Issy it or isn't it?

I've not been getting out much over the last couple of weeks so the chance of a day trip wasn't to be spurned. The main target for the day was not a lifer but a very rare bird which had dropped onto the north Norfolk coast. At least, it is rare bird in terms of the number of records but may well be commoner than that. It is Isabelline wheatear, closely related to our Northern wheatear but normally residing in eastern Europe around southern Russia, Iran, Iraq and the like. In the Winter it migrates to India and Africa but a very few get lost and end up here. The problem is that it is, or at least has been, very hard to separate in the field from our wheatear so many may go unnoticed. With the rise of the internet and photo sharing the key features have become better discussed and more are now being spotted. I have seen one before so they would be a good bird by any definition.
By 7.45 we were in the east bank car park at Cley having a coffee and scone. The phone soon pinged that the bird was still showing by the beach so we set out on the short walk towards a group of 5 or 6 birders intently studying patch of grass.

 Initially it was out of sight but after a couple of minutes it popped out onto the cut bit and started feeding about 20 yards away.

As I said the differences can be quite subtle. It is generally quite pale in plumage compared to the warmer toned northern wheatear. It is longer-legged and a bit more barrel shaped, has a thicker bill and a flatter crown. All of these can be seen above but without direct comparison it may not mean a lot. The whole jizz of the bird was different and it also helped that it was the only bird there!
With a fresh wind blowing and rain due any minute we left it to the admiring crowds, swelling by the minute, and headed off to see what else was around.
The answer was not a lot as rain did set in. We had lunch at Thornham where the over-wintering flock of twite had been joined by a lone snow bunting!

In Blakeney harbour a lone curlew showed well in the creek. In fact we saw quite a few which are nice to see now with their numbers down dramatically.

Having failed to find the little bittern at Titchwell and the rough-legged buzzard at Holkham we settled for buying lots of apples and apple juice and a couple of pheasants for tea this week. Good to find the wheatear and hopefully not the last good bird for this year!!