MASKED SHRIKE
SPURN. EAST YORKSHIRE
The third for the UK and after wishing I had gone for the first, in Fife, I could not miss the chance this time. My Dad and I set off for Spurn to connect, neither of us had been to Spurn before and were surprised there was not more birders there on arrival. We set ourselves up at the viewing area and started scanning. I noticed a bird fly up from the grass, distantly in the field corner, I knew this was the Shrike and so moved around to look back into the corner and sure enough there it was perched on the wire fence. My Dad and I got good scope views and although it moved halfway along the hedgeline some time later, it was too distant for anything but a record shot. It then moved away to the far side behind Rose Cottage and never returned to this side during the 6 hours we spent there. The wind was in a different direction than the day before and therefore preferred the more sheltered distant hedges. Whilst there we searched close by for the Yellow Browed Warbler, but although I heard it call, it did not show itself for us. A great bird to get and an enjoyable twitch, I was glad to catch up with Steve Gantlett and his wife and had great company chatting with a bloke from Leighton Buzzard, all in all a great new addition.
