Monday 3rd May - Woodchat shrike

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 I have been a bit lazy recently with very little birdwatching activity but while viewing the local birding group website I saw that a woodchat shrike had been seen at Rochford.  I have only ever seen one shrike before which was a juvenile red backed shrike in August 2015 and have had several unsuccessful attempts to see a great grey shrike in Norfolk while on holiday and another failure in a visit to Sussex where Jenny and Tim tried to show me the bird they had seen a few days earlier. However I have not noticed any woodchat shrikes reported locally before so I decided I should definitely try to see this one. Unfortunately the local website did not give precise directions as to where the bird could be found and as I do not have a subscription to Birdguides I phoned Jenny to ask her if she could look up the relevant information for me. She informed me that she had already provided directions in an e-mail she had sent the day before but which I had not yet read.  I then looked at google maps to find the nearest postcode before setting the satnav and making my way to the site.

When I arrived there were a few birders making their way back to their cars and they told me that the bird was still present and pointed me in the right direction across the fields.  It was soon obvious where to go by the group of about 10 people with cameras gathered along a hedgerow.  When I reached the group the bird was not visible as it had popped over the back of the hedge but within 5 minutes it was back and I was able to watch it and set up my camera.  It was a beautiful male and showed well for almost the whole of the 45 minutes or so that I stayed.

It was well worth the trip and I now look forward to the day when I will hopefully catch up with the elusive great grey shrike.













   

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