I woke up feeling tired and bedraggled after yesterday, but I knew that I had to go out today, even though it was lashing down with rain. East winds with rain in October potentially means one thing: MEGA! I was looking forward to going out to see what I could find in the rain, but a message on the Norfolk WhatsApp group changed everything for many birders and twitchers today! Initially there were odd messages about being "erroneous" and "not, as someone has seen photo"....... until finder Sean Offord messaged at 10.51 to say "The Blue Rock Thrush was last seen in the Hermanus. Car parking has been agreed at £10. Seen last 15 mins ago. Please report to reception to get a ticket" FAB U LOUS!!!
For some very strange reason, I didn't leave straight away, which nearly cost me seeing the Blue Rock Thrush! Its a long, almost two hour journey to Winterton, along the tedious A47, which wasn't fun at all with flooded roads and heavy rain. I arrived at the Hermanus Holiday Park car park after lunch, but to be honest I have no idea what the time was exactly. All I know is that the Blue Rock Thrush had not been seen for quite a while, not something I wanted to hear. Looked at Steve Gantlett's lovely pictures on his camera, chatted to Andy W. and Justin L. and saw many Norfolk birders here! It had only been seen on the roofs of the buildings in the car park and people had been searching around the site beyond here and in the village to relocate it.
Many decided to stay put, probably those who had already seen it and some banking on it returning to the same spot. Others decided to search and so did I. I don't know where I ended up, but I walked a long way through streets, scanning all the buildings, checking gardens, but nothing. There were several continental Blackbirds feeding on someone's apples, also Song Thrushes, Robins and Hedge Sparrows. Lee Evans had turned up a while ago and he was walking ahead of me with two other birders. Then I bumped into Sue B. and John G. and with a few others, we saw a Black Redstart (no photos though). Lee had disappeared from view at this point.
News came up that the Blue Rock Thrush had been seen trying to land on the church in Winterton! I followed Google maps on my phone to walk there, as decided it would be far quicker than returning all the way to my car and indeed it was! On reaching the church, lots of birders looking but no bird. Lee said he had seen it with someone else (can't remember his name) in a particular garden along Back Lane and then the Blue Rock Thrush flew off, was hassled by a Kestrel and then flew towards and seemed to try and land on the top of the church and was not relocated again. I returned to look near this garden as did others. Birders dispersed after a while and people did their own searches trying to find the BRT. I ended up on a very pretty little footpath adjacent to some horse meadows – I recalled being there before to look at some Ring Ouzels, many years ago – didn't find any today, but good numbers of Blackbirds, Redwings, Song Thrushes and two Common Buzzards perched on fence posts.
This was the first view I had of the Blue Rock Thrush, it then turned (see first picture at top of post) dropped down and flew off!
It was raining again now and I was feeling frustrated and a bit fed-up, as others were who had not seen it yet. I decided to check the garden again along Back Lane and then meandered along the streets to head back to my car at Hermanus and also in hope that the BRT may have returned there, where lots saw it this morning. As I was walking along, another birder was not far behind me, when suddenly his phone rang...... the BRT was someone near the church again! He ran, I ran, although I gave up running before he did, obviously fitter than me – I was impressed, he sprinted like a teenager up the road (update: Barry W.)! You can guess where the Blue Rock Thrush was.... yards from the garden I had checked only 10 minutes ago!!! There it was perched on the apex of a roof – PHEW! I and a few others were VERY lucky indeed! Poor views in rubbish light at the end of the day, as you will see from my pictures, but at least I saw it! It wasn't there long though! I was quite surprised by the huge range this bird had covered today, no wonder it was difficult to pin down. Huge thanks to Annie Baker, who had refound the Blue Rock Thrush here at just after 5pm – you made my day, thank you and of course to the finder Sean Offord – thank you for putting the news out. Hopefully the Hermanus made some pennies – £10 to park was worth it. The petrol cost me far more!
Then news came up that it had been seen opposite the pub, which wasn't too far away, so some of us headed that way, but didn't see it. This was only a stone's throw from Hermanus, so maybe it was returning there to roost?! Who knows, will it be here tomorrow?! Or will it be a one day bird?!
There have been 9 previous records in the UK, the last one being on Orkney in 2019, Isles of Scilly before that in 2019, Beachy Head, Sussex in 2017 etc. This first for Norfolk would have made many birders very happy today, what a bird! There must be loads of other migrants still undiscovered in the county, fingers crossed for tomorrow!
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Hi Penny. That was me that run off with you behind me . So glad we both got it. I’m certainly no teenager at 56.5 yrs old but can still sprint when I need to. Great to meet you and so many other Norfolk birders of old I rarely see these days . All the best
ReplyDeleteBarry Wright
Lovely to meet you too! I never was any good at sprinting, even at school, but was good at cross country/long distance running. I only ran half the distance you did, good job I did as I only saw the BRT for about 30 seconds, my short run could have made all the difference!
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