Three Bird Roasting

After the excitement of Thursdays Blakeney point dash to see the Paddyfield Warbler I wasn't overly worried about the Whimbrel or Yellowlegs on the south coast... but when news of a Black-eared Wheatear came onto the pager I felt I couldn't resist the temptation.

Here is Thursdays Paddyfield Warbler Twitch with only a handful of birders.

And here is a less than great quality video of the very elusive bird.




So back to yesterday, Leaving at about 1pm we had just enough time to visit all three sites and the possibility of having a three lifer day.

We done the Whimbrel first arriving at 5pm (ish) but upon arrival the bird had been flushed by a Spitfire and hadn't been seen we waited as long as we could before having to leave at 6.20pm allowing us time to see the other birds.

So Hudsonian Whimbrel - DIPPED

Next stop Greater Yellowlegs upon arrival a man in the car says it was there 30 mins ago great we thought we march off but once getting to the site no sign of the bird. We waited as long as possible allowing us time to get the last bird but failed to see the Greater Yellowlegs.

So Greater Yellowlegs - DIPPED

With the day going smashingly well we headed for the Wheatear, the news from the man in the car park was "its quite mobile, haven't seen it for about and hour" great!

We head of along the track but as we go positive news filters through and upon arrival there it was. To be fair this is the bird that got be here in the first place (mainly as I feel there is more chance of the other two turning up in Norfolk as some point, although you know that now I have said that a Black-eared Wheatear will be on Blakeney point later this week)

We watched the bird until it got dark and it covered a huge area during the hour or so we were there.

So a good end to a challenging day, you don't win them all that why birding is so special.

But on the plus side it was nice to leave all the dank and dismal weather behind and enjoy the sunshine.