Leaving home this morning we had three targets in mind. The first of which was the Quail at Hazelwood Common. We pulled into the small car park off Saxmundham Road shortly before 7am and headed West along the footpath all the time listening for the unmistakable sound of the Quail. We walked the length of the first field and shortly after reaching the Southwest corner the Quail's distinctive "Wet my lips" call began. It called several times and then took flight and headed across the footpath back into the Pea field.
From Hazelwood, we headed twenty miles Northeast and stopped at Kessingland, Lowestoft hoping to find the Woodchat Shrike. We walked along Cliff Farm Lane passing the caravan park then took the top path all the way South checking all the trees and bushes as we went. With no sign, we returned to the beach steps and headed down onto the beach. Having spent over 2 hours searching all the cliffside trees, bushes, and scrub along the beach we had to admit defeat.
We headed further North along the coast and stopped at Horsey, hoping for better luck finding the Lesser Grey Shrike. The weather by now had taken a turn for the worse and the winds and rain made searching for the Shrike challenging. The Shrike had been seen earlier this morning and after an hour's searching the bird suddenly appeared on the fence wires North of the Green Shed. It made several short flights along the fence line before flying West into the field North of Nelson's Head Track, where we relocated the bird sitting out on a tree branch on our way back towards the car.
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| Lesser Grey Shrike |
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