I was joined almost immediately by Barry Bishop in the GS hide. We had a brief scan then decided to go down to Garganey hide as the first real heat haze of the year had shown itself. Thursdays wind had brought a large branch down on the boardwalk and took a bit of negotiating! Shortly after arriving Barry spotted the imm male Peregrine performing over the wildfowl and eventually perching on a riverside fencepost.
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| Please click to enlarge! |
Shortly afterwards he caught sight of the male Sparrowhawk that has been loyal to the area for some weeks now, spending a considerable amount of time around the scrape...
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| Ditto! |
The afternoon progressed steadily. Highlights being a couple of Swallows (86...earliest 2/4/06) and a cluster of Sand Martins (c10). Viewing is becoming increasingly difficult due to the emergent vegetation but the views you get in the open water are superb. There are still quite a few fine drake Pintail around and large numbers of Teal (c 500).
Phone call...it's Craig Ralston from English Nature informing me that whilst doing some ringing on Skipwith Common he had caught the GREAT GREY SHRIKE and wondered if I'd like to take a look! I informed Barry and another couple that were in the hide and we all headed for Skippy. As I reached the car I bumped into Johno Leadley. I told him the news and left rather abruptly...sorry pal. We headed up through Skipwith village, although I couldn't see Barry? As we arrived at the site I tried to phone him but no reply (he did eventually arrive but was too late unfortunately).
I could see Craig holding the bird, together with Andy and Haydn (who I had also contacted) looking on. Andy was taking some shots, so I joined him and here's my effort...
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| A bird in the hand... |
A big thank you to Craig for the opportunity to see the bird so close...
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