Little Cressingham and Bodney 23 August 2025 (A morning of visible migration and an odd looking Spotted Flycatcher)

What a beautiful cool dawn with an autumnal feel to it.  I visited the Watton Brook valley to check for migrant birds and hopefully for evidence of visible migration.  My visit began with a calling Raven (unseen), however, the remarkable call is very distinctive.  Before proceeding I set up the scope in order to check what was ahead of me in the valley, as expected a number of Stonechats (eventually 10+ seen) were in the valley along with the odd Yellowhammer and Goldfinches. In a distant patch of bramble I could see Whitethroat and Chiffchaff where also 50+ Linnets wandered the area. One particular Linnet was scoped, this was a male bird with beautiful crimson breast markings.  A single restless Chiffchaff was flying up and down the valley before heading off south.

I could hear a Yellow Wagtail, this stunning bird alighted in the top of a tall Oak where calling continued for a few seconds, it then flew off south and I watched it until lost to view.....safe journey. 

Having been in open landscapes I decided next to walk the boundary of a mostly Scots Pine and Larch woodland where the peripheral understorey is rich in berry bearing bushes, especially Elder. A low fence around the boundary of the woodland held 4 Spotted Flycatchers, of these, a male bird was present and juvenile, but the main surprise was seeing that one of the Spotted Flycatchers was a leucistic individual with an all-white head, white underparts, and white in the wings.  All of the Spotted Flycatchers were engaged in typical fast sweeping flights to the ground where invertebrate prey was taken.

A leucistic Spotted Flycatcher at Little Cressingham 23 August 2025

A typically marked Spotted Flycatcher at Little Cressingham 23 August 2025

As well as watching the stunning Spotted Flycatchers, the woodland boundary also held 10+ Blackcaps, all of which were in Elders feeding upon berries.  One Elder bush held at least 5 Blackcaps.  Also noted was Chiffchaff, calling Treecreeper, Nuthatch, and Tit species including Coal Tit.