A Brown Shrike at Upper Hollesley Common

28th October 2025

My first visit to Upper Hollesley Common in the hope of seeing the Brown Shrike that has been present for a few days now. Recently the bird was remaining fairly loyal to some scrub just next to the car park, albeit elusive, but had now re-located to within the perimeter fence of the MoD compound. It was possible to get very good views of the bird but you had to view it through two chain-link fences which didn't bode well for photography. So after rattling off a few record shots we went for a wander around the area in the hope it would re-locate to somewhere more suitable.

There were quite a few Stonechats about including this pair which were feeding from the fence-line along on of the tracks. This is the male...................

........................and the female.

There were also a few Yellowhammers around and this male sat up on high and was fairly confiding, allowing us to get quite close.

One of the bonuses today were the Crossbills that were trying to get down to the puddles to drink in a rather busy car park. Here are some shots of the males.

The females are a much drabber green colour, presumably so they are less conspicuous at the nest.

Further along the road were some more puddles which had attracted a flock of 10 birds, and here are just five of them.

So time now to go back to the compound to see if the shrike was in a more favourable position. It was still in the compound, but instead of perching on low bushes and hence having to be viewed through two fences, it was now perching on top of the inner fence and allowing uninterrupted views. This also had the advantage that it was colour-coordinated with the rust on the chain-link fence and the barbed wire.

Well, what an amazing bird.