Lots and lots of gulls, accompanied by a few Shelduck, Redshanks and a lone Brent Goose, with the impressive church of Beveren-aan-de-IJzer as a backdrop. I started scanning through the many gulls but the other birders present told me the bird was not there so I sat down and waited. Thankfully, it appeared after just 20 minutes, arriving within a small group of Black-headed Gulls, but I was the only one who noticed it arrive! It then sat down amongst the grass, making it ever so difficult to point out, but everyone eventually got on to it, even if it was sleeping the whole time and the only visible differences were the darker grey back and the wingtip pattern. After a while, though, something spooked the whole flock and the Franklin's ended up standing on its own. It was still rather distant but I managed to get a record shot in which its white eye-crescents are clearly visible.
