Monday 14th September: Shrike Lucky!

 Yesterday we headed off to Thorney Island in search of a Pallid Harrier which has been around for a few days. We arrived to reports that it had just been flying but had now settled on the ground in a distant field with cattle. We waited for around half an hour but there was no sign of the bird reappearing, so we set off to walk around the island, a distance of seven miles, n a scorching hot day and with a scope on my back!

The island was exceptionally quiet, with a high tide gradually falling. On previous visits we have seen plenty of waders, but for much of the walk there were just a few Little Egrets, some gulls and distant Curlew. Midway we stopped at a bench and noted around 20 plus seals hauled up on the mudbanks in the Emsworth channel. We continued on our way, feeling tied and disheartened, when suddenly I saw a bird fly up from the ground and alight on a bush. I put my bins up and was astonished to find a Red-backed Shrike, an infrequent species in modern times, although historically I believe they were quite common in the south. The bird was a juvenile, and showed very well, helpfully alighting at the top of bushes and brambles between forays into the long grass in search of insects. Shrikes are notorious for their rather gruesome habit of impaling their prey on a thorn to create a larder, although there was no sign of such behaviour on this occasion.

We returned to the start point of our walk, overlooking the field where the Harrier has frequently been reported, to be told it had just flown off in the broad direction we had come from. Now feeling hot, tired and thirsty - we had demolished all our water in the heat- we decided to call it a day and head for an ice cream on the way home. Typically, as we left the area, a further report came through of a sighting back at the spot where we had previously waited before departing. The one that got away... but the shrike was a great compensation, and particularly satisfying to discover the bird for ourselves.