A Shrike for sore eyes

Posted by Unknown

A early call from Noddle and we were on our way for a quick visit to High Hauxley. We pulled up to the car park and there were eight to ten birders with their scopes fixed on the hawthorn bushes in the distance. Once we set up the scope, I got great views of a male Red-backed Shrike, first sitting low in the bush before moving on to a fence post near by. After about the 10 minutes it flew off in the direction of the holiday cottages. This was my first glimpse of a full adult male as my only previous sighting was a juvenile while in Norfolk (Sept 2010).