A FEMALE DESERT WHEATEAR AT GUN HILL, Burnham Overy Dunes in Norfolk was very obliging in the late afternoon sunshine, before the sun dipped into a layer of mist before sunset. It was feeding very actively on flies attracted to the hideous ramshackle boat/hut by the sueda there and several hours went by before it chose a different and more photogenic perch when the temperature fell and the flies ran out. I feel sure that the nearby Isabelline Wheatear along the north shore would have also been quite obliging but birders were giving it a much wider berth in view of its extreme rarity in Norfolk. This was my eleventh Desert Wheatear in the UK plus hundreds in the Middle East but I never tire of them. A Northern Wheatear was along the tide wrack closer to Burnham Overy making it a three wheatear day on 25 October.

DESERT WHEATEAR AT BURNHAM OVERY