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!!