Late report from yesterday.

Went up to Newton Marsh yesterday morning with John Barber for company to try and see the reported Temminck's Stints.

We easily found the 'entrance pool' that they were described as being on and after a few minutes of scanning the visible shorelines John picked out one of the birds. After 5 more minutes, I then picked out the other bird. Viewing was quite difficult though with both birds quite distant and also quite flighty too. They would repeatedly appear and disappear many times by landing on shoreline that wasn't visible to us.

Anyway, it was a new tick for John and myself and it was also good to note the plumage and size comparison, especially when in one scope view we had a Black tailed Godwit, a Reshank, a Dunlin and the Stint all lined up.

Dennis atherton wrote:

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Well done Phil, i went for this bird as well but had no joy

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Cheers Dennis!!

I did had to brave the conditions first thing though!!

Well done Phil, i went for this bird as well but had no joy

An early morning and very cold start for the reported male Firecrest which has been present for some time now, in the woods alongside the boatyard. After about an hour of searching through the various Tit flocks and Goldcrests to no avail, all of a sudden, the star of the show was located feeding very actively in a tree canopy before coming down to feed at the side of the path right in front of us. Good close-up views were had of this stunning little bird showing it's startling orange-red crown down to around 20 feet away. A great start to the morning. Next stop the Iceland Gull at Preston Docks.