The weather forecast was slightly more promising than usual, so I left home at 5.30 and an hour later was the first car in the East Bank car park at Cley. The walk to the sea produced just a few Blackwits and Redshanks, while the seawatch was even worse. I scanned the Serpentine (adding Grey Plover to the day list) but there was no obvious sign of yesterday's Phalarope, so I decided to move eastwards to Kelling.
As I walked down towards the Quags I rounded a bend to see a Flycatcher sp. on the edge of a Sycamore: as it flew off (never to reappear) I couldn't fail to notice a brilliant flash of white from its rear end: another one that got away.
I cautiously carried on to the pool (picking out half a dozen distant Little Gulls roosting in a ploughed field) Apart from a few large gulls and four Swans, there was no sign of any of yesterday's interesting birds, so I continued on to the beach: almost the first birds I saw were three Grey Phalaropes bobbing up and down near the pill-box. As I raised my camera, they flew off west. Back to the pool (adding Stonechat) Still nothing unusual: I was about to return to Cley when I noticed one, then two, then four juvenile Little Gulls swooping across the pool. After a thoroughly enjoyable half hour's solitary gull-watching, I decided on a last look at Cley. This time I parked at Walsey Hills and was soon watching a somewhat distant Grey Phalarope at the back of the Serpentine. On one occasion it flew a little closer until it was driven off by Dunlins. Other good birds included two Peregrines, two Little Stints and two Grey Plovers.
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