Spotted Redshank

Lured north by the multitude of wonderful photographs on Facebook, we got up early and headed to RSPB Leighton Moss. I was really hoping to see the bearded tits that are a feature there in the autumn/winter, but they were nowhere to be seen today which was a real shame :(
However, we did see distant views of an otter and I saw a ton of unblipped birds for my list as well as many of the usual suspects. 
I also had a robin land on my hand for a few seconds, but once it found out that all I had was birdseed, and not mealworms, it soon scarpered! 

Amongst my list of unblipped birds this year, we saw the following: Little Grebe, Kestrel, Water Rail, Wigeon, Treecreeper, Pheasant, Coot, Moorhen, Goldcrest, Goosander, Merganser, Greenshank, Dunnock, Gadwall, Coal Tit and Dunlin, but the star of the day was something I don't remember seeing before - the spotted redshank. My shot is not the sharpest as the light was dreadful all day(and this has been lightened considerably in LR), but comparing it to the redshank on the left, you can clearly see that it is slightly larger, a bit paler and the bill is much longer. 
I'm so glad that someone pointed it out as I'd have never known it was a different bird! 
So, having seen a load of unblipped birds today I was tempted to do a collage of them all, so I could count them towards my total - hee hee. But I decided that I was only cheating myself as nobody else cares, so chose the one that I'm unlikely to see again. Most of the other ones will probably pop up elsewhere, and I guess we can always come back again another day. 
All in all it was a super days birding and we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.