18th December 2019 - Cissbury Ring

Whilst surveying up on the River Thames in Essex I had a message through to say that the Great Grey Shrike had been refound up at Cissbury Ring near the flint mines/fenced off yew trees. I had to drop Mum off back home first in Southwick and then headed straight over and soon bumped into David Campbell. The weather wasn't very good and light was fading so we were losing optimism and then all of sudden David spotted it perched up on the scrub block near the western yew tree, it afforded brief views before dropping down and then we didn't see it again, presumably it had gone to roost. I was particularly pleased to catch up with this bird given that I had tried for the Ashdown Forest bird earlier in the year 3 times and missed it every time! This bird was the 221st species I have recorded in Sussex this year and it also made a lovely addition to my Worthing 'Uber Patch' list.

Great Grey Shrike, Cissbury Ring, West Sussex