Red-flanked Bluetail, Oct 8th, Sea Palling. T. E. Allwood

 

After lengthy periods of very low activity, Oct 8th, a change in wind direction to south-easterly, promised an improvement in conditions for birding. The dawn came and went without a great deal of activity - given the time of year - as a walk down the coast with Rufus only returned a few Redpolls, Brambling and Siskin overhead and a few thrushes in the bushes. I returned home for coffee and a late breakfast as it was starting to get pretty warm, and decided to give it a few hours and try again.

 

By lunchtime a few reports were coming in of a bit of passage starting with thrushes in the west of the county and a couple of Yellow-broweds further north. I went back out on the bike and it was immediately apparent that birds were arriving. Not in huge numbers as in the past, but compared to autumn so far, it was at least a bit of excitement. Goldcrest were calling and flitting around here and there, Blackbirds had clearly arrived and a few Song Thrushes and a Redwing confirmed that things were definitely moving. I enjoyed a couple of hours wandering the coast picking up bits and pieces before heading slowly in the direction of home...

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As I headed through the scrub inland of the dunes, a Short-eared Owl barrelled over the dune tops and low over my head before circling a few times giving gorgeous views just above the dunes and then moved off south. I pressed on and turned a corner into a spot I've long fancied for a great bird – an area of largely closed canopy trees with a complex understory, fallen tree trunks and tangled patches of vegetation. As I approached a bird flicked over the near vegetation. 'That might be something', I said to myself. It had the character of a chatty / flycatcher type bird but the best of was hoping for was perhaps and RB Fly, but you never know...

 

At around 17:45, I rounded the corner and saw a bird on the narrow footpath ahead, under a large fallen trunk. I raised my bins expecting to see a Robin when it turned slightly. It showed some orangey tone on the flank. 'Lol, looks like a bluetail', I thought, half in jest, half serious. No, can't be. The tail didn't look brown either. The light was low but there was enough to see that there was something going on... then it flicked off out of sight. The next minute was a bit of a mindfuck. Was that a bluetail? Sure looked like it. Was it really orange though, or was it a young robin showing a tiny bit of 'orange' in a three-quarter rear view? I was now properly confused. I waited a short while but nothing happened, until suddenly the bird dropped back onto the track with a butterfly in its bill. It immediately hopped on the spot to face me, revealing a whitish throat patch. I checked the tail and it was definitely a delicate shade of blue. The orange was a proper lovely light orange wash and not a shade of Robin 'red'.

 

It was indeed a Red-flanked Bluetail! For birders of my generation, the bluetail at Winspit was a huge event. An incredible day out as a young birder – picked up by the old hands Simon Sulley, Alan Eardley and Louis etc, I was still drunk from an epic night in the pub spent planning the trip, and jumped in the back, half-clothed and with a duvet to try and sleep under. I was soon laughing at Simon telling us how Alan had woken his mum up at about three in the morning as she went to see what the noise in the kitchen was and found him chasing a pickled onion around the floor with a fork in the pitch black. She duly made him get back in bed. I don't know if he took the onion with him.

 

Fast forward 30 years, and there I was watching my own bluetail only a few hundred yards from my house. Living the dream. I was able to watch the bird for several minutes as it despatched the butterfly while it stood on full view in the middle of the path. It then spent several minutes in the nearby trees, often at 20ft or more, affording views in good light where the tail shone a gorgeous mid-blue and the orange flanks were reminiscent of the tones of some of the best Sea Palling sunsets while the whitish throat patch set it all off a treat. Having let a few locals know of the bird, I left for home, still reeling from one of those heart-stopping chance encounters that keep us local patchers searching day after day, even when the chances of success seem very low. The bird was looked for early next morning by Phil and I, but it was apparent that pretty much everthing had moved on.

 

Red-flanked Bluetails have become more frequent visitors to our shores in recent years but they are still one of THE birds that every birdfinder wants to get. After an individual Ryan and I had in Hemsby in 2015, this was one all to myself and as such was supremely pleasing. I never thought – even in my wildest dreams – that I would end up finding iconic, sought-after birds like this bluetail almost within sight of my home.

 

With all the chaos going on in the world at present and the crazy situation with the weather (it was 25 degs today), this bird provided a much-needed distraction and a welcome dose of happiness, joy and fulfilment. It was also a much more sedate affair than that crazy weekend in 1993!

 

It is the fourth bluetail for the TG42 square, following birds at Waxham (Oct 2010), Horsey (2013) and Waxham again (2020). Two others have occurred nearby (The Hemsby bird detailed above, and a bird at Happisburgh in 2013).