End of Spring?

28/5/08 Holme - Simeon, Connor, James
We started late and got dropped off at Holme. James had revision so he returned home. Connor and I stopped at Redwell Marsh first of all. The only bird of note was a male Ruddy Duck. Connor then phoned Ray Roche to see what he had had (he was also at Holme). We were then alerted of an Icterine Warbler at the beach car park! So we raced down there to find one or two others listening to the bird and watching a bush! After about 5 minutes of listening to the bird, I phoned James who was only in Heacham so he turned round and got dropped off at the end of Broadwater Road. After about 5 more minutes, someone got their iPod out and played the song, to which our bird responded by flying right over our heads and into a line of pine trees. After another couple of minutes and some OK views, the bird flew back to a large tree and then dropped into a plum tree next to it. Fortunately, it flew right onto the outside and good views were seen by all eventually.
We were then told about another Icterine Warbler that had been seen early morning on the NOA reserve and had been relocated at the West end of the NWT pines. So Connor and I then walked the back way to the Forestry, flushing a Nightingale out of a bush on the way! The habitat was good, but only common warblers were seen. Just before the NWT pines, we heard the second Icterine Warbler a few times briefly but it was deep in the scrub so we walked to the NOA observatory.
After a rest to have lunch we were about to do the final thrash of the Forestry but the Citrine Wagtail came up on the pager at Titchwell. I hadn't seen it yesterday as I was in Sussex so we got a lift to the reserve. On arrival no-one had heard of it and the report sounded "dodgy" apparently. Never mind... I would have to wait until another day to be able to tick off this species! There were plenty of other birds to keep us occupied though. 3 Temminck's Stints were on the mud along with 27 Little Gulls (some coming into their lovely summer plumage). A male Red-Crested Pochard was in front of the reeds at the back of the marsh.
It had been a great day and the Icterine Warblers had been a life tick for all three of us! Could this be the final push of Spring though?