Brecks - Great Grey Shrike

 A rare free day and an opportunity to head to The Brecks - only an hour up the road but a great place to visit at any time of year but particularly early spring.

On arrival, Lynford Arboretum was heaving with people with numbers increasing further throughout the morning. A bit of a scamper round provided views of a single hawfinch perched up high in the paddocks. The feeding area by the gate was a flurry of activity with a couple of smart brambling accompanying marsh tit, nuthatch, yellowhammer, and coal tit continually and nervously dashing in for seed.

Across the other side of Lynford, the lakes produced my first drake goosander for over a year. Five crossbill flew over. It was generally very quiet here and sadly there were no signs of woodlark.

The next stop was at Weeting, a ten minute walk the track to the clearfell where the continuing great grey shrike was still present and showing really well as it moved between the scattered trees. At least two goshawk were seen from this location, one passing by at a reasonable distance.