A Red-backed Shrike at St Mary's Bay

16th October 2020

A juvenile Red-backed Shrike had been present for several days at the north end of St Mary's Bay golf course, but by the time we got there it had just flown off and was not seen again over the next two hours. We therefore decided to head off to Dungeness for a couple of hours and try again in the afternoon.

Unfortunately the recent sprinkling of migrants had moved on, but there were still a few Goldcrests in the gorse bushes

This Kestrel seemed to think that the quickest way to get a meal was to sit on top of the heligoland trap but that was never going to work, and ended up scavenging on the ground.

Back at St Mary's Bay I am pleased to say that the shrike had re-appeared and was showing well north of the car park. Luckily there were still a few wasps around so it was feeding well.

The light was pretty poor, but was more than compensated for by the short range, allowing several shots to be taken of this beautifully marked juvenile bird.

It then moved on to a fence covered by Wild Clematis, also known as Old Man's Beard and Traveller's Joy and posed with different head positions for over ten minutes. Why can't all birds be this cooperative?

I have now photographed five Red-backed Shrikes since I bought my first camera in 2011 and all have been very tame, allowing photographs to be taken down to about six yards. I wonder what it is about these birds that makes them so confiding?