If, like me, you have difficulty telling the difference between a black headed gull and a kittiwake, you'll probably not be excited by the slaty backed gull that's returned to our Rainham Marsh reserve in east London for a second visit.
This gull looks like any other to the untrained eye, but the thousands of fans that have descended on Rainham will no doubt beg to differ. Like those who queued and paid a fiver to get in to Steve Akers' house in Chipping Norton to see a turtle dove (albeit an Oriental one), their motivations are different from mine. Their love of birds has led to many papers and radio commentators ridiculing them. How we all love an easy target.
What's more surprising for me is the increasing number of unusual sightings being reported. Is this because more people are actually looking and are better informed than before? Is it because of increasingly weird weather patterns blowing migrant species off-course? Maybe it's because of social networking sharing details of these sightings?
I'll probably never know the answer. All I hope is that these events inspire people to find out more about the wildlife around us.