Earlier in the year I was looking for a female smew on the lake on Chipping Sodbury Common and couldn’t even find the lake, so today I was extremely pleased to find the juvenile woodchat shrike that many local birders seemed to have spotted.

I thought that I was bound to see a gang of birders twitching but initially was disappointed to see only two dog walkers on the whole common. However, I was lucky enough to find a solitary birder (Ken from Suffolk!) who beckoned me over and pointed out the shrike.

Woodchat shrike

There were also whinchats darting about. I felt very anxious for the shrike when a kestrel appeared, especially when it dived and didn’t appear again. Fortunately I saw the shrike again later.

Whinchat

Kestrel

The woodchat shrike

Whinchat

On the way back to the car a saw a dozen long-tailed tits and then a small flock of yellow wagtails. I  hung around by the cows and got some distant shots.

A yellow wagtail beneath the bovine creature

Yellow wagtail

A very satisfying morning.

Click below for gallery of photos from this morning.