Late evening Friday, two spoonbills were found on the freshmarsh at Vange Marsh.This tempted a couple of local birders to visit the reserve early on Saturday morning and they soon found an adult female red-backed shrike.
The red-backed shrike is a summer migrant that was formerly widespread in farmland, scrub and heathland over much of England and Wales. Following a dramatic decline, it is no longer a regular breeder in the UK. As late as the first breeding atlas (1968-72) there was confirmed breeding in 65 ten km squares. However, by 1980 the population was almost confined to heathland in East Anglia and, in 1989, there was no confirmed breeding for the first time. Since then, nesting in England has been sporadic. They eat large insects, small birds, frogs, rodents and lizards. Like other shrikes it hunts from prominent perches, and impales corpses on thorns or barbed wire as a larder, hence the name 'butcher bird'.
Vange Marsh has become the hotspot in south Essex for spoonbill and both birds were still present Saturday morning. One flew off high south early and the other remained throughout the day. Also present were two drake garganey favouring the north-east corner of the marsh.
Thanks to local photographer Steve Arlow for the two images, you can see more here