The plan was to drive up to the entrance of the sewage works in Walton-le-Dale where a Firecrest has been hanging out for a week or so and sit in a nice warm car until it was glimpsed. However, Winery Lane was blocked by a puddle that I didn’t dare drive through, so we had to ditch the car and walk/slip/slide/skate the last part of the route as Winery Lane was very icy indeed.

It all turned out for the best as we were rewarded with extreme close-up views of the pretty little chap, flitting around within a couple of yards of where we were stood. Furthermore, we saw the Firecrest before sighting a single Goldcrest, and were so spared the frustrating experience of scrutinising dozens of the latter - we were able to just enjoy them when they showed up in numbers.

The sewage works itself was packed with pied wagtails, grey wagtails and at least a few meadow pipits. I was torn between examining the pipit population a little more closely and getting back to a nice warm car with its sarnies and Thermos. Guess which won?

Last week we also travelled to see a single bird, the long-staying male Snow Bunting at Crosby beach. I was going to try to tie a ‘Snow’ reference in with the already twee title of this blog post, but it would be a terrible disservice to a remarkably charismatic little bird.

We staked out the end of the boating lake where it had been sighted for a while, then tried the beach, where there were skylarks a-plenty, a few waders including Turnstones, and a few Corn Buntings flitting round too. On a sunny Sunday, the place was also packed with joggers, doggers and the like. Eventually we spied our target pecking around near the high-tide line and ignoring people passing mere yards away.

What a pretty bird, and a cheeky fellow too. He took regular breaks from feeding to harry any pied wagtails unfortunate enough to attract his attention, chasing them around and showing off those long, black-tipped white wings. Delightful.