A Big Day in Lowestoft

The last few autumns especailly the September/ October months over the past few years have been very disappointing. Not so this one, after an excellent September, October is shaping up to be even better and at last with promising wether conditions the fall finally delivered. I was about to have my breakfast at 7.45am a tweet from Rob H that he had found a Rustic Bunting had me scrambling to get my gear and 10 minutes later I was drawing into Links Road car park. Paul & Jane F (do they have teleport, they always seem to get there before me & they live in Oulton Broad!), Andrew E & Rob H were there. We were looking in the Marram grass in the north- east corner of the car park, Andrew got onto the bird and they I did, it was feeding just in the Marram grass and obscured, I saw it, the magnificent Rustic Bunting, which looked like a first year male to me) a few times before a jogger flushed it and it flew to the Marram grass just north of Links road, a false alarm with a Goldcrest moving through the Marram grass & here it was seen from the edge of Links road, by now a sizable crowd had appeared, the Bunting was by a sandy path sloping upwards a couple of times before it disappeared and they I saw it come out right at the front. Steve J shouted "Honey Buzzard going south!" over the sea and sure enough at 9.39am a superb Honey Buzzard was seen flying relatively low over the sea flying south. The structure was spot on with pointy cuckoo like head slender wings and longish narrow tail. Great to see! A dog flushed the bird back to the vegetation running along the north border of Links road car park, it was seen in a bush half way down then feeding by the vegetation before feeding on the road often along the double yellow lines! It then flew up to the concrete block and then gave stunning views around the vegetation of the north east corner of the car park at one stage feeding barely ten feet from me! After this I left it to have an early lunch after missing breakfast. As I was preparing it, the "tsuiip" call of a Yellow- browed Warbler, was clearly heard and the Warbler seen briefly in the garden hedge before flying south, wow! After lunch, I walked around Corton, it was apparaent there were lots of Thrushes in the hedge just west of the sewage works, a Redwing perched and looked at me. Another Redwing heard, 17 Song Thrushes, 14 Blackbirds and a flighty Ring Ouzel (female or immature) seen briefly in flight with silvery wings and chacking call heard around 4X but it was very elusive. On the fields were around 50 Herring Gulls mostly adults, there were no other larid species present. Walking back past the sewage works, a pair of Siskin (male & female) were feeding on a weed and were very confiding and I dashed back and retrieved my camera and managed a few shots. Little along Corton ORT and James B had tweeted the Rustic was back, so thinking the light was better I dashed back, the Rustic had gone to ground but amazingly James B had found a Wryneck and walking halfway along the North Denes the super Wryneck sat in a Rowan bush for 20 miniures before hopping up and out of sight. Another tweet James B had found a Radde's Warbler (some people have all the luck) along the northern end of Gunton ORT. I had a narrow miss at the Gunton Links Road car park when OFB inexplicably started reversing quickly (after a queue had formed to exit the car park) I was able to reverse quickly myself (and safely) to avoid the collision, otherwise he would have definitely reversed/ crashed into me! At Gunton ORT walking around from the pitch and putt viewing from the Greenish copse no sign but I did hear a Yellow- browed warbler here later on. James W joined us and we saw a super Hobby flying low over the Gunton ORT flying south barely just above the tree line. In the Orchid meadow just west of Corton wood, I was amazed to see a Migrant Hawker flying around in the middle of the meadow in the rain. I went back to Gunton/ Links road in the fading light, I failed to see Nick B's confiding Brambling around the NE corner of Warren House wood, but the Rustic Bunting was stll showing very well down to 15 feet (the light had gone for any further photography) in the Marram grass just north of Links road, it then fed by the wall then by the side of the road before finally flying up to the vegetation in the north- east corner of the car park.