After missing out on the trip to Spurn on Wednesday for the Black-faced Bunting that Brian & Jimmy went for. I was glad when this Brown Shrike popped up on Birdguides around 9am this morning. A phone call to Brian to see if he could make the trip gets a thumbs-up reply, and to meet up at 10 o'clock.
We arrive at Heath Rd, Upper Hollesley, Common in Suffolk, around noon, and we find a fair number of cars parked up, but we manage to get parked just off the main Road by Gobblecock Cottage and see a small crowd of birders lined up on the other side of the Road.
We soon get talking to a local birder, who tells us the Shrike has been seen on & off over the last hour. We didn't have to wait long before Jimmy and I had another lifer. It was really nice for Jimmy, as he had dipped this species on two other occasions. I was with him on one of those trips, so a big high five on getting this tick.
Over the next couple of hours, we had great views of the Brown Shrike, although it never came close enough to get great photos.
A nice little twitch not too far from home, and nice to see John P and Howard. along with some other known faces. It's been a while since we have been out birding together, so this was great to do this trip and to get to see this cracking 1st winter Brown Shrike. I was told the first for Suffolk.
No comments:
Post a Comment