk any distance for a long time and I'm still poorly. As it was I did a 3 mile circuit and am paying for it now.
I started at the northern end at the balancing pond where two Teal were found yesterday but they had departed, so I carried on down picking up the usual Coot, Moorhen and Mallards plus a few geese and loads of Magpies and Carrion Crows.
I reached the main boating lake where most of the birds were. There were 13 Cormorants on the jetty but I was distracted by calling Parakeets-at least two were around. This attracted the attention of a dog walker so I had a chat as he was becoming interested in the wildlife here. Lots of people were puzzled by two odd 'ducks'-we have had Egyptian Geese for a while now, so I had to explain about them as well.
Alan Ford appeared so we went to check the gulls-lots of Black Headed, a couple of Commons and a few Herrings of various ages. It didn't look like our target was around but the Caspian eventually appeared and stuck around. Unfortunately it stayed in the middle and never got up on it's favoured buoy.
I was rather disappointed in the lack of thrushes, finches and so on, but I think the very mild conditions have affected winter visitor numbers. Mind you I did hear a Bullfinch around the old farm buildings-not something I expect in the middle of Stevenage these days.