Brambling no longer a bogey bird

Great Grey Shrike

After scouting the surrounding countryside recently for a Brambling to show our Christmas guests (for whom Brambling is a bogey bird), we finally ran out of time today and decided that as I had failed in finding one for them myself we would go and twitch some instead.

En route, we took a slight detour to give them another lifer in the form of the obliging Great Grey Shrike at Hopwood - A very handsome bird indeed.

We then proceeded to Lickey Hills in search of Brambling....the bogey bird of the moment.  After walking amongst the trees for about half an hour, we finally saw a large flock of finches flying to a large Beech and followed them at a distance.  I then heard the unforgettable squawking call of a Brambling and we soon were watching them as they searched for seeds on the woodland floor.  Unfortunately the wood is disturbed greatly by dog walkers which kept on scaring the birds away.  It took about half an hour before one of my guests managed to get a really good view of the birds so that she would be confident to identify Bramblings herself going forward.

A good morning's birding with two lifers for my guests and a bogey bird finally broken.