A Forgotten Mythical Bird?

Not so many years ago and outside of Fair Isle, the news of the arrival of a mainland UK Red-flanked Bluetail, would have sent shivers down the spine and mad panic would have kicked-in. Not any more it would seem, unless of course you find one on your local patch, far inland and in a Midlands county and in a place where the last bird in the world you would expect to find would be a Red-flanked Bluetail. Well that is exactly what happened to a couple of guys in Gloucestershire. They must have been absolutely stunned, certainly by all accounts the initial finder was and later the first person to photograph the bird, couldn't keep his camera steady! I'm not surprised, as I still get a thrill from seeing one of these stunning little birds. Long live the RFBT and in my opinion, it should still get MEGA status on the pager systems.

I can remember the infamous Winspit bird of 1993? It stayed for 10 days, performed exceptionally well, except for the first big day on the 31st October, simply mayhem, as hundreds of birders descended on the tiny Dorset village, to see this jewel of a bird. I think at the time it was probably the first mainland, twitchable RFBT. I ended up pinned against a tree by a mass mob and only glimpsed the bird at first. We moved away from the crowds and waited until most people departed. Later in the afternoon we were rewarded with superb views, so much so that I went back a second time and took my wife to see it.

Yesterday, 23rd February 2014, the wintering bird at Marshfield in Gloucestershire, eventually put on a show, despite the poor weather conditions and there were only a handful of people watching this stunning little bird. The initial sighting we had was around "tenish", it was brief, as a Robin flushed it off shortly after we arrived on site and it then didn't reappear for 2 hours. It was well worth the wait. The Year List hit the 100 mark