A Visit To The Forest To Look For A Special Bird 31 October 2026
News of a Great Grey Shrike in the Clocaenog Forest had us heading up there on the 31 October. A beautiful autumn day with spectacular views over the mountains of Snowdonia on the way to the forest. A quick comfort stop at the Llyn Brenig visitor centre gave us lovely views of Siskins. We then headed to look for the shrike, luckily after only a few minutes we came across three birders on the roadside gazing across a clear-fell area so of course we stopped and joined them. They were watching the Great Grey Shrike! Wonderful. Telescopes were quickly set up and we had distant, but good, views of this rare and charismatic bird. We quickly put the news out to local birders. The shrike was perching on top of small conifer trees out on an area of heather moorland beyond the clear-fell. The light was perfect so we could zoom in with the scopes for good looks. Occasionally, the shrike dropped into the heather or hovered low over the vegetation looking for prey, perhaps moths. More birders began to arrive and the small lay-by we had parked in was full, so we moved off to allow others to park safely.
Back to the visitor centre for a quick lunch and then back into a different area of the forest. The sun shone but it was chilly and air was still, we scanned in the hope of raptors, but the sky was empty. Patience is needed here. A flock of some forty Fieldfares were lovely to see along with fly over Common Crossbills, Mistle Thrushes, big flocks of Starlings and a pair of Stonechat along a fence. A distant Common Buzzard was joined by a second bird, and then a distant Sparrowhawk, several Ravens flapped over some close enough to hear their wing beats. Just as we were thinking maybe that it was time to leave a large raptor appeared over the treetops with slow powerful wing beats – a Goshawk yes! The superb raptor looked fantastic in the autumn sun. The Goshawk suddenly picked up speed, dived down, only to rise up, and back down again and melted into the trees, wow! Well worth the wait. Cold we decided to end on a high and head for home a wonderful trip into the forest in glorious autumn weather with top draw birds.
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