With news of a Siberian Thrush picked up injured (see a photo here), held hostage and then later released in a field somewhere in North Norfolk in the afternoon of the 4th, the only thing I could do was plan to go yesterday morning. This involved getting up at an ungodly hour to catch the first train home, and then calmly driving there. With no news forthcoming, I had the bright idea to spend a few hours knocking about in West Norfolk during the morning.
First port of call was the Saddlebow area, where there weren't any gulls (nor Killdeers for that matter!). I then went over to Blackborough End Tip. A few gulls to sift through here revealed a 1st-winter Yellow-legged Gull before the main flock decided to 'do one' and fly off. I spent a bit of time driving round the East Winch/Blackborough area looking for gulls in fields, but there weren't any - for some reason the tip wasn't working so presumably this accounts for such sparsity.
As I was driving back towards Kings Lynn, my twitching genes got the better of me and I decided to pay a visit to Dersingham Bog, which has been harbouring a few decent bits of late. It took a while to battle through the ever-present midweek brigade, but eventually I was able to scan the heath; typically the Great Grey Shrike was nowhere to be seen. Consolation was more than provided by the superb Rough-legged Buzzard which was showing over the marsh distantly from the cliff; a particularly pale individual made it stand out quite considerably when next to the accompanying Common Buzzards and Marsh Harriers. Other than a few Siskins blogging about, there was not alot else to be seen, so I decided to head home and give the patch the once over.
In short, the patch was a wholly disappointing affair with little more on offer than a Green Sandpiper, 3 Little Egrets and a Redshank. There was evidence of some sort of Golden Plover movement with 10 high NE along the River Welland and 7 NW over the Deeping bypass.
Today (6th), a lunchtime drive around the patch revealed a Green Sandpiper, 2 Little Egrets, c.10 Siskins and 3 Buzzards. Bring on Ireland.
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