Flamborough - Rufous-tailed robin

It had been an agonising few days. The best part of a week spent in Flamborough yielded very little due to unfavourable weather systems that duly arrived on my return home. Subsequently, all hell broke loose along the east coast all the way up to Shetland with the precedented arrival of some classic Eastern migrants and a couple of gripping megas. An autumn that had been relatively quiet up until now suddenly sprang to life. I felt a little gloomy having missed out, compounded further by the gripping find of the Rufous-tailed robin at Flamborough on Tuesday.

The working week was agonising as the robin continued its stay. I was refusing to visit Flamborough again having already spent the previous week there. On Friday morning, the robin was still there. It wasn't until around 8.30am that I decided to go for it. After sorting out a few things, I was on my way.

I arrived in good time, had a quick chat with David Campbell (BirdWatch/Birdguides) and then took my position at around 1.30pm. Curiously, there was no one occupying the position along the fenceline at South Landing where the robin had been frequenting. The dense vegetation was thick covering the majority of the ephemeral stream within the recess of the woodland that had been created by recent rain . The wait was grueling - elusive doesn't come near it.

The clock ticked by, but my eyes were unflinchingly trained on a small area of open water. Then at 3.50pm, I picked up a little bit of movement, planted my bins to my eyes to connect with the joyeous sight of the robin, sitting very still on some dead leaves within a small hollow by the stream. The bird then moved affording some lovely views before flitting into vegetation to its left. And that was it for me, around 20 seconds of this mythical bird. The fifth for Britain, and the first properly twitchable bird that has made a lot of listers very happy indeed.

The storms were moving in, the thunder and lightning heralding the arrival of heavy rain. Time was therefore short. A quick stop at Bempton Cliffs yielded the Pallas's warbler and a yellow-browed warbler right next to the car park which was very fortuitous.

A proper Robin