Northern Waterthrush, Heybridge 3rd-8th January at least When I sat down to lunch on Wednesday, little did I know that I would not finish that meal for several hours... I happened to see movement to my right, through the glass doors, on the patio. Stunned silence, then expletives, followed as I realised that I was looking at a Northern Waterthrush, a small songbird that should really be wintering in the Caribbean and Central America.

Having overcome the adreneline rush, and shaking hands, I took a series of shots and the news was released nationally mid afternoon, to a fair bit of incredularity! To cut a long story short, the bird was refound the next day a short distance to the west of my house, in an area of scrubland which has been able to take the pressure of the twitch, something which my tiny garden would not have done! To date (8th January), perhaps a 1,000 people have successfully made the journey to see this remarkable little survivor.