Masked Shrike, Kilnsea, East Yorkshire - Monday 29th September
I, meanwhile, was on Shetland, and not in a position to leave. I'm not complaining - I was having a great time. The Shrike was unlikely to stay until I got back (on the 27th September) and beyond my son's 6th birthday (28th September), so I was left with a resigned feeling and just applied myself to finding more Yellow-browed Warblers.
The week rolled on and I paid no attention to the news from Yorkshire, but more and more birders on the islands started to think (and talk about) the unthinkable: it might still be there when we get back! It was still there the day I flew home, and the throughout my son's birthday, with all its musical chairs, cakey fingers, and LEGO building.
And so on Monday 29th I set out to get to Kilnsea for dawn, on a pre-work twitch. It was foggy when I got arrived, but not foggy enough for me to see I was the only birder longing for the Shrike. I'd really expected at least a few people to be around. It was only the 3rd for Britain after all!
The bird had last been seen in the hedges off Beacon Lane, and I gave the area a good going over, but found nothing. I spotted another birder further up Beacon Lane. He'd been looking in the same are he'd seen it last night, but had drawn a blank too. Umm, not good.
He went off to look around Rose Cottage, where the bird had been earlier the previous week, taking my phone number with him, in case. I stuck around Beacon Lane, methodically scanning all the hedges.
Then, a pale shape dropped down from a distant hawthorn half-lost in the fog. Lots of white in the wing. Too small and grey to be a Magpie... Eventually it flew up to a low branch - it was still here!
Masked Shrike, Kilnsea, East Yorkshire - Monday 29th September
It was small and compact, and looked very grey even at distance. The white scapular and wing patches were quite striking, especially in flight. I could pick up much more detail through the scope: the lovely orangey-buff flanks, the long tail, the small shrike-bill, the vermiculated grey of the head and mantle, and the large black eye. A beauty.
Eventually it moved to the other side of the edge and started to come closer, but before I could get some decent shots the bird was flushed by a recycling wagon coming to the caravan site. I couldn't stick around, but I did manage to get five other birders on to it before I left and rang it through to the news services as soon as I had a signal.
I don't normally arrive into work after being away for nearly two weeks in the happiest mood, but I was happy that morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment