BIRDWATCHERS from all over the British Isles converged on the Porthmadog area, following reports that a rare Elegant Tern, normally seen in California, had arrived in the nearby estuary. There were as many as 150 twitchers on the Porthmadog Cob embankment hoping to spot the bird, believed to be the only one of its kind ever seen in the whole of the British Isles, its previous sighting being in Devon a few weeks ago. Local birdwatcher, PC Kelvin Jones, was the first to spot the bird, among ordinary Sandwich Terns and he took immediate steps to alert other birdwatchers countryside over the Internet. Hence the national interest in his latest find, with twitchers continuing to converge on the area in their hundreds. The Elegant Tern, with its prominent orange/red beak, is normally based in California, and Mr Jones believes that the bird has been blown off course and lost direction, arriving in the UK, creating tremendous interest among birdwatchers. Bert Mitchell travelled 240 miles fro m Teesmouth as soon as he heard about the rare tern, and was disappointed that the bird never made an appearance on the Cob. "I've been to Devon twice this year to try and locate the tern, but with no success," said Mr Mitchell. | 
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