Tuesday 23 April 2013

A place I have never heard of.

Today I went to a place that I have never been before. I hadn't even heard of it until the 21st when news went out about a Woodchat shrike at North Widcombe. Where the hell is that I thought? Well it happens to be behind Herriots pool (Chew valley lake). Family commitments kept me away yesterday, so this morning I set off to have a look. I found a couple of people already there, which helps in locating a small bird in a big area. "Where is it?" I enquired
 "It will be back in a minute. It sits on top of the hedge."
I looked over the hedge in front of me to the next hedge about 50m away.
"What that hedge?"
"No this one in front of you!" was the answer.
Bearing in mind that we were only about 3-4m from this hedge, I found it hard to believe that any self respecting Woodchat would come anywhere near us. The ones that I had seen before were very flighty & you were lucky to get within 50m of them.
"There it is look!"
I spun around & there it was on a brier bough, initially looking a bit nervous, but soon settling & ogling any passing large insect. After firing a few "bankers" off, I looked at the distance on the lens & saw that it was only 10m from me. Over the next hour, it continuously came back to the hedge, sometimes carrying an insect. I saw it eat a very large furry Bumble bee, which someone likened to me swallowing a 1/2 pounder whole......Now theres a challenge.