It may be a day late but....

...I got the White-throated Robin this morning!

After reading about all of the issues with viewing the bird yesterday afternoon I was a bit worried that if it stayed overnight I may not even be able to see it!

Thanks for an early tip-off from Ollie I got on the road early morning. I got to Hartlepool and as I was driving through towards the bowling green I noticed a small group of twitchers stood by a tall wall. I parked up, asked if the White-throated Robin was about and they said, yeah go through here... I walked into a large garden (turned out this was the Drs garden) and was greeted by about 6 people stood watching the bird sat out in the middle of the lawn! Unbeknown to me, the Doctor had just decided to open up the garden as I drove past! This was a total stroke of skill, well ok, luck but it worked out brilliantly! I watched the bird for about an hour as it fed on the grass lawn, in the rose and other flower beds and along the compost heap. It would occasionally fly up and alight on a fencepost or the wall.


White-throated Robin (phone-scoped)


White-throated Robin (phone-scoped)

These views were spectacular, and so easy too! Within 30 seconds of getting to Hartlepool I was stood in relative peace watching the MEGA target bird! I'd spoken to Dave yesterday who'd been chasing round the bushes yesterday afternoon with hundreds of other folk getting the odd view here and there. just the luck of the drawn I guess and if the bird had not have stayed overnight I'd be the gutted one!

This represents the third record over here, though I guess technically this is the second UK record after the first in 1990 on Skokholm, Pembrokeshire. Before that, one on the Isle of Man - Calf of Man (not on UK lists) was present in 1983. The Hartlepool record pertains to the first mainland UK record so was very popular! See below from Slack (Rare Birds Where and When):

1983: Isle of Man: Calf of Man - Male 22nd June
1990: Pembrokeshire: Skokholm Island - Female 27th - 30th May (News withheld)

Today I managed to make the papers, The Sun, The Scottish Sun! and the Daily Mail! The pictures are below, I'm not going to link to the articles as they are total rubbish!