Saturday, 19 March 2011

Shrike 2?

Following up on yesterdays report of a/the Great Grey Shrike on Skipwith Common I arrived on Sands Lane around 7.45. Looking down the lane I noticed a birder in the distance...Pete Piringer! I joined him and we spent the next couple of hours looking for the bird and having a good chat...really enjoyed it. I also saw Johno who told me he'd seen an Otter at Wheldrake! He also showed me a picture of  a Woodlark that he'd seen further up the road. Around 10.30 I said goodbye to Pete and returned home for a brew and some toast.
No sooner had I finished when the phone went. It was Pete informing me the Shrike had been seen again on Sands Lane. I quickly returned and bumped into the lad who had re-found it. He showed me the tree he'd seen it in and informed me he'd seen it catch a lizard then fly west. I continued along the lane and saw another birder waving at me. It was John from school! I told him it had been seen again and we looked for a while before he had to go.
I'd sent a few texts to the locals and Elaine from the village turned up, followed shortly afterwards by Haydn (who was obviously quite keen to see it!). After a further 30 mins we decided to try further west towards the centre of the reserve. I spotted another birder scoping the ploughed field across the road from the west end of Sands Lane. We were making our way towards him when the pager went off confirming that he was indeed looking at the GGS! Haydn then left me for some strange reason!? I eventually caught him up and we enjoyed great views of the bird feeding in the ploughed field.


It must be odds-on that all the recent sightings involve the same wandering individual? I never thought I'd see a GGS at NDC and Skipwith Common. You just never know...

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