WEEKEND TREAT: SCORES FLOCK TO GRIMSBY INSTITUTE TO WATCH RARE VISITOR

Putting on the style - Grimsby Institute's rare black-throated thrush

THE rare black-throated thrush that turned up in Grimsby  on Thursday was displaying better than ever this morning (Saturday).

For some periods, notably just after sunrise, it skulked in high branches in the trees on the Grimsby Institute campus.

But it spent far longer on the grass below, pecking (successfully) for worms and other insects to the delight of scores of birders who had come from all parts of Lincolnshire, the East Midlands and Yorkshire, plus a few from beyond.

With few students about, the handsome bird - a vagrant from Asia - was mostly undisturbed.

At lunchtime today, up to 100 pairs of eyes were trained on the thrush.

The black-throated  belongs to the same family as our native song thrush and blackbird, but tends to favour damper habitat.

There is also a red-throated thrush, and the two species are thought occasionally to interbreed where their territories overlap.

Some observers believe that the bird has only just arrived in Lincolnshire, but there is also a theory that it may have been here for much longer but gone undetected until staff member Josh Forrester hit upon it last Thursday morning..

The hope is that it will stay longer, perhaps providing diversion and relaxation for students as they swot for exams.

In the meantime, a debt of thanks is due to the management at Grimsby Institute for so readily accommodating so many birders - plus the thrush - on their splendid campus.

Scores flocked to Grimsby to watch and photograph the vagrant bird from Asia