With school finishing (never been so relieved) on Friday, I'd organised to head up to North London on the last Sunday before Christmas, where Sam Levy would pick me up so we could go and see a Black-throated Thrush. The (wild) thrush, a stonking male bird, had turned up 10 days ago and has been showing unbelievably well ever since in Whipsnade Zoo, causing quite a stir. With many hundreds of keen birders out there, it has been a popular place to visit this weekend, especially with some decent winter weather.
After I reached North London at 08:15, we went to pick up young birding friend Megan McCleverty - who we'd met at Spurn earlier in the year - before driving to Whipsnade, reaching the zoo at 09:40. It was a slightly surreal sight seeing about 50 birders in the reception of the zoo, all having paid the entry fee of £20, to see the thrush. Considering most of this money will be going to wildlife conservation, I see it as money well spent!
As soon as the door opened at 10am, everyone walked as a group to the area for the farmyard animals where the thrush had been seen. Before long it was found asleep in a tree, and eventually - after having a nice Sunday lie-in - it popped up to the top of the bush, much to the delight of the awaiting group of birders. While Megan took some terrible pictures and Sam remarked at his amazing video footage, the thrush was happily feeding away in some sort of Himalayan Berry Tree (which makes sense as the Himalayas is where you'd normally expect to find a Black-throated Thrush!)
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| m Black-throated Thrush in its roost tree |
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| Breakfast time |
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m Black-throated Thrush in its roost tree
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| m Black-throated Thrush |
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| m Black-throated Thrush |
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| m Black-throated Thrush |
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| m Black-throated Thrush |
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| Black-throated Thrush |
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| Crash landing |
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| Black-throated Thrush |
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| Black-throated Thrush |
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| Black-throated Thrush |
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| Redwing |
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| Redwing |
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| Redwing |
These were by far my best views of a rarity I'd ever had, and I was thrilled to spend a good hour and a half or so watching the bird as it switched between it's snooze tree and the berry tree. With Redwings for company, it made the bird all the more confiding, showing as well as we'd hoped. This gave us a great chance to study its stunning male plumage, as well as a bit of photography. It was also a surprise to bump into Milosz Cousens, a young birder from Poland who was here for Christmas. All this made it a thoroughly enjoyable 'twitch,' and well worth the trip up for. It was my 227th UK bird and one of the rarest I'd seen.
This year was the first time I was 'year listing' and due to the good year I was having with my birdwatching, I found myself on 199 species thanks to the Black-throated Thrush, which was the same year list as Sam's. So we decided to drive up a bit further into Bedfordshire, where a Great Grey Shrike had been seen. This was my #1 target bird for the winter, especially as it was the emblem of the Cameron Bespolka Trust. I've always wanted to see a shrike in the UK, with the Great Grey - due to its fascinating hunting techniques and striking black and white patterning - at the top of the list.
With some useful information on where to go from Calum, we parked up by a gate, looking in the direction we thought it would be. Another bit of luck came when the very helpful finder of the bird drove past, telling us where to look. Almost immediately Sam picked up the bird miles away, which was a great start. Although Calum had said not to be too hopeful at getting good views, the finder showed us where to go and where to walk along, as the fields had footpaths all along the edges. He also warned us about the thick clay that carpeted the fields, acting like quicksand pulling us down at times...
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| Common Snipe |
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| Goldeneye |
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| Goldeneye, Brogborough Lake |
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| Goldeneye, Brogborough Lake |
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| Lapwing |
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| Lapwing |
We were quickly shown the stunning site of Brogborough Lake, before returning for the shrike. Almost immediately, a group of 30 Goldeneye swam in front of us, while Great Crested Grebes were present further out. After admiring his patch, we headed off into the fields where several hundred Lapwing were swirling around (a sight I wish I could see and hear more often,) while a Stonechat was seen briefly a few times. We trudged along the hedgerows, with the dense clay quickly accumulating on our shoes and trousers, failing to refind the shrike. A few Reed Bunting and a Raven were all to be seen, while a pair of Snipe were flushed from the field. Then in another routine check of the hedgerow a long way south of the hill, from where we'd walked up, much to our relief, I picked up the Shrike at the top of the hedge. We walked down again, looking forward to some good views, before finding it had completely disappeared. In a real scooby-doo moment, the finder was waving at us as it had flown across the field unnoticed and was sitting at the top of the line of hedges on the other side. So we gradually crept a little closer, into the gunky mud; eventually we found ourselves standing in the middle of the field with another birder, watching the impressive Great Grey Shrike hunting along the bushes. We got some fantastic views of the normally elusive bird for around 15 minutes, even seeing it hover mid-air at one point, which was a bit of a surprise. Eventually it flew across the field again, and so we decided to leave in the hope we'd reach Wilstone Reservoir (Megan's patch) before dusk. Already we'd had a great day out, and so were a tired but very happy bunch!
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| Great Grey Shrike, Brogborough Hill |
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| Great Grey Shrike, Brogborough Hill |
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| Great Grey Shrike, Brogborough Hill |
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| Great Grey Shrike, Brogborough Hill |
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| Great Grey Shrike, Brogborough Hill |
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| Great Grey Shrike, Brogborough Hill |
By the time we reached Wilstone, it was very nearly dark and we decided not to risk walking around the extremely damp slopes of the reservoir in the pitch black. This was soon found to be a wise decision, especially as Sam nearly fell head first into the reservoir after slipping on the banks! Although we didn't make it far, there was nothing to be disappointed about. Watching a group of Fieldfare emerge to roost behind us, while all the Wigeon were calling away on the lake, made it an awesome way to end an awesome day.
I'd like to thank Sam and Megan for the cracking day out; you couldn't ask for much better company, and it would've been just as enjoyable had we not seen a single good bird. I can only wish I could spend more time with some of the birding community, especially those my age, as I undoubtedly feel much happier when with them (even if they don't necessarily feel the same way!)
Here are there blog posts:
https://twitter.com/FinchleyBirder/status/1209168251860738048?s=20
https://twitter.com/stonechat_42/status/1208806655883980801?s=20
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