East Coast Birding!

I could not make my mind up which direction to head today and in the end decided to return to Winterton! A bit crazy but there we go. This post will be short, as sadly I didn't have a very productive day.

I searched for the Blue Rock Thrush again and returned to where I saw it last night, but no joy. It was SO difficult to pin down yesterday, even with so many birders searching, that I wouldn't be surprised if it reappeared again – I certainly didn't see many birders looking while I was there. Definitely worth another thorough search for weekend birders – fingers crossed, especially for the some of the local birders, who frustratingly didn't get to see it for various reasons.

I walked through the allotments by the church, where two birders had had a Black Redstart, but no sign when I looked. I then walked along the path adjacent to the horse meadows and ended up birding for ages in South Dunes. It all seemed very exciting and apart from a handful of dog walkers, I was the only birder here! Good numbers of Goldcrests amongst the sycamores and searched hard for my own Pallas's Warbler, but no luck with that. Several Blackbirds, Redwings and Robins and that was it! I felt that I deserved more, after walking what seemed like several miles. I returned via a different route and sat on a bench to rest in a beautiful little park and watched a Blackbird feeding, whilst I had a drink and a snack. Retraced my steps for a short distance and then followed the path back by the horse meadows and through the allotments by the church again – still no Black Redstart! A few Redwings, Blackbirds, House Sparrows and a Robin were all I could find here. Returned to my car and felt exhausted, which is hardly surprising after the last couple of days.

I was thinking about doing North Dunes, but decided to go and twitch the Pallas's Warbler north of Shangri-la chalet at Waxham, so that I at least saw one good bird today! I love this little spot and I have not been here for probably a few years. It was lovely to bump into Dawn and Pete Balmer here and nice to have a little catch-up. I walked north along the path through the dunes overlooking the scrub and all the way back again, then followed the lower path through the sycamores and all the way back! Nothing at all apart from Goldcrests, Robins, Blackbirds and Redwings – probably too late in the day and it was quite windy. Not the day I had hoped for, but it was still lovely to be out and no rain! The drive home was long and tedious. Feel exhausted and all birded out! Good night!