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It’s been with trepidation that we ventured across the Tasman and Australia to Perth where our son’s family live. Of course I have used the opportunity to add to my Australian Twitcher’s list with an Oriental Honey-buzzard and the very rare vagrant Franklin’s Gull. Both of these were close to Perth. I got quite a “high” having twitched the Franklin’s Gull because it was my first “twitch” where I found the bird from amongst thousands without having a sharp-eyed spotter alongside. Usually when one becomes aware of a rare bird, there will be a clump of birders with long telescopes, binoculars and cameras looking in the same direction. But I was the first on this dy to find it. I was on one side of the lake while others were searching in vain on the other side. In the end it was easy because it flew across in front of me and landed with other gulls nearby.