Teamed up with Itay Herling this morning for a quick tour of the Besor stream. The morning started well enough with a shy Water Rail and a Spotted Crake.
I'd been complaining about the lack of harriers this autumn (only one so far on the Nir Oz fields where there should have been a steady passage) so this Pallid Harrier was a welcome (record shot) sight. However, numbers are vastly down on last year. What's going on?
Itay spotted a Sparrowhawk harassing the Jackdaws.
Reeds have overgrown much of the water fringes making it great habitat but we only saw singles of Sedge and Reed Warblers - should have been many more. We moved upstream a bit to check out a site that was productive last winter but it too was overgrown. Once again, only a single Reed Warbler. Superb views of the ever-lovely Kingfisher though.
Lots of Whinchats about as per the last few weeks. Ditto Red-backed Shrikes - we must have seen 30+ juvs this morning.
Fewer Masked Shrikes though.
Small numbers of larks in the fields - mainly Sky with a few Short-toed. Once again, the lack of numbers is odd and rather worrying. Willow Warblers usually come through in huge numbers but there's only been a trickle this year.
Finally, from the Nir Oz fields, a rather late Lesser Grey Shrike.
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