SOME rare visitors from Scandinavia have made the long journey to Blackburn -- for the warm weather!

Six waxwing birds set up a temporary home in the trees in the unlikely area around Weir Street car park, feasting on the plentiful supply of berries.

And a steady stream of twitchers, from all across the North West, made the journey after news of the birds' arrival was posted on a birdwatchers' website.

The birds, about the same size as a starling and brown with a distinctive head crest, normally travel south for food in winter, but only come to Britain when there are strong north to north-easterly winds.

They were last seen in Blackburn two years ago.

David Wells, from Bury, a RSPB member for 30 years, travels around each weekend trying to catch a glimpse of rare species. He was on the scene around 9am.

He said: "The waxwing is native to Scandinavia and they fly south in winter because the temperatures at home are too low.

"Before Christmas there were probably only 20 in the country but now there are said to be quite a lot on the east cost of Britain from Aberdeenshire right down to Norfolk.

"However, because of the cold weather they've been having over there for the last week some of them have come west where the temperatures are slightly higher.

"It's very rare to get them around these parts. They won't be put off by the built-up area -- they'll probably stay here until the berries run out or they get driven away by other birds."

Tony and Trish Auciello drove over from Southport to catch the rare sighting.

Tony said: "They're pretty rare so when we heard they had to come Blackburn we drove over immediately."

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said: "This year has been excellent for spotting waxwings because the weather conditions have brought many of them to Britain."