There were about a dozen records of this species prior to 1990, but most had been trapped or very short-stayers, so the famous 1993 Winspit bird
was the first to be generally twitchable. Since then, due mainly to range expansion which has resulted in breeding in Finland, annual records have become the norm. There was a bird prior to
the Winspit one, trapped on Fair Isle the same year, then two in 1994, in Norfolk and Suffolk. The Landguard bird was an adult male, but only available for a few hours, only one or two have
been adults out of over 200 records to date, and although I have seen one in Nepal, a photo has eluded me.
Photos L to R The 1993 Winspit bird, an overwintering bird Middleton 2022, another shot of the 2023 Shetland bird.
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