Heather's Nature Notes: A GOOD DAY'S GLOS BIRDING

Great grey shrike (pic by Jon Mercer)

This morning dawned rather grey and damp but mild, a complete contrast to yesterday's sunhine and rather colder weather, and I wasn't sure what birding/photo opportunities would be available.

However, yesterday I was walking in the CWP with the U3A group of birders in the Water Parks ( originally planned for Waterhay but relocated to near to the Gateway Centre due to severe flooding in the car park) and we met a birder who said that in the morning he had seen the Great Grey Shrike which was currently located near Daglinworth, Cirencester, . It had been on the blog but I hadn't yet read about it, but when I got home I checked out the location which someone had given as an OS grid reference and decided that, weather permitting, I would see if I could find it, aware that being a weekend there was likely to be quite a bit of interest

I thought I may as well take some lunch with me, as I could always go on to visit Slimbridge to add to my bird count for the year before the Bewick Swans and other wintering birds return to their breeding grounds for the summer.

By 9 am, I had found my way to the old quarry near Daglingworth where I believed the shrike would be found. This could be viewed from a gateway after parking on the roadside. I knew I was at the right spot as there were already three cars parked and four birders stood chatting by gate. I wound down my window as I passed and was told, Yes it had been seen for a short while that morning but flown off towards the edge of some woodland across the other side of the field.

I parked and joined the waiting birders, who I realised included a son of a friend of mine and his dad. We waited around for about an hour, seeing various birds fly across, including stock doves, linnets, mistle thrush and fieldfares. Two of the watchers decided to leave, having seen it , but just as they did so, another car pulled up; the occupant was my cousin Jon! However, he decided to return later in the day, assuming that the Shrike would not be back for a while, but then I suddenly spotted a white shape perched on top of a distant bush at the side of the quarry..the shrike was back! It seemed happy to stay put for a while, allowing a few photos and a look through my cousin's scope. Such a smart bird with its black, grey and white plumage, but with some rather savage methods of devouring its prey!

I left at that point, and made my way to Slimbridge, where I again bumped into my cousin who had decided to do the same! It was pretty damp and drizzly during today's visit, but the birds didn't seem to mind. Plenty of ducks around, although from the Estuary Tower the geese were pretty distant and I couldn't see if the barnacle geese or white fronted geese were present and neither did I visit the Zeiss or Kingfisher hides on the opposite end of the reserve.

I did catch a glimpse of one water rail under the feeders, and a sparrow hawk flew in and out again, whilst the Discovery Hide gave a nice view of a cattle egret at the end of the causeway. There were also four early returning Avocets feeding on the scrape.

Despite the windy and rather wet weather it was a good day's birding.