Two Great Grey Shrikes near Plungar!!...
Well I nipped over to Plungar, Vale of Belvoir yesterday on my day off to try and connect with the Great Grey Shrike which had taken up residence in the area for maybe the last few days.
From the last twitter message I received, the bird was still in the fields off Long Lane between Plungar and Barkestone-le -Vale.
Parking near the Barkestone-le -Vale cross-roads I walked back to the public footpath between the two villages and met up with the Brett family who were scoping the bird in a nearby hedge.
It's always nice to see Great Grey Shrikes in Leicestershire, as these birds are not recorded annually in the county!
So after watching the bird for about an hour feeding on the ground and nearby hedges, I decided to head back to my local patch of Watermead CP via taking a few photos of Belvoir Castle...
So driving down Wood Lane towards to Branston I stopped the car just past some ruined barns and took a few photos of Belvoir Castle in the distance. Then walking back to the car I noticed a bird sitting on a top of bush, and know straight away that it was a Great Grey Shrike!!!
Taking a few record shots of the bird I phoned John Hague and Andy Mackay about the bird as I thought it might be a different bird? The bird then flew low east along the hedge into the set-a-side field.
Driving back down the road towards Plungar and possible the other bird? I parked the car by the small lay-by and quickly walked back towards the other bird and happily for me it was still feeding in the south-west corner of the field!
So unless this bird can fly at 70mph over 1000 metres? I had found another bird!!...GET IN...
Phoning Andy again about the birds he came to the same conclusion as me and then put the news out about the Shrikes...
After this it was back to my local patch of Watermead CP and a very quiet Soar valley on the sightings front!...
Please see below a few record shots of the two birds!
From the last twitter message I received, the bird was still in the fields off Long Lane between Plungar and Barkestone-le -Vale.
Parking near the Barkestone-le -Vale cross-roads I walked back to the public footpath between the two villages and met up with the Brett family who were scoping the bird in a nearby hedge.
It's always nice to see Great Grey Shrikes in Leicestershire, as these birds are not recorded annually in the county!
So after watching the bird for about an hour feeding on the ground and nearby hedges, I decided to head back to my local patch of Watermead CP via taking a few photos of Belvoir Castle...
So driving down Wood Lane towards to Branston I stopped the car just past some ruined barns and took a few photos of Belvoir Castle in the distance. Then walking back to the car I noticed a bird sitting on a top of bush, and know straight away that it was a Great Grey Shrike!!!
Taking a few record shots of the bird I phoned John Hague and Andy Mackay about the bird as I thought it might be a different bird? The bird then flew low east along the hedge into the set-a-side field.
Driving back down the road towards Plungar and possible the other bird? I parked the car by the small lay-by and quickly walked back towards the other bird and happily for me it was still feeding in the south-west corner of the field!
So unless this bird can fly at 70mph over 1000 metres? I had found another bird!!...GET IN...
Phoning Andy again about the birds he came to the same conclusion as me and then put the news out about the Shrikes...
After this it was back to my local patch of Watermead CP and a very quiet Soar valley on the sightings front!...
Please see below a few record shots of the two birds!
Great Grey Shrike near Plungar
Another shot of the Plungar bird!
The other Great Grey Shrike on Wood Lane!
Another shot of the Great Grey Shrike on Wood lane!!
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