Red-backed Shrike at Dungeness - 9th September 2025

Walking around the top end of the DBO recording area produced 51 Blackcap, 33 Lesser Whitethroat, 25 Willow Warbler, a Spotted Flycatcher, 8 Whinchat, 15 Yellow Wagtail, a Northern Wheatear and surprisingly, a juv Red-backed Shrike, spotted when scanning the newly arrived Whinchats.  This was the first record for a number of years.

Later, 61 White Stork circled over the area before heading out to sea en route to France, some of which were tracked to a rubbish tip outside Boulogne the next day.


At 2pm, I visited the RSPB reserve to see a second Red-backed Shrike of the day, located by a visitor, the first time I've ever seen two in a day in the UK.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

EASTERN BONELLI'S WARBLER at Dungeness - 25th May 2025 - Rarity finder

Image
Discovery of  Eastern Bonelli's Warbler  at Dungeness, 25th May 2025 During one of my regular patrols/ censuses of the Dungeness Bird Observatory Recording Area, (at around 0940), I was alerted to an unusual song at the southern end of the DBO "trapping area".  At a distance, I first thought it might just be an odd sounding Lesser Whitethroat, but as I got closer the more it reminded me more of Bonelli's or even a Wood Warbler.   Although, at first, it remained hidden from view, the bird continued to sing at regular intervals, allowing me to track it along the outskirts of a tree line.  I began recording the song and tried (through the intermittent phone signal), to send it to DBO assistant warden Jacob Spinks to get his input from internet searches.  Finally, after 5-10 minutes I glimpsed the bird and recognised it as a Bonelli's type.   It showed for about a minute whilst exploring some of the less foliated branches, and that's when I manag...
Read more

European Birding Tour in a Campervan

Image
2019-2020 European Campervan Tour Between March 2019 and July 2020, I travelled Europe in a camper van, on a birding trip visiting 23 countries along the way.   I got caught up in lockdown in Spain in 2020, and was confined to a studio flat in Benahavis for several months, therefore missing the last leg of the trip - a trip up the East coast of Spain during peak Spring migration. I managed to see 398 bird species during this time, getting over 360 of those on the "van list". In early Spring 2025, I made the missed Spanish East Coast trip on the way back from Morocco. Here are the four links to the poorly written trip report of that journey. Part One    Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland Part Two   Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,  Part Three   Czechia, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Germany, England, Wales, Scotland. Part Four    France, Spain, UK and Systematic List (t...
Read more

Spurn and East Yorkshire - Autumn 2025 - Part One - Needle-tailed Swift

Image
I arrived at the Kew Villa campsite on the evening of the 22nd September, where I was booked to stay for the first week.  A leisurely stroll turned up a Jack Snipe  on Canal Scrape that first evening.   Next morning, my first 85 Pink-footed Geese of the year were seen heading South, no doubt, on their way to North Norfolk.  2000 Red Knot were amongst the 61 species noted over the course of the day. A Hawfinch  flew over the road outside Kew Villa on the 26th. Due to the lack of Easterlies, it was a relatively slow start, which remained the case through most of the Autumn, but there were at least some better days to come.  In the meantime, I met the Bird Observatory staff, locals and hard-working volunteers with their energetic approach to the census and habitat management tasks that's required of them. Spurn is a special place, visited by a large number of birders throughout the Autumn, a number of whom of whom live in the area.  Many have retire...
Read more