It all started off when I received a phone call from Ian saying that he had found a Yellow-browed Warbler in Fleetwood Cemetery! Unfortunately I was on my way to see a client at Horwich so was travelling in the complete opposite direction to Fleetwood. Then as I was pulling into my client's yard Ian phoned again to say he had found a 1st winter Red-backed Shrike at Rossall School! I was gob-smacked! I must give Ian an almighty pat on the back as he puts more time in than anyone I know birding. In fact all three Red-backed Shrikes that I have seen in the Fleetwood area have been found by Ian!
After my meeting at the Wildlife Trust I headed to the obs and spent half an hour watching the Shrike. It was feeding between an area of gorse and a line of fence posts. It was continually catching bees and would return to its favoured bramble perch or one of the fence posts. Awesome!
This was the second record for the 'obs' after the first in September 2008. Also at the obs there are records for both Great Grey and Woodchat Shrikes. So that's four shrikes of three species. Not bad for a west coast location. I have included a couple of crappy record shots of the Shrike below.
Re-winding to last night and earlier today the Redwing passage didn't start until 2030 here and until 2230 I was averaging 5 calls per minute. This morning when I arrived at my office at Myerscough College I had a male Peregrine flying over the car park heading north. Although not rare it is a good bird for the office.
I had a meeting at the Wildlife Trust offices at Cuerden Valley park today, as I mentioned above, and as I was early for my meeting I had a short wander round the park. I didn't see much other than 4 or 5 Jays. I have included a couple of pictures of the park below.
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