I almost got a great shot of the Great Grey Shrike on the common today.  I went again this morning knowing that I had to be home in the P.M.  U  My attention was immediately drawn to a bird, larger than a Meadow Pipit perched on a low solitary branch near to the path and I struggled with the camera as I tried to put it on to the tripod before my chance for a photograph had gone.  A lady dog walker walked right past  and still it remained.  I realised that it was a Skylark, a bird that I haven't photographed properly, apart from some awful shots way back in 2009 so I was keen to get this one.  I didnt get it together in time and before I could get the shot, it had gone.  But I need not have worried because now the one Skylark was joined by 3 or 4 more and they were displaying to each other in low flight and very close.  Now I suddenly knew where the expression "it was a bit of a skylark" comes from because they were playing around just in front of me.  I noticed that one bird was favouring a low branch on a fallen dead tree and I was now in a position, with the light from exactly the right place, to get my best ever Skylark images. In fact I doubt if I will be able to better them.

If that wasn't enough, I was able to achieve really high shutter speeds and then get some photographs of the "Skylarking"  as the birds chased each other around in the mid-morning sunlight.

It had already been a good session but I still waited for the Skylarks to return which they did from time time. Gradually, as I stood there  seemingly with my camera trained on to something special, I was joined by first one and then more and more fellow birders who thought that I was "on to" the Great Grey Shrike which evryone was looking for and I was so pleased that they had joined me because suddenly Kevin Smith and Dave Land discovered the Shrike way in the distance where Dave had seen it yesyerday.  With that we were off to get a bit closer.  It was feeding on exactly the same patch of land that Dave had seen it yesterday and in fact, using the same trees as hunting perches.  We got closer and closer and managed some much better images than I had managed the other day.  As with most of these situations, disappointment was to  follow.  No sooner had we got ourselves in a spot where the bird was not worried about us and had just in fact flown closer, a dog walker arrived on the scene and walked right past it.  It was just after that that my tripod fell over and totally wrecked my camera! So in the end good photos at quite a cost!

…….seconds before the dog arrived.