An extreme rarity in NW England, this Rustic Bunting at South Walney Bird Observatory simply had to be twitched. I'm unsure how many records there have been in the NW region, but this I think is a first for Cumbria and the species has yet to be recorded in Lancashire. Perhaps the only NW records are on Bardsey or Calf of Man?? - I'd be interested in knowing.
The Rustic Bunting showed well as it fed on seeds on a path by the Obs (above), but as far as my digiscoping efforts were concerned, there was always something obscuring the view, mainly a fence as can be seen in the videograbs of the bird. A little cracker nontheless. Whinchat and Stonechat also frequented the same area.
