Slim(ish) pickings!

This week has mostly been about large Shearwaters off Ireland's west coast and decent numbers of Pectoral and Buff-breasted Sandpipers on the Scillies and Western Isles. If I was still in Cork I'd be in heaven but here in Norfolk its slim pickings. I'll admit to being under-whelmed by wader watching at places like Cley, Titchwell and Hickling. Some smart birds but way too distant. How I now appreciate being able to crawl on my belly on the Ballycotton mud to snap a Semi-P Sandpiper or AGP from twenty feet!
Rain all day Saturday put paid to any birding. Clear skies Saturday night and a light southerly air flow didn't set my pulse racing either. But an early bank of fog gave rise to a little glimmer of hope as I drove to the east Norfolk coast early Sunday morning.
Two Chiffchaffs, a chacking Lesser Whitethroat and a juvenile Common Whitethroat at Happisburgh had me hoping but that was all I could I dig out there. I decided to walk the Nelson's Head track seeing what I could pick up en route and then finish with the 1st winter Red-backed Shrike at Winterton north dunes - assuming it had braved the rain and stayed put.
Nelson's Head track was actually quite good. At least there were birds. There and back I had three Wheatears, nine Whinchats, two Willow Warblers, a Blackcap and a probable Reed Warbler.

Wheatear, Nelson's Head track, Norfolk

Four of the nine Whinchats present along the track

Past the concrete blocks a small group of birders had gathered and the RB Shrike was still on show. A little too distant for photos and the sun was very strong by now. But still always a good bird to see. It had a series of look-out perches and was using them to good effect to pounce on unsuspecting beetles.

Red-backed Shrike, Winterton North Dunes, Norfolk

A Spotted Flycatcher, Redstart and several Hobbys were reportedly in the same area but I didn't see them. The fog was long gone and the day had really heated up. I watched the shrike for about half an hour before turning for home.
More hot weather this week and no sign of any east winds means we will have to do with the same meagre ration we have had so far. But as today showed, there is always something to see and maybe the east winds are waiting for my week off mid-October. Fingers crossed.