I female Black-headed Bunting
had been reported at West Runton yesterday evening and was on Bird Guides quite
early this morning and after phone calls to David, Roger and Ken we decided to
go over as it was new bird for David, Roger and myself. Dave drove and we were to pick Ken up at
Uppingham before continuing to West Runton.
As we approached the bottom of Wardley Hill a Hobby flew over the road
and then alongside the car briefly and after picking up Ken we continued to
West Runton without seeing anything else of note. We arrived at about 12:20 and after getting
some gear on as it was quite cool we walked to where others were watching. Steve Beale was just leaving but he hadn’t
seen it and looking across the field to the bushes and feeling the fresh and
cool easterly wind I thought we might be in for a long wait. No more than two minutes after Steve had left
both Dave and I picked up a bird that had flown out of the field and landed in
the closest hedgerow. It sat facing us
and initially it appeared quite yellow and was slightly obscured but we were
soon certain that it was the bunting. We
watched it for almost thirty minutes in which time it barely moved, giving us
reasonable views of the underparts and head.
We finally decided to have some lunch and it disappeared just after we
had walked away. After a bite Ken went
back for another look as it was obviously back and he called us over as it was
now back on and we were able to see the upperparts for the first time. It was perhaps a little brighter than I had
expected, particularly the underparts with the upper breast and throat
appearing quite yellow. The head was
brownish–olive being of similar shape to a male’s. The back and rump were similar with some
faint streaking, which was not always obvious and the tail was blackish with no
white in the outer feathers. The coverts
and flight feathers were blackish-brown and obviously edged yellowish-brown,
giving a scruffy appearance. There was
the suggestion of a wing-bar across the lesser covers but this was not always
obvious. Whilst we were watching it two parties
of Gannets moved east along the coast and a Whitethroat was also observed.
The bunting then disappeared
again and we decided to go to Kelling Heath in the hope of seeing a Dartford
Warbler but had no joy, although we did see a Hobby, a Green Woodpecker and a
Woodlark.
News of a Spoonbill between
Cley and Salthouse sent us in that direction and we found the bird from the
iron road but it was on a distant pool quite close to the shingle bank. A quick visit to Cley produced a Marsh
Harrier and fifty-nine Black-tailed Godwits.
On the way home we were held
up around Peterborough in a traffic jam but we did have three Red Kites, two
Buzzards and several Kestrels between Kings Lynn and Uppingham.
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