Gary's first day off from work and we started off at
Lowestoft to look at the
juv.
Woodchat Shrike. The bird was very
obliging showing to a few feet not far from Link's Road
car park. While watching the Shrike Gary flushed a '
crake' like bird, the bird few a second time, an unexpected Quail. With no sign of the
Isabelline Wheatear reported the night before we soon headed of to
Corton. By the church we soon found a Yellow-
browed Warbler but the 2 Great Grey Shrike from the previous day had moved off. with the weather looking good for more migrants we decided to look for our own birds in Norfolk.
Walking along the track at Horsey we found a
Goldcrest and Chiffchaff with a tit flock but no 'mega'. Walking the back of the dunes,
Siskin and
Redpoll passed over head in large numbers along with
Redwing and
Fieldfare. Gary then found a very distant Great Grey Shrike closer to
Waxham(we later got better views from the road). We then chatted to so ringers who had great success with ringing loads of Meadow Pipits and
Redpoll. Walking back along the dunes we had a Short-eared Owl in-off and then a small bird land on the beach. Closer inspection and we found i tired looking Snow Bunting on the tide line.
A stop for lunch was retired so we paused at The Poachers Pocket in
Walcott for
cheesey chips and a pint. While there we added 2 new 'pub birds' in Short-eared Owl in-off and 4 Common
Scoter. Other birds included a summer plumage Red-
throated Diver, Gannet, Brent Geese, Wigeon and Teal.
Final stop of the day was
Trimingham cliff top wood. The wood itself
only held a few
Goldcrest, but on the cliff top we found our 3rd Short-eared Owl of the day and a Green Woodpecker. Here we met Conner and 2 friends, we the searched a nearby stretch of woodland, but only found more
Redwing,
Fieldfare and a
Brambling.
On Saturday we rose early and headed to Warham Green to look for the Rufous Tailed Robin, but along with the the 700 or so fellow birders returned home without seeing the bird. The clear, cold night either killed the bird or hopefully allowed it to continue on its migration. After a full fried breakfast, Gary and i set about arranging our next little trip.