Sixpenny Handley - Sat 20 Apr

Some nine weeks since my last attempt I made another trip to Wyke Down near Sixpenny Handley this afternoon hoping that it would be a case of third time lucky with regard to the Great Grey Shrike and Short-eared Owls that were still lingering in the area. Arriving at 3.30pm it took half an hour of searching before I finally found the Great Grey Shrike, it had somehow managed to get in to a small tree not far from the road, though no-one saw it fly in, a very bright male Linnet was singing away. Over the next thirty minutes in some wonderful sunshine I was lucky enough to see a couple of Red Kites soaring distantly over fields and just as I was getting in to the car a Short-eared Owl took flight from cover and treated me and the other gathered birders to a wonderful fly-by, and a second bird was seen sat in the long grass...I must have scanned that area at least half a dozen times without seeing it earlier. So it turned out to be a very successful afternoon!