Yet another mega Stint!

The run of rare peeps continued - an extra-ordinarily rare Long-toed Stint this time, just the fourth for Britain. Last seen in 1996 in Ireland, previously in Cleveland 1982, and with the first being seen in Cornwall in 1970, this was the first genuinely twitchable British bird in my lifetime as a birder. St Aidan's RSPB Reserve, near Leeds, was the location and with it having being re-identified as this species the day before (not Little/Temminck's), I was quick to set off on the Sunday (10th Oct) to connect with it (6am start!). Two hours later I was pacing down the track running north-west from the visitors' centre and eventually arrived to find others peering through scopes at the bird in question. Initially hidden behind Lapwings, it then appeared and showed well in perfect early morning sunshine. Moments later, it then flew and we thought we'd seen the last of it; I then joined a hardy group of determined twitchers and headed further north-west to the more distant lake and sure enough, it was here where it settled for the remainder of the day, albeit too far away for a decent shot. Distinguishing features? Well, remarkably similar to Least Sandpiper...but with a more prominent supercilium and larger pale loral patch. Yellower legs, maybe, and apparently more colourful/less dull than Least. Field guides mention a split supercilium but there was no evidence of that as far as I could tell.

Other birds of interest included Bearded Tit and Cetti's Warbler (both seen not heard) and other birders had Black-necked Grebe, and a Bittern in flight. There was also Little Egret, Stonechat, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit etc. A nice reserve, this, and a new one for me - definitely worth a visit on the way down south.