Shrike Take Two

Rather a quick return to the latest county hotspot of Hanging Houghton though this time in the company of Alan Shorrock. Once again photographic opportunities were limited as the light was often quite poor and the birds either distant or just too flighty.

Views from Blatherwycke churchyard.

Our main target was the Great Grey Shrike which proved to be rather more elusive than yesterday though we did eventually get some good but always distant views. Unfortunately there were a few people about that seemed to want better views and their habit of chasing the bird around meant that the bird never really got any closer. The pruk pruk of a passing Raven was one of the highlights, although sightings are becoming more regular nowadays they're still one of my favourites.

Distant Mandarins.

We hung around for some time but were unable to see the Corn Buntings though scanning of the hedges did produce more sightings than yesterday of Tree Sparrow. At one point both Al and I heard a strange bird call which after some investigation later in the day turned out likely to be the Lapland Bunting but I would like to hear more before I was totally satisfied. For the second time in as many days the large metal barn held at least one Brambling though they were still very nervous.

Black Swans.

After Hanging Houghton we moved on to Willowbrook Industrial here in Corby where we checked a few spots for Waxwings. Searching produced sightings of Blackbirds and Redwings but not much else. From here we moved on to Blatherwycke Lake where cat C wildfowl was once again dominant. At least ten Mandarins were here and there were also three Black Swans and two Egyptian Geese. There was also plenty of the commoner wildfowl on the lake and some Lapwing too. A quick look at the churchyard did not produce much.

Blackbird.

The final stop on our  little tour was near Kingscliffe where we had an abortive search for further Ravens, sadly these failed to show and so we headed home shortly afterwards.

Red Kite.