Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin: Stiffkey, Norfolk, October 2020
Richard Taylor says: “I think writing this may, at last, give me the absolution I need to let the Stiffkey, Norfolk, Rufoustailed Scrub Robin go!
“I only have a short dipped list which includes several birds I missed because I left it 24 hours too late to make the trip: Royal Tern on Anglesey and Blyth’s Pipit in Somerset are two of the most notable. However, the Stiffkey robin of 2020 will be difficult to better (if that’s the right term!)
“As it was October, I was in twitching mode, and having just seen the Taiga Flycatcher in South Shields, Co Durham, I decided to head south to see what I could find in north Norfolk. I arrived on 15 October and checked into a hotel in King’s Lynn. The next morning my wife and I were up bright and early to check the hot-spots along the coast.
The first stop was Holme to check out the Red-flanked Bluetails. We ended the day in Stiffkey for the Pallas’s Warblers. Stiffkey is one of our favourite haunts, mainly as it is so quiet compared to
Cley or Titchwell.
Anyway, come 5 pm, my wife suggested we stop another night as she was quite tired of all the driving. I, on the other hand, thinking of a possible trip to Cornwall a few days later, wanted to go home, especially as it seemed quiet and no new arrivals. Suffice to say, on the morning of 17th, we headed back to Shropshire.
“It should have ended there, but I couldn’t let it go. I headed back down to Norfolk on 20th, but failed to see the robin in poor weather. I went back the next morning for a four-hour shift to no avail. I then took a break to catch up with a Dusky Warbler at Weybourne, before heading back to Stiffkey for my third session, only to hear it had apparently shown again, briefly, in my absence. It was not seen again, and my wife managed to drag me away.
“I have returned to Stiffkey since, but it still brings back dark thoughts! Not only as I managed to dip a bird I should have seen, but also as a reminder of an obsession that can over take rational thought!”