Friday, 20 March 2009

Same Shrike...different place



Poor shots of the Shrike...sorry

One of at least 40 toads on the track at Chartners

Bike and Bennyboy at Fallowlees...about 6 miles in and his tongue isn't
even hanging out!



Back to Harwood forest this morning but this time I took my bike and had a ride along the forest tracks. The weather was cool but gorgeous. I stopped near Redpath but couldn't see the shrike so I then rode over the fallowlees burn towards Tod knowe. This is probably the best viewpoint in the whole of the forest. I then stopped at Chartners; a good five miles into the forest to have something to eat. Moving along towards Fallowlees there was at least 40 Toads on the track. As I walked through them I noticed the shrike in flight in a clear felled area. It then began to feed and perch on the lower pines. Good views but still a couple of hundred yards away. It has chosen the quietest part of the forest; there wasn't a sound here except for the odd Buzzard cry and the occasional Meadow pipit song.

The pics above were the best I could get as I was magnifying the haze. Other birds in the forest today were Green woodpecker, 2 Stonechats, 1 female Goshawk and at least 6 Buzzards.

Bennyboy seemed quite happy to run along side me until the last couple of miles when I had to wait for him to catch up a few times.

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