i had a very good couple of hours watching a great grey shrike, and trust me it is great! i had seen reports of one around the grendon underwood area, bucks, for a couple of weeks and as i had a day off tuesday decided to go and find it.
i had walked along every footpath around the top end of the village, seeing many birds but no shrike, now getting a bit downhearted and thinking of going home. my last effort was going to be on a footpath behind the church yard. plodding along thinking i wont go to far as its obviously not around anymore, then i look up to see a man stanging with a scope and a tripod with his camera and a huge lens on.
approaching the man, i asked if he had spotted the shrike and he had, and he reffered to it as showing well (a birders term?) but he had not seen it for a few minutes.
we searched the areas where he had seen it with binoculars and it soon appeared about a hundred and fifty metres away, just close enough to see quite well with binoculars. and it was 'showing well' with its habit to sit at the top of trees or on top of scrub, and i saw it clearly from every angle.
so there i was for two hours tranfixed on watching this bird. as i was talking to the gentleman he had told me that the bird has been there for well over two weeks, has a larder in an area of trees where we were watching it, and had pevoiusly seen it eat a mouse and spike a long-tailed tit! (which is why they are also known as butcher birds)
i was hoping to get some photos but my camera just wasnt up to the job, it did later come up to about 40 metres away so i managed to zoom in enough to just get the bird in sight, not brilliant pictures but pictures none the less (that i will try and show you).
so after the hours drive and trecking round for ages, the reward was well worth it
