The search for Shrike!!

 With a Red-backed Shrike being reported at Pagham North Wall all week, it was a no brainer of a decision where to go this morning, I wasn't confident it had BOS (Buggered of Saturday) written all over it, this is a well known phenomenon in my birding life where a decent bird will be found on a Monday stays all week showing lovely while I'm at work then BOS!!! 😢

I arrived just before 7am, and was on the, surprisingly windy, North Wall in no time! I dallied a while at sluice bit and scanned with me bins, nice Greenshank, in with the usual ,Curlews, Black-tailed Godwits, Lapwings and Redshanks, I didn't stay long though, the bushes were quiet along the wall. but there were 12 Cattle Egrets distantly with some Cows and a field full of Curlews and Blackwits, presumably feeding while they waited the tide to recede.

Black-tailed Godwit

Greenshank with a very short bill!

Close Lapwing, oh for some sunshine!!

Curlew

Cattle Egret doing what it says on the tin!

The North Wall is an excellent place to get close to waders, would have been nicer with some sun!!

Anyway I had now reached the Owl Copse, the area of interest, where two people were already present, no sign😢 strong wind, rain threatening no sign of the bird and I forgot me coat, call me a pessimist but things weren't looking good!! Still there was a flyover Little Egret, a nice close Great Crested Grebe, an even closer Whimbrel and as I followed the path round 3 Whinchats were on the fence line but to distant for pics!! 

Little Egret

Great Crested Grebe

Whimbrel

Whimbrel

I decided to head north across the fields, lots of good Shrike habitat here, but no luck😢 a Wheatear in the first field and a big flock of Long-tailed Tits in the copse itself, this flock had a few Blue Tits and a couple of Chiffchaffs but due to the thickness of the vegetation ID's and pics were difficult! Had a nice flyover Cattle Egret as well!! 

The one posy Long-tailed Tit

Cattle Egret

I gave up and headed back to the  Owl Copse area, as the view opened up I could see a few distant birders searching, I looked to my left and there it was sitting on a nice bramble bush, whoop🏆🏆😀

Red-backed Shrike

Another flyover Cattle Egret

RBS

I waved to the other birders, but it departed around the corner before they arrived, but they were happy it was still around, as was I 😀 I decided to go an have a crack at the Whinchats so wandered off, on arrival at the fence, the Whinchats seemed to have been replaced by Wheatears😲 Just when I was questioning my abilities a Whinchat popped up on the fence, in the end there were 4 Whinchats and 6 Wheatears along the fence, I positioned myself at the end of the fence in the harbour and eventually a couple of the birds made their way down towards me!! After last week's Wheatear fest, I've been very restrained on the pictures😀 Strangely there was also a Great Spotted Woodpecker on one of the fence post.

Harbour view

GSW

Whinchat

Wheatear

Whinchat

Whinchat

Wheatear

Whinchat

Wheatear

Wheatear

I love Wheatears and Whinchats one of my favourite things, seeing them on Autumn migration!

So I wondered back to Shrike Central, where the RBS was back on show, over the next hour or so the bird appeared regularly, there was plenty going on in between times, with hundreds of Swallows about, once pursued by a very optimistic Sparrowhawk, a Spotted Redshank showed lovely in the channel in front of us, couple of Kestrels appeared and departed and there was also probably my greatest ever bird-watching shout, when I successfully called an Osprey which was hunting over the spit at Church Norton, it was literally a dot , but I called it on Jizz and a fellow birder present confirmed it through his scope!! Kudos to me!!!!😂😂

Jay

RBS showing nicely in some welcome sunshine

Another flyover Cattle Egret

Osprey at approx 3 miles!!

Sparrowhawk departing after being humiliated by the Swallows

Spotted Redshank

Spotshank in flight!

So with all the Sprawks and Kestrels and discretion being the better part of valour the Shrike had disappeared deep into the bush!! But slowly came back out and gave great views in the sunshine, so I took rather a lot of pics, sorry!!

Them Sprawks gone yet I wanna sunbathe!!

Yet another Cattle Egret flyover

Eventually I had to walk away fearing the camera would expire!! I headed back along the wall, more Cattle Egrets, some flying Swans, some flying Curlew, a Little Grebe on the pool and more Waders by the sluice the best of it!!!

You've guessed it another Cattle Egret

Curlew

Mute Swan

Little Grebe

Non flying Cattle Egret!

Curlew

Black-tailed Godwit

Turnstone

Common Sandpiper flying in!

Landing

and Landed

A successful trip, The Shrike was very posy, they generally are. Nice supporting cast is always helpful and was nice to have plenty of good stuff flying around the area!!!