After a Rufous-Tailed Robin turned up at Flamborough Bird Observatory 4 or 5 days prior, I had been dying to visit the east coast but had not had the opportunity. Getting away from various responsibilities as soon as I could, I found myself taking a day off on the Monday and heading down towards the coast in the hope of seeing some migrant goodies. With a smattering of rare birds turning up during the rare couple of days of easterly winds that took place the previous week, there were still some rarities left to be seen. The kicker, however, was that a major storm had hit UK shores over the previous couple of days. Although conditions were beginning to improve, the forecast still looked bleak - a risk that I was willing to take for the sake of a twitch. After a long drive to Flamborough which lasted north of three hours, I arrived onsite in conditions of light rain and some wind. I quickly made my way to the area where the Robin had been seen. Thirty or so birders were stood hoping...
After the unforeseen influx of Baird's Sandpipers across the UK which had begun during the previous week, I had been itching to get a slice of the action for myself. Luckily, the Cheshire bird at Coxbank did the decent thing and stayed long enough for myself and Marc to attempt a casual weekend twitch. After an hour or so drive to the site, we parked up the mini and walked over to the site where the Sandpiper had been spotted in recent days. As luck would have it, the bird was showing upon arrival. A birdwatcher with a telescope (an instrument that neither of us had) let us get a nice view through his telescope - one in which we could make out clearly the black speckles on the bird's flanks. Seeing the Baird's Sandpiper through our binoculars proved to be a somewhat more tricky affair, with the small stature and brown colour making the bird blend remarkably well with the surrounding mud. Yet we certainly couldn't complain with the views that we enjoyed in perfect lig...