Citril Finch, Norfolk

The forecast for Sunday 10 May 2015 looked good for migrants on Portland, so I headed down there early. No big fall, but there were certainly birds about, so after better views than the day before of the Tawny Pipit in the Crown Estate Field opposite the Obs, I headed up into Top Fields. Reaching the ‘Oriole Bushes’, I found a very smart hepatic morph female Cuckoo – a rare beast in itself, and showing well. I phoned it in to the Obs, and a few other birders came up to see it. Keeping an eye on it, I neglected to check my pager. Then another Portland regular asked me ‘So, are you off to Norfolk then?’ ‘Why, what’s there?’ ‘Citril Finch, just broken.’ Oh sh*t! For one reason and another I hadn’t been able to make it to the Fair Isle bird in 2008 – now I had a very unexpected chance to retrieve!

I legged it back down to the Obs and quickly prepared to leave, being waved off around 10 am by a small band of amused Obs regulars, one comment of ‘You’ll never make it’ ringing in my ears. Plenty of daylight left, just watch me try!

There’s little to tell about most of the drive up to Norfolk, apart from the usual stressed-out twitcher stuff – checking for updates, swearing at other drivers safe in the knowledge they couldn’t hear me, that kind of thing. Heading towards the coast from Fakenham I got passed by a red Skoda going like a bat out of hell – ‘birder’, I thought. Turns out it was LGRE – fair enough, he will know Norfolk roads better than I do – but I still arrived at Lady Ann’s Drive at Holkham only a minute or two behind him. The Citril Finch was showing at the west end of Holkham Pines as I arrived, but it was still a long enough walk to get out there – about 1½ miles (so too far to run, certainly for me). The positive updates from birders heading back helped, but still … like most birders I know, I have missed birds before by mere seconds.

About 40 minutes after leaving the car park, I arrived at the dell at the west end of the pines and, glory be, the Citril Finch was still present. Not on view immediately, but after only a couple of minutes or so, the stress of the drive and the walk turned to relief and then joy. I really, really, really didn’t expect to get that one back so quickly, if at all. And it was a smart little bird. It was also being obliging, showing well most of the time, and the views I had of this one were better than my only previous Citril Finches in the Pyrenees some 12 years before.

After about an hour or so of good views and chatting with various birders I knew there, and with afternoon turning to evening, I started the long slog back. Another bonus was great views of a trip of 20 Dotterels at Choseley Drying Barns, including some very smart females. Then it was the long drive home, arriving just before midnight.

My relaxation was short-lived. The Citril Finch only showed briefly very early next morning before disappearing for good, but then that afternoon a Moltoni’s Warbler was found on Blakeney Point, too late for me to drive back to Norfolk and get it. Paul and I dipped horribly the day after – the walk out and back nearly wiped us out. Still, I got Moltoni’s back, also on Blakeney Point, only three years later. It might be a much longer wait for another Citril Finch!