I took the day off as I'd been gripped off the day before by not one, but two different birders telling me that they'd found Red-flanked Bluetails, so I thought I should give it a go. I headed out to East Norfolk early on and headed out on the Nelson Head track. Plenty of birds on the move, especially Meadow Pipits, lots of finches (Brambling and 27 Crossbills the highlight), quite a few Redwing and Fieldfare, Read Buntings, 1 Lapland Bunting and lots of Lesser Redpoll. There was also Whinchat, Northern Wheatear, White Wagtail, a couple of Chiffchaffs hanging around in various places too. I headed off to Horsey Gap after that, from where I walked north to Waxham. A single Barn Swallow was flying around the car park, but the rest of the walk was pretty quiet. A couple of Short-eared Owls came in off the sea and I had good views of a Great Grey Shrike that had been hanging around Waxham. Upon arriving at Waxham I found that there had been a Radde's Warbler in the church yard but after spending about an hour there I had one flight view and heard it call a few times. The end of the day brought me wishing I'd gone north, as late news emerged of a Rufous-tailed Robin had been found on East Hills (late as in it was found late in the day and late as in the fact that it was actually on Warham Greens, information that was nicely suppressed for ages before putting the correct new out. Thanks for nothing).
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| Great Grey Shrike Waxham, Norfolk |
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| Great Grey Shrike Waxham, Norfolk |
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| Great Grey Shrike Waxham, Norfolk |
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| Short-eared Owl, fresh in off the sea, Waxham |
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| Short-eared Owl, fresh in off the sea, Waxham |
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| Short-eared Owl, fresh in off the sea, Waxham |
