Memory lane after a twitch for an off patch mega

My good friend AJ on Hayling told me yesterday, he was pretty sure he had photo'd Britain's fifth ever Semi-palmated Plover whilst I was watching the Yellow-browed Warbler and having missed the Dawlish bird in 1998, something said I should try for this.

Anyone who knows me well, knows that nowdays I do not generally twitch outside Berks any more, I used to do it quite a bit and enjoyed all of my last notable twitches;

• Sandhill Crane 3rd Oct 2011
• Marmora's Warbler 4th June 2010
• Eastern Crowned Warbler 23rd Oct 2009
• American Black Tern 31st Aug 2009
• Collared Flycatcher 2nd May 2009
• Crested Lark 3rd May 2009
• White-throated Sparrow 13th April 2009
• Brown Shrike 12th Oct 2008
• White-crowned Sparrow 12th Jan 2008
• American Buff Bellied Pipit 9th Oct 2007
• White-tailed Plover 7th June 2007
• White-billed Diver 3rd Mar 2007
• Pacific Diver 3rd Jan 2007
• Long-billed Murrelet 11th Nov 2006
• Killdeer 8th April 2006
• Grey-cheeked Thrush 20th Nov 2005
• Red Flanked Bluetail 19th Oct 2005
• Little Crake 17th Sept 2005
• Collared Pratincole 4th June 2005
• Trumpeter Finch 21st May 2005
• Masked Shrike 31st Oct 2004
• Western Sandpiper 9th Oct 2004
• Cream Coloured Courser 2nd Oct 2004
• Black Stork 21st Aug 2004
• American Robin 20th Dec 2003
• Lesser Sandplover 24th July 2003
• Black Lark 3rd June 2003
• Audouin's Gull 5th May 2003
• Lesser Kestrel 18th May 2002
• Little Bittern 27th Mar 2002
• Ross's Gull 8th Feb 2002
• Redhead 9th Dec 2001
• Snowy Egret 10th Nov 2001
• Green Heron 26th Sept 2001
• Rufous-necked Stint 22nd Sept 2001

And I did quite a lot in the late eighties so have some crippling birds ;

•  Bridled Tern 4th July 1988
• Ancient Murrelet 17th June 1990
• Blue-cheeked Bee-eater 9th July 1989
• Roller 3rd June 1989
• Tree Swallow 9th June 1990
• Nauman's Thrush 8th Feb 1990
• Golden-winged Warbler 12th Feb 1989
• Lark Sparrow 16th May 1991

So I am sure any of you who became twitchers after 1991 will find some of them painful to contemplate, but we had dips too by the way, bringing me back to the bird in question Semi-Palmated Plover.

I brought the family and knowing high tide wasn't until 10:00 we planned to arrive near then, but didn't leave until 09:45 in the end. As it happened it didn't show and the awaiting crowd dispersed, but when we finally arrived at AJ's house at 11:30, he was on site still and said over the phone "someone has claimed it, but even though I doubt it's an authentic claim, everyone is coming back"

On arrival we quickly established it was genuine and enjoyed an hour of watching it at about 150 feet range, before my son got fed up of palying in the nice soft sand and we all got hungry. There were of course the usual few who decided they must get closer than everyone else, but I won't talk about the stupid people today....so here are my best iphone shots