Window to Wildlife

The birding grapevine proved useful today when news came through of a juvenile Red-backed Shrike up at Mill Hill nature reserve. We quickly headed up there, where several other local birders were already on site. The bird was feeding in a large area of scrub, showing well, but not exceptionally close views. He was quite mobile, progressing through the scrub, but this was a good bird to find within our local area.  Red-backed Shrike

We joined Clive for the annual SDOS outing to Thorney Island. We started on the west side of the island, in rather cold and gloomy conditions for the time of year. We noted Cetti's and Sedge Warblers in the reedbeds, then a beautiful Kingfisher, a Kestrel hovering overhead and a motionless Greenshank. On the water at Little Deep we found several Gadwall, a Little Grebe, and a few Tufted Ducks and Coots. In the distance, we could just make out some Cattle Egret moving around the feet of the cattle, largely obscured by the long grass. However, generally it was pretty quiet, with far fewer birds than we have seen on previous visits. Kestrel After lunch, we set off along the eastern side, with much warmer conditions than we had experienced in the morning.  Scanning the landing lights, we were rewarded with our primary target for the day - an Osprey perched on top. We enjoyed  some decent scope views of this lovely bird. By the Great Deep and adjacent flooded fields we found g...