Tuesday 20 October 2015

Besston Isbelline Shrike - Norfolk October Day Trip (Part 1)

Isbelline Shrike - Chris Boyd
Isbelline Shrike - Chris Boyd
Isbelline Shrike -
Isbelline Shrike - Stephen Whayman


Video - The ID Bird Company

With the winds looking favourable I hit the road early on Friday at 4.30am to the East coast. First stop was Beeston Common which would be my furthest point from home before working back along the coast. The journey took around 3 ¼ hours, a couple of podcast& some new music certainly helped. 


Beeston is near Sheringham and a layby at the foot of the common was a perfect place to park. Not knowing where to head didn’t matter as soon as I was on the common I could see my first target bird an Isbelline Shrike perched to my right on a Hawthorn Bush. The light was very poor but the handful of birders got some fantastic views. 

Digiscoping was very difficult but thankfully Stephen Whayman (Website whayman.com Flickr Stephen Whayman2015)& Chris Boyd (Twitter ChrisDipperBoyd) kindly provided me with some fantastic shots for the blog of both the Shrike & Pipit. 

Isbelline Shrikes are related to Turkestan Strike and breed in Mongolia and West China. The bird was around 200 metres away during my time observing and could be seen catching bees and flies.

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