Starting off with a Slender-Billed Gull at Titchwell at the end of May the coast then turned up 2 Black-Headed Buntings, at West Runton and Cromer. However the start of June threw up a bird which has only occurred in Norfolk once before, and only only 7 times previously across the whole of the British isles.
That bird is a Spectacled Warbler, a member of the Sylvia group of warblers. Just 13cm in length this tiny bird usually spends its summer in southern Iberia, southern France, Italy and across into Cyprus and Israel. However on this occasion this adult male Spectacled Warbler over shot its usual breeding grounds and ended up on the Norfolk coast at Burnham Overy dunes, near Gun Hill.
The British isles do have members of the Sylvia family which may be more familiar. Blackcap, Whitethroat, Garden Warbler and Dartford Warbler are all members of the same family as Spectacled Warbler and can be found in many places in the UK.
So disorientated is this bird that it spends most of its time building two nests and singing whenever it gets the chance, including display flights which are quite something to marvel at. A great number of people have had the pleasure of seeing this bird now and in general the bird has been respected and given room to carry out its natural behavior.
With no sign of the bird leaving it will no doubt be enjoyed by many more birders in the next few weeks, some travelling from a long distance outside of Norfolk to see it.
A couple of photos below of the bird and other wildlife of the area (Photo credits Richard Campey & Oliver Reville)
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