Despite yesterdays dour warnings of thick fog and poor driving conditions for East Anglia, I decided to take the A14 southwards and head to Aldeburgh where the Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll has been entertaining bird watchers and photographers for a few days. It would be a first for me to see.

Encouraged by the reports on Birdguides that it was 'showing well' I was pleased to see bright sunshine and calm conditions. Parking the car, a small crowd of about 10 were watching something in the beach scrub about 100 metres away. Joining them and the bird in question was quickly seen and a few record shots taken before it flew off north into a tamarisk bush and promptly disappeared.

After about half-an-hour it flew back to some beach scrub close to where I was standing and started to feed. The difficulty was in trying to get clear shots due the foliage.

It was stripping back the dead branches to get at the seeds inside - fascinating to watch.

With patience, some better shots were possible as it moved from the centre of the bush to the outside branches, although getting the clean background proved impossible.

After an hour or so, the bird flew back to the tamarisk - time for lunch and home before the poor weather set in. The next report on Birdguides said that it was spooked by a Sparrowhawk and not seen for the rest of the day - my luck was in this time!!!

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