A decent month. Desert Wheatear at Wyke Regis on 24th was the top rarity, but it was an easy tick squeezed in at the end of a day. Increasingly I look for a mix of birding experiences; some rarity, some seasonal notables, and a period of looking for our own stuff and appreciating what's around.
The standout trip was Titchwell on 6th with Mike and Dave. It had everything. We arrived to hear of a few Firecrests in the wooded areas and went for them. We meet lots of people who'd just seen them, but of the birds themselves there was no sign. We connected with a Yellow-Browed Warbler, got a couple of Redpoll moving through briefly, and then headed for the lagoons and the sea.
The lagoons held an American Golden Plover with a large flock of European Goldies. We were soon put on it and admired its greyish Wood-Sandpiper-like take on being a GP. They all went up , and as the flock flew around I remembered some old piece of bird-lore that individuals of different species will often fly on the edge of the flock of the carrier species, so I scanned the fringes and sure enough a slightly smaller bird was hanging out at the back of the flock. I called it out partly in jest, just for the fun of it, and it peeled off and landed revealing it was the bird! A happy punt.
There were lots of waders including Curlew Sandpiper and several Ruff, then out on the beach we had a couple of Snow Bunting with more flying over. Pink-Footed Geese were flying over in number all day giving great autumn atmosphere.
We arrived back at the car our only disappointment being the Firecrests, when incredibly first one then a second Firecrest flew into bushes right by us! Close-up full views of Firecrest are always a stand-out birding experience, and we had a fantastic fifteen minutes close up with these awesome sprites. Just a terrific day that had it all.
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