Leaving the Shrike to its meal I retraced my steps until I found several people surrounding a group of trees by a pig field where they informed me that the Red Flanked Bluetail had recently been seen. The canopy of these trees was very dense and it was difficult to see much moving around up there made all the more confusing because the target bird was hanging around with a Robin and a Blue tit so when ever a bird was seen it was usually one of the latter two. After an hour or so without any success I decided that the best action would be for me to stand still and let everyone else run around and chase the bird and hope that it was driven in my direction. Eventually this tactic paid off and I caught a fleeting glimpse of the bird high in the trees allowing a picture to be taken to confirm identity.
The Red Flanked Bluetail is a very rare visitor to our shores as it breeds in the very north-east of Europe in dense woodland and is a notoriously shy bird so even when one does make it here it is not often noticed. Walking back to the power station happy to have seen this bird even if the photo was not the best I encountered both a Wheatear and a Black Redstart which are pictured below and saw a Peregrine Falcon hunting over the dome of Sizewell B. All in all a very successful day.
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