It was an early start, leaving home at 06:00 to pick up Pete Blanchard and driving to 3 birding sites in the Forest of Dean: Fancy View, Crabtree Hilland Cannop Ponds.
Although, a stunning view of the Forest of Dean can be had from Crabtree Hill, we didn't manage to see any of the reported Goshawks...maybe we were there too early. We took some good shots of Mistle Thrushes. Song Thrushes and nesting Long-tailed Tits and spotted some Bullfinches near the car park.
Following a significant trek from the cat park at Speech House to Crabtreee Hill we were soon rewarded with a sighting of the reported Great Grey Shrike. The shrike spent much of the time hunting and Pete and I managed a few fairly close up shots of the reported Great Grey Shrike at Crabtree Hill.
A brutal bird but handsone nonetheless!
We then travelled a few miles to Cannop Ponds to find out whether the mandarib ducks were present. Unfortunately they weren't about but we managed some shot's of Marsh Tits at the feeding station.
On the way home we visited Pilning Wetland and Portbury Warf Nature Reserve. We didn't manage any photographs because of the failing light but we did see some fieldfare and a couple of Little Owls.
Another great day out!!