duller day... if possible

24 January 2013
Midday on the coast and with every mile from Shouldham the light seemed to get worse and worse, until on arrival it was very very dull, even with a few flecks of snow. The quarry was Waxwing, I felt a pic of the berry being tossed in the air, mouth open and beautifully lit by a low cast sun, preferably with a Windmill in the background. I woke up ! and then tried to find the Waxwings with no success. Fieldfares were temptingly close, mostly flying off, but the light was awful.

 I was handholding a relatively large telephoto and on reflection 1 60th of a second shutter speed just wasn't doing it, especially combined with 1250 iso. Still I knew I had a chance with the next subject - The Windmill at Overy Statihe, it wasn't moving but the light still denied me.

 So off to Titchwell, surely something was moving there. I was greeted by ever decreasing levels of light and a frozen lake ! Most of the waders and ducks were miles away, but this Spotted Redshank did stray into snapping distance and provided the only highlight of the walk to the sea.

I had heard that a Lapland Bunting was down by the Boardwalk so I stopped by a group of some twenty other spotters and lifted my bins. Perishingly cold and no gloves meant I had lowered my bins after a few minutes of not seeing the bird and had them thrust quickly back into my jacket. People were mumbling about having watched for 30 minutes to no avail and were slowly drifting off. I turned my frozen focussing hands to behind me where I saw ...... very little. Now just two people remained, my hands were warm enough for another outing so it was a scan of the Skylarks and Meadow Pipits, and then there it was a Lapland Bunting. Luckily the remaining two people next to me hadn't seen it so I very generously offered to put their scope onto it, and got a decent view. They, and I, was/were delighted.

It's in the centre of the pic above with a Skylark !

 and here it is massively blown up, still with a Skylark , nice enough and Lapland Bunting on the afternoon list. However I must say it was a rubbish view and I was reminded then of some of the lovely views of Laplands that I had  seen on Lundy.

So back to look for the elusive Waxwings with little light left now. At the feeders there were half a dozen Bramblings 

but undoubtably, bird of the day for me was Robin. They were fantastically close, so I close I was taking pictures of them with my iPhone. If I knew how to download the video I would, but I don't, suffice to say it looked nice. I think they would hand feed they were so tame, and at one time there were five around my feet, sub singing, contact calling and having the odd scrap. I will take mealworms next time, not to make them come close, but just to feed them. It was a fantastic moment to have these great little birds performing right at my feet. I have to say it was a birding moment.

I did find the Waxwings after a trek along a field edge, but they were high up and it was nearly dark.

The day however was won by Mr Redbreast