Shrike at Shoreham

 With a lot of miles walked over the weekend, was thinking of having a restful Bank Holiday, a Red-backed Shrike had been found yesterday at Mill Hill , but had disappeared early afternoon and with no news this morning I figured it had probably gone, however we felt we needed a bit of fresh air so Margie and I decided to drive down and have a look for it ourselves! We arrived about 9.30, things started off slow, the views are spectacular and the meadows though past their best still had plenty of Butterflies whizzing about. However bird wise after 20 minutes I'd seen one Chiffchaff and nothing else!!😢😱The habitat does look Shriketastic though so I plugged away, wandering, scouring bushes, throwing out random prayers to the Birding Gods,🙏 had just about given up when we emerged between two bushes, the patch of Bramble just in front of us had a Shrike shaped blob on it, now normally when I espy a Shrike shaped blob, through the bins it turns into a funny coloured leaf or a bag of dog turds,💩 but not today, today's Shrike shaped blob was indeed a Shrike!!! Boom, Boom, Boom and Boom again, Hurrah!!!!

Chiffchaff

Juvenile Red-backed Shrike

Showed very well!!! The good thing about finding/refinding a bird like this is that with a bit of caution you can get a bit closer than if there are loads of people milling about, the Bird showed well for about 5 minutes, diving down to grab the odd insect, Margie said it got at least 2 Butterflies (hope they weren't the rare ones!!😱) eventually it flew off over our heads into thicker scrub, where we couldn't locate it!!

Having put the news out, we decided to have a  wander, to see what else was about enjoying the views and the Butterflies, I also had good views of a Goldcrest and bad views of a Redstart, couldn't get pics of either!!

A few pics of the views below by Margie, there would have been more pics by Margie, but somehow she pressed the wrong button and every other pic she took was some sort of GIF 😂The ones she got were nice though, fair play!!

We bumped into another couple, also looking for the Shrike so returned to the general area, where after a bit of a mis-ID of a Wheatear, I refound it again!! Whoop!! I'm on fire Shrike finding wise!!!🔥

This Shrike-shaped Blob turned into a Wheatear!! In my defence it was backlit and on a bush!! I also didn't call it as the Shrike!!

It disappeared again, this time in hot pursuit of a Blackcap, which I thought was little optimistic of it!! I know Great Grey Shrikes take Birds, but not sure about Red-backs !!?

We wandered off again, finding another Wheatear, then checking out some taller trees in the hope that I will finally get a Spot Fly for the year, failed😢

Wheatear

When we returned from our wanderings some more Birders had turned up and the Shrike, put on another good show!

The bird in a variety of berry bushes, with a variety of prey, think you will agree I have been very restrained in the number of pictures posted😂 trust me could of been a lot worse, I took hundreds😂Though Margie did say at least it wasn't more poxy Wheatear pics!!! Think she might be a bit fed up with Wheatears😂!!! The Bird moved back into thicker scrub, so we decided to leave, heading home only, stopping at Marks & Spencers to buy some Gluten Free Spiced Buns to celebrate!! Hurrah!😂I ws quite restrained with them at time of writing I've only eaten one and they are blooming delicious!! 

Final picture in the scrub!!

Nip to Knepp

 Walk around Knepp, although mainly to try out the new café, we still had a long walk first, arrived about half eight, pretty quiet on the bird front, though the Storks are always good, did run into 3 big flocks of Tit/Warblers though couldn't find anything good though it was a nightmare to get on them really, flock of Goldcrests was nice to see and I can still hear them!!😲 Plenty of Green Woodpeckers flying about and two encounters with the Longhorn Cattle where I showed my customary heroism! Three encounters if you count the Burger I had in the café after, though it was pink in the middle so the Cows may get their revenge in the end😱!!!! A few of Margie and my pics below!

 

The driveway, with complimentary hunk😀 The walks have changed since we were last there.by Margie

Some distant Storks, by Margie

Typical habitat by Margie

The Longhorns coming out of the Cow's nest!!

this one was little but feisty

The biguns playing it cool!

The smallest one waiting to pounce!!

Having a bellow

Margie's take on the small one, ok it was a bit cute!

Green Woodpecker, several about

Kestrel

Common Whitethroat, quite a few Warblers flitting about the bushes, pretty sure I saw a couple of Lesser Whitethroats and a Garden Warbler but everything was diving into bushes left, right and center and pics were at a premium!!

We had good views of several Storks, especially when we had several in the air, would have liked them a bit closer mind

Linnet, this bird was the only Finch we saw all the way round

Margie finally got a pic of these Canada Geese that flew around for about 20 minutes eluding her, bit of swearing involved!!😂

Typical Knepp view by Margie, gotta be a Shrike in there somewhere!

Margie managed to get a few of the Storks spiralling 

Nice pond by Margie!

The Storks near the campsite showed well as always, there were 4 chicks in this nest on our last visit presumably fledged successfully

Margie's go at the Storks

So a nice walk round, the second encounter with the cows was a bit hairy with a massive Bull walking past us on a narrow footpath, but they are pretty docile. We visited the new Café, bit pricey as you would expect as it is all Organic, my Burger was very pink in the middle, which I know is a thing these days but possibly should ask how you want it, Kudos that they had a Gluten Free Bun option!! Could do with some chips mind!!! Early days and it's a nice setting!!! It was quiet when we arrived, but by the time we left it was heaving so an early start recommended.