Red-tailed Shrike at Bempton, Yorkshire

 Red-tailed Shrike

Bempton Cliffs

Kittiwake

Razorbill

Nesting Gannet

Gannet

In flight Gannet

Wandale Farm

Shrike entered his larder

One for Red-tailed Shrike for luck

News broke on Wednesday (29th June) of a male Red-tailed Shrike very close to RSPB Bempton Cliffs. The first report stated Isabelline Shrike, however in 2000 these were split into three seperate species. I'd seen Durian (that breeds from the Caspian Sea through to central China)in Norfolk. Chinese Shrike is very unlikely as a short range migrant whilst this beauty was identified as a Turkestan Shrike which as an adult differs from the Durian Shrike in having a rufous crown, nape and hind-neck and a prominent white supercilium. It breeds in south Siberia and central Asia.

We hatched a plan on the first day myself and the Squire was going to be free and Chris Lane joined us. We decided we would leave at 6.30am and just hope postive news would be released as we headed north, which it did before we hit the M1. The journey was pretty smooth just very long. We were welcomed to the Wandale Farm. Access to the farm was £10 which seemed very reasonable given they had to pay staff and no one would have seen the bird without the access.

Any time I go and see a Shrike I know that they can be illusive & you can be waiting around a long time. No such worries on this occasion as the Red-backed Shrike flew up and down the hedgeline giving us spectacular viewing opportunities. Tree Sparrow families fed in the same hedgerow whilst Corn Bunting & Yellowhammer sang from the telegraph wires closeby. As we were late to the party as usual there was only around thirty birders/photographers present, all very well behaved and gave the rarity plenty of room to go about it's business.

It occured to me when writing the blog I have now seen eight of the nine Shrike species on the UK list, namely Great Grey, Lesser Grey, Masked, Red-backed, Woodchat, Brown, Durian, and Turkestan. I best not hold my breath for the missing Long-tailed but you just never know with birding.

We exited the farm via the eastern side to enable us a walk along the cliffs where we took on the breeding sea birds including Guillemot, Razorbill, Puffin, Kittiwake, Gannet and Fulmar, sadly no sign of Albert.