While I was on holiday last year on the Isles of Scilly, news broke on Saturday, October 17th, that a Rufous-tailed scrub robin had been found at Stiffkey in Norfolk. The bird showed well all day to the masses, and numerous texts and telephone calls were received. I was eager to leave Scilly, and after the bird also showed well the following day, I booked a plane off Monday morning and headed to the east coast. The bird again showed well all day till I got there just after 6.30pm. No sign! I stayed over in Hunstanton and waited with the masses but saw no sign, and then I missed it by seconds. I hung around all day, and there were no further sightings, so I headed home. The bird showed again the next two days, but was really elusive. I was at work, so I headed back on Thursday morning for first light. I was the only one there; again, no show it had gone! Absolutely gutted🤬!
Last recorded in August 1980 (a one-dayer at Prawle Point, Devon), it is as far back as 1963 when an individual was last twitchable in the UK, at Butlin's Holiday Camp in Skegness, Lincolnshire, from 2-9 September, with many hearing about it by postcard!
Forward 10 months, and I was at work yesterday, and news broke of another scrub robin in Cornwall. I couldn't believe it! The bird showed well all afternoon and was still there when I left off work at 8.00pm, so I headed south with Mark Sutton, who also needed it as he was stuck on Fetlar in Shetland last year.
We arrived on site just after 4am and got our heads down for an hour. I was knackered!. We headed down the coastal footpath just after 5.30am and waited.
