Set out for one lifer ended up with two in Norfolk.

Jimmy & I set off just after 5 am & head  up to Burnham Overy in the hope of getting a lifer in the Isabelline Wheatear that Brian got yesterday & had been around for a couple of days.
We hope the bird has hung around for another day, when we arrive we just about get the car parked off the road & as we start the long walk the pager tells us that the bird had been seen,so only 20 minutes away from another lifer.
We join a small group & they had seen the bird but it had just flown over the back & out of sight, so it's a case of just waiting & after 20 minutes the Isabelline Wheatear returns & we get some great views of this little beauty.It walks about feeding & it doesn't seem to bothered with the group watching it.
 So a lifer for both of us & as we scan the bushes I get a real bonus when a Radde's Warbler shows well sitting out on the side of the bush, Jimmy had already got one this year on a trip that I never went on so another lifer for me. Now we walk to the Western end of gun hill to look for the Desert Wheatear that had also been here for a few days. When we arrive a large group  already had the Desert Wheatear in they scopes, it was over the other side of the water running about on the sand along with the Isabelline  that had flown down  from where we had first seen it.
They are a long way over but we get great scope views as they run up & down the sand & some times the Desert Wheatear sits up on a log but to far away for my camera to capture any thing.
We hear that a couple of Waxwings had been seen at Burnham Norton, so we head off & find the place & meet the fellow that put it out & he tells us where to head to see them.
We walk a short way to the sluice gate & scan all the bushes but after an hour we give up & leave without any sign of them. Also seen 2 White fronted geese amongst a large flock of Brent, several Egyptian geese also seen walking about with them, a large flock of Pink foot are over the back of the same field. Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, loads of Oyster catcher along with loads of waders while watching the Wheatears.
So off home with 3 ticks 2 of them lifers so a good trip.

Isabelline Wheatear

Jimmy in the line watching the Desert Wheatear

Ring-necked Duck Wilstone Reservoir

Jimmy & I decide to head to Tring to look for a reported Ring-necked Duck seen late last night, so we set off around 6 am & arrive just before 7 am, we had to wait for the light to come up so sat in the car for 20 minutes or so & then walked up the steps & headed round to cemetery corner scanning the water as we go.
Loads & loads of stuff on the reservoir we see a few Grey Wagtails on the edge also 1 Rock Pipit, a couple of Water Rail are seen over the back in the reeds, a Jack Snipe was also seen by a fellow that had joined us but we never saw it.
After 2 hours of scanning we are about to give up & look round the other side, I give one last look in the corner & bingo I pick the Duck out & get Jimmy to get the scope on it to confirm it & yes we have another year tick. So a nice little trip not to windy & near to home.
                                                                 

Ring-necked Duck

Long way but what a beauty in Yorkshire S Accentor

Met up with Brian at 4am for the long drive to East Yorkshire, on the way we encounter some fog patches but we make good progress & after 3, 1/2 hours we are only 8 miles away from Easinton when the pager comes into life & the first bird to show is our target bird.
Feeling that we are only about 10 minutes away from another lifer we arrive in Easinton to be met by some local volunteers who point us in the right direction, round the corner & down the road to be meet by more volunteers who see us into the car park, it's just a short walk back up the road to Vicars Lane that has been shut off to traffic by the police, at the top of the road more volunteers who I must say all did a fantastic job a very big thank you to them all.
We do not have to wait in line & head to the fence where we see the Siberian Accentor feeding on insects & walking about showing very well down by the yellow skip.So a long way but what a lifer to get.We have our feel of the bird before it flies off over the road & is a lot harder to see now so it's time to head off.
We head up to the car park at Kilnsea & just a few yards onto the beach we get good views of a Shore lark, not needed for a tick but always nice to see one.
 The weather is not looking good & rain is on the way, the pager tells us a Pallas's Warbler is up the road in the pub car park, so off we head & find loads off birders gathered looking for it.
The rain is getting a bit heavy now & it's not looking good for us to find the bird, but find it we did & I tick another year tick.

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Off home now as the weather is now rotten but on the way we find a flock of Tundra Bean Geese I am the only one needing these for a year tick so pleased about that as I am well down on numbers this year.

Kilnsea Shore lark

The Siberian Accentor

Again Accentor

Hard to take

I had been down with a nasty bit of flu this week, I phone Brian to let him know I am still not fit enough to go out on Sunday & he tells me he will be going up the east coast as this is the day to be in that area & sure to get some more year ticks.
I sit about in doors watching all the birds coming on bird guides feeling sorry for myself & cursing my luck.
When Jimmy gets home he has picked up 3 year ticks one being a lifer, it's the same for Brian so well pleased for them. They find a lifer at Holkham in a Radde's Warbler & a couple of year ticks with a few Yellow-browed Warbler's & then they round it off with a Dusky Warbler at Cromer plus a few others that they didn't need for a tick.
He then tells me that they had to walk some long paths for a couple of miles some of them in the wrong direction & also they got an absolute soaking for their troubles, so it would have been a really bad decision if I had been silly & gone with them.
The year started so well with loads of ticks & some lifers & then it is put on hold for weeks when I have my  knee replacement, I just get back into the swing of things & hope to put a few more ticks on the list when Mr flu bug pays a visit. I must of been in my twenties the last time I had real flu so I really should count my blessings but we never look at life like that & I hate the fact that I have just missed another lifer, Well roll on next week & hope that the last legs of this flu bug goes away & I can get out & do some ticking again.