When the Worthing Birding blog was launched the boundaries were drawn as a 10 km radius centered around Worthing Pier. This covers a lot of sea to the south and a semi-circle stretching from Sea Lane, Rustington in the west to Shoreham Power Station in the east. (See map in About/Contact). The north east boundary lies on the River Adur several hundred metres north of the recently reopened footbridge across the river.
Two of the best local birds of the autumn arrived in late October / early November in the Adur Valley and teased us by holding territories right on the limits of our self imposed 10km boundary. Admittedly the Isabelline Shrike at Woods Mill was closer to 10 miles rather than 10 km from the pier, but the Great Grey Shrike was only just outside the semi circle (and would have been comfortably in if the centre point was The Cricketers, Broadwater).
However Shrikes are such good birds we thought they deserved an honorary mention.
Isabelline / Red-tailed Shrike Woods Mill ( 26th October - 2nd November)
Things used to be simpler, and a pale sandy coloured 1st winter shrike with a reddish tail found in late autumn would historically have been called an Isabelline Shrike. However these days even DNA is not a 100% reliable way of separating 1st year Isabelline (Daurian) from Turkestan (Red-tailed) Shrikes and we can’t even agree on a name never mind the identification features. What hasn’t changed is the fact that either species is extremely rare in Sussex with only four previous records. This meant a confiding and long staying bird found by Alex Rosenfeld at Woods Mill was extremely popular during its 8 day stay.
Great Grey Shrike - Beeding Brooks (12th-18th November)
Great Grey Shrike was once an almost annual winter occurrence somewhere on the heaths and forests of Surrey, Sussex or Hampshire but in recent years it has become much harder to catch up with. A typically mobile bird was found by Bob Eade in the Adur Valley, on Beeding Brooks 3/4 mile north of the footbridge, on Wednesday12th November. This bird showed well for much of the following day but then moved further back and proved frustratingly difficult to see over the rest of its stay.
