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On Wednesday November 21st a Mediterranean gull  (Larus melanocephalus) was discovered in Haapsalu. The species, with a southern range, has only been seen in Estonia once this year. In the evenings a large group of gulls come to the Haapsalu harbour to spend the night and now a rather hot rarity has dropped in among the others. Since gulls are usually not very twitchable because they do not stop in a place I did not rush off to Haapsalu at once. However, surprisingly a new report came next evening by way of Birdline (Rariliin) saying that the Mediterranean gull was back in the same place. Because I happened to be in Haapsalu on the weekend I went to telescope the gulls in the harbour in the evenings before sunset together with other twitchers. On Friday the bird twice came into telescope view for a moment, but just as unexpectedly as it came into view it disappeared again. The identification remained unconfirmed and I didn’t get the species on my list. On Saturday night no bird at all with any likeness to  the Mediterranean gull was seen. But on Sunday the bird was found again in the same place. Unfortunately I myself at that time was on my way back to Tartu and the year list did not get any additions. Nothing to be done about it, twitching does not always succeed.