There is a certain rhythm to our lives; Juanli and I get up before dawn, check to hear for birds migrating over the house, then at the cloud situation to assess the shooting conditions. A quick coffee and onto the mountain bikes for the 4km cycle to the sand flats, our favorite location.

The morning of September the 18th was unremarkable, a few Hoopoe coming in off the sea, harassed by migrating Hobbies. Plenty of Barn and Red-rumped Swallows hawking over the reed beds, but generally quiet, so we packed up as the heat began to build and cycled back to the house.

About 2:30pm we set off again for the sand flats, as growing cloud threatened to abort our late afternoon visit, we wanted to grab an hour while we could. A quiet start again and the boredom factor began to kick in, then 5 Relict Gulls came in from the North. I dropped my Gitzo and Wimberley to the ground and crawled through the surf and managed to get within 8m of the birds as they roosted unperturbed by my presence.

I was thrilled, lying in the surf, so close to 5 Relict Gulls, a very rare bird indeed and still very poorly known.

A feeding frenzy kicked in just offshore, as 1st Winter Black-tailed Gulls joined the ubiquitous Black-headed Gulls.

A group of Black-bellied Plovers, Bar-tailed Godwits and Great Knot flew in and I was ideally positioned to grab some portraits of them, before passing fisherman flushed the whole lot.

The light deteriorated and we began the uphill cycle home, chatting brightly as we rode side-by-side. My mobile beeped and a one-word text sent me flying back to the sand flats: FRANKLIN’S

A friend of mine is leading a bird tour and they had found this adult Franklin’s Gull shortly after we had left. This is only the second record for China, the first being seen only last year just down the coast, almost certainly the same bird.

After a quick look through a scope, I managed to get in close enough for some record shots with a 500/4 +2x on Juanli’s 1D2, as my 1Ds would never have coped with the low light.

A day to remember for sure, but for us, not really any better than every day we live here; out in the fresh air, photographing China’s birds.