Autumn highlights from East Anglia - Part 3

 A final selection of photos from the autumn with these being from mid-October until I returned home in mid-December...

Incredible numbers of Red-flanked Bluetails turned up along the Norfolk coast with up to at one site alone. This one lurked in the undergrowth in Holkham Pines. 

Pallas's Warblers are always great to see. This individual was in Holkham Pines, while other late autumn highlights there included a putative Stejneger's Stonechat, Barred Warbler, Hawfinches, Yellow-browed Warblers and up to 17 Cattle Egrets. 

The rarest bird of the autumn and biggest surprise was the eastern-race Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin at Stiffkey. 

Another, more showy Pallas's Warbler was also at Stiffkey the same day as the Scrub Robin.

This Red-flanked Bluetail showed superbly at Holme Dunes. 

Two of the Hawfinches at Holkham.

A Lesser Yellowlegs showed down to a few metres at Cley late in October.

An influx of Caspian Gulls to Cley the same day as the Yellowlegs included this smart Dutch-ringed first-winter (phonescoped). 

During the lockdown these Glossy Ibis turned up at Horsham St Faith - within cycling distance of my Norwich house. 

I managed one post-lockdown trip to the coast before returning to Northumberland, with a juvenile Iceland Gull at Weybourne being the highlight and a Black Brant at Cley. 

Showy Barred Warbler!

Today we were up on Holy Island, and on the whole it was a bit quiet, but an incredibly showy Barred Warbler at Chare Ends made our effort worth it.

Other birds included a Waxwing, Short-eared Owl and a couple of Yellowhammers.

Barred Warbler

Short-eared Owl

Unusual Redwing

Barred Warblers...

Yesterday afternoon I had the opportunity to call into St. Mary's Island for a look at the two Barred Warblers which had been found there. They showed well, regularly perching in the open on the wetland's brambles and providing me with great scope views. Much better than the video below suggests...

Barred Warbler - view in HD at 1080p

Barred....

This Barred Warbler was one of three sylvia warblers in an elder at the entrance to Druridge Pools this morning...

As well as this Garden Warbler and a female Blackcap.

What a day!!

An arrival of migrants on Sunday afternoon meant we were keen to get back up to Holy Island on Monday. Thankfully it did not disappoint!

After an early start, we arrived on the island at half seven. The sun was out and without any wind it was feeling pretty warm already. We started at Chare Ends and our very first bird of the day was a brilliant Wood Warbler in the sycamores, the first time I'd seen one on passage. We had a good feeling about the day at that point!

The rest of the bushes there held good numbers of common migrants. When we reached the willow in between Chare Ends and The Excavations my dad whistled me around to his side of the tree. He'd found an Icterine Warbler! The bird showed well as it made the most of the morning heat. It also shared the willow with 2 Spotted Flycatchers, a Pied Flycatcher, a Garden Warbler and some Willow Warblers.

In a willow near the Excavations I managed my third self-found Wryneck in five days. It was interesting to see it being mobbed by a Willow Warbler. Shortly after my dad found a different Wryneck at Chare Ends. Both birds were quite flighty and failed to provide a good photo opportunity. There was no scarcities at the Straight Lonnen or in the village, but more common migrants kept our spirits up.

By now the number of tourists had built, so we decided to head down to the Snook. At the plantation I got a very brief view of a bird that I was sure was a Barred Warbler. After another hour it didn't show again, but was confirmed later by other observers. There was also 3 Pied Flycatchers, 2 Spotted Flycatchers and 4 Garden Warblers in here.

In the Snook House garden I spotted another Icterine Warbler in the sycamores. A few brief views only of this bird. Just to the west the juvenile Red-backed Shrike was showing. After some fieldcraft and a coating of Pirri-Pirri Birs I got a photo of the Shrike which I'm quite pleased with.

Also on the Snook we missed yet another Icterine Warbler and Wryneck which had been seen by others. 5 Whinchats were perched on a dune slack here. When we came back to the plantation to try and get another view of the Barred Warbler, three birders told us about a Greenish Warbler that they'd found at the Excavations, and showed us a good photo of it. Having only seen about a second of a Greenish Warbler before I successfully persuaded my dad to drive us back into the village.

Once we had legged it through the dunes and reached the Excavations we started searching. Forty minutes later we could only find a single Reed and Willow Warbler, so started to head back to the car. On the way back we noticed a movement in the last willow in the Excavations. Then out popped the Greenish Warbler! This brilliant little bird gave us some great views as it actively moved about in the bushes, and I enjoyed hearing it call once. It took a while to get a photo of it in the open as it never stayed still for very long. By the time I managed the light was starting to fade.

After 11 hours we were completely exhausted but very happy with our day on Holy Island. Here's the full migrant counts...

1 Greenish Warbler
2 Icterine Warbler
1 Barred Warbler
2 Wryneck
1 Red-backed Shrike
1 Wood Warbler
20 Garden Warbler
20 Pied Flycatcher
8 Spotted Flycatcher
4 Redstart
10 Whinchat
39 Willow Warbler
12 Chiffchaff
1 Whitethroat
1 Blackcap
2 Reed Warbler

Greenish Warbler

Red-backed Shrike

Icterine Warbler and Willow Warbler in the willow between Chare Ends and the Excavations.
 

 Icterine Warbler in the garden at Snook House.

Wood Warbler

Spot the Wryneck!

Pied Flycatchers

Redstart

Garden Warbler

Whinchats

Willow Warbler

Not a bad day...

After all the easterlies last week, I have been hoping to have a trip up to Holy Island, and when Saturday came round I was hoping some of the birds seen on Friday might still be there.

We started on the Snook and eventually we found a Yellow-browed Warbler and 2 Redstarts at the Half Moon Slack. At the Snook House a Barred Warbler showed briefly.

As pulled up in the main car park, we got news that the Siberian Stonechat was still at The Lough, so we made our way there via the Crooked Lonnen, where a juvenile Hen Harrier did a nice flyby. On reaching The Lough we found the great first-winter male Siberian Stonechat on view, and before long it was joined by the Red-backed Shrike, which at times sat right alongside the Stonechat. From the hide a stunning Firecrest was showing just outside the hide windows. 2 Whinchats were also on the same fence as the Siberian Stonechat.

We continued round to the Straight Lonnen, where two more Redstarts were in the willows at the north end, with another at Chare Ends.

The Vicar's Garden was a hive of activity with at least 3 Spotted Flycatchers, a Pied Flycatcher and plenty of phylloscs in it.

On the way back to the car another two Pied Flycatchers were in the village along with a calling Yellow-browed Warbler and a Brambling.

Here's the full counts from Holy Island...

1 Siberian Stonechat

1 Red-backed Shrike

1 Firecrest

1 Barred Warbler

2 Yellow-browed Warbler

1 Hen Harrier

2 Whinchats

5 Redstart

3 Pied Flycatcher

3+ Spotted Flycatcher

1 Brambling

1 Lesser Whitethroat

1 Whitethroat

3 Song Thrush

2 Blackcap

1 Reed Warbler

4 Willow Warbler

2 Siskin

5 Wheatear

7 Goldcrest

8 Robin

10 Chiffchaff

On the way home we stopped at Low Newton where a very active and vocal un-ringed Red-breasted Flycatcher was behind the Tin Church. Unfortunately I managed to mess up what could have been a decent photo of this bird.

Siberian Stonechat (with Red-backed Shrike and Reed Bunting!)

Firecrest

Red-backed Shrike

Yellow-browed Warbler

Spotted Flycatcher

Hen Harrier

Red-breasted Flycatcher