Great grey Shrike in Northants.

Monday 13th April 2009

Having quickly dismissed the notion of Gardening and DIY I toyed with the thought of a slow start to the day and then a couple of pints at the Brewrey. No, once a dedicated birder....so Borough Hill it was. I'd never been there before but heard about it as a good spot for migrants with the added attraction of a Great grey Shrike. The location was easy if you knew the area but I met a number of local farmers, all I should say were helpful and friendly, before I got to the right place. After a short wait the Great grey Shrike appeared just as a pair of Whimbrel flew over which I didnt pick up. The Shrike was quite distant but showed well enough in the scope. One of the 6 birders present picked up a Red Kite in the distance. The bird came closer and circled low over Borough Hill before gaining height and drifting off.

Time to move on to Napton on the Hill and find something in Warwicks. I stopped briefly at Lower Shuckborough to look for Raptors and saw 2 pairs of Ravens, female Sparrowhawk and loads of Common Buzzard. Despite a good look round Napton I found Nap all. A handful of Chiffchaff and Willow warblers were about it. I was particularly diligent in sorting out the Ring Ouzels from the Horse manure liberally scattered around the various paddocks and grassy slopes. Needless to say the all the Horse manure was in fact Horse manure quite inert and definitely flightless.

Now a decision had to be made, I didnt want to go to Draycote, I knew it would be chaotic but it was on the way home and I needed a coffee. It was a Circus, they even had a couple of clowns on Unicycles to prove it. They werent actually clowns just behaving likes clowns if you understand me. After a coffee I made a token gesture at Birdwatching but it did achieve a new County bird for the year in the form of a couple of Little Gulls. (141) There may have been more but a suprisingly large number of Gulls were being pushed around by the various Sailing races going on.