Red-flanked Bluetail: Great day in Norfolk with wall to wall blue skies and warm temperatures topped off with some great new company.
However with a change in the weather and winds, my major target bird the Isabelline Shrike had packed up and left the area!
Gutted!
Never the less the Wells Wood Bluetail put on an excellent show at the drinking pond, and the coffee shop sold me the most expensive but probably the best chocolate muffin I have had in my life!
There was a resident Robin who was making a pain of itself, periodically chasing the Bluetail away, usually just when it had settled on a nice branch in full view!
But with a bit of patience the bird continued reappear up until around 1 o'clock when it disappeared for the rest of the day!
Olive-backed Pipit: After filling my birding boots with some smashing views of the Bluetail I got a call from Jonny saying he and Danni just had the OBP so I headed straight over.
Here I bumped in to Ian Igglesden, top bloke from Liverpool.
Ian and I searched for the pipit for a little while in between some long spells of chin-wagging.
Ian and I saw Jonny dashing through the woods with intent and we thought he might have something, so we headed in that direction and started to search the area when Ian whistled me over and pointed in to the trees where the POB was sitting.
Not the views or pics I was hoping for but great to hear the bird call and see it adequately enough to tick it. Towards the end of the day Jon Doherty and I located a Pallas's foraging among the hundreds of Goldcrests along the path between Holkham Pines and Wells Wood although I only had the briefest of views, so I'm not going to tick it, I want to see a proper Pallas's with its crown and its pale yellow wing bars so I'm going to have to wait until I see my next one.