The great grey shrike that turned up here yesterday couldn't be found today - how many times do rare birds turn up during the week, but disappear overnight on Friday, to frustrate those who were unable to go to look during the week?
The birders who went looking this morning did have other uncommon birds in compensation - our first stonechats for the winter had arrived in their usual area, and some people even managed to see or hear bearded reedlings. Many people also reported fieldfare flocks, a couple of lesser redpolls and individual siskins.
We had a glorious sunset, with perhaps as many as 10,000 starlings performing their fantastic formation flying display, rewarding all the people who came out especially to see them.