Lesser Grey Shrike + Northern Lights! - 10.5.24

Lesser Grey Shrike

There I was just about to settle down for my lunch when James Reader forwarded a message on WhatsApp with news of a Lesser Grey Shrike near the village of Lilley. Having never birder this corner of Herts before I awaited further news and directions and at 3pm I finished work and set off. 50 minutes later and I was on site and found a parking spot right by the entrance to the footpath. After a quick 5 minute walk I joined 5 other birders and was rewarded with excellent views of Hertfordshire’s first ever Lesser Grey Shrike as it flycatched from the trees. 

This was just my 3rd in the UK after a female in Suffolk and a 1st year bird just last October in Cornwall. After 20 minutes I headed back home but not before also seeing a Lesser Whitethroat and a year tick Corn Bunting which was singing from just off the footpath. 

WOW!

A couple of day’s previous my mum had sent me a message saying that there could be a showing of the Northern Lights as the Sun had blasted out a flare of severe magnitude but after many false alerts I wasn’t holding my breath. But as it was upon checking Twitter and a couple of photos from Ben Miller from nearby Berkhamsted of a faint bit of colour above I jumped in my car and drove up to Great Gaddesden where it’s a bit darker but apart from a vague bit of green I was left disappointed.

That was until I got back home and climbed out of my car and looked up to see vivid pink and green in the sky! I walked into the front room and told my wife who joined me in the garden as it picked up and filled the whole sky from west to east. I woke our kids up just so they could see it and I managed some great photos on my phone complete with many colours. Seeing the aurora borealis was high on my bucket list but I didn’t expect to see them over the house! After about 40 minutes they faded away but the memory of it won’t.