News of a Sabine`s Gull at Leighton Moss on Wednesday 6th July seemed a little strange for the time of year and lack of rough weather at sea. But the bird remained and a small trip to see it was arranged. Myself, Bob K and Kevin C left a sultry Whitworth around 7-30am all duly clad in shorts for the occasion. We reached the very narrow road down to Jenny Brown`s Point and luckily slid into one of the few parking spaces available, about an hour later. We saw Rob D who told us the bird was still present, first time I have seen Rob since the memorable visit to Kent for the Eleonora`s Falcon. The gull was sat on a large sandbank at about 100 yards distance, we all thought, hope it comes closer. Which it eventually did and landed about 30 yards away and began feeding along the shoreline. The bird had somehow lost its right leg and maybe a toe from its left leg, could have been a hungry predator, Killer Whale etc after a quick snack! This made the birds feeding habit difficult as it had buoyancy issues, but seemed to be getting plenty to eat. Lots of Black Headed Gulls, Oystercatcher`s were around this area and the views over Morecambe Bay were sublime. At Leighton Moss we enjoyed a coffee and a cake for myself and a browse through the second hand bookcase. We walked around the reserve and enjoyed views of around five Marsh Harriers, some recently fledged birds, so they have had a successful breeding season. It was very quiet otherwise on the reserve, a Hobby and Bittern had been seen, but not by ourselves. We headed out to the Allen and Eric Morecambe hides and met Mark or Ginger, a fellow birder from years back who told us there is not much happening out there. We saw that there was very little water in both pools, so not many birds! We watched in awe as a Grey Heron caught and eventually swallowed quite a large Eel, this lasted 10 full minutes and the Eel could be seen in the heron`s neck still alive. Time for home we all thought at this stage. Dave O.