Whilst having a look to see if yesterdays Black Redstart was still about, I noticed a raptor circling round over the village, and as soon as I had it in my bins I realised it was a Peregrine. It continued circling round overhead for a couple of minutes or so, so I took the opportunity to grab a few record shots, before it purposely headed off inland at some speed.
I then had a brief walk along the clifftops towards the golf course and whilst glancing out to sea my attention was drawn to a medium sized grey bird with a dark head and white wing flashes coming along the tideline below me, and again upon getting it in my bins I was delighted to see that it was a female Goosander, the second excellent patch year tick of the day, with both birds being very scarce and far from guaranteed to be seen on the patch during the year.
A visit to West Runton in the afternoon revealed that there was a pair of Stonechats present, the first that I had seen at the site since before Christmas when they moved off with the onset of the snow and freezing temperatures.
