Scillies - Day 8 - Homeward bound via Pendeen Brown Shrike

 Pendeen Brown Shrike

Only a dozen birders present

Best shot of a mobile bird

With Pendeen just ten minutes from Land's End Airport I couldn't resist the chance to see my second ever Brown Shrike. Knowing how Brown Shrikes can be illusive I decided I'd give it an hour before setting off up the M5. Any such concerns were completely not needed as this stunning small Shrike was showing as soon as I arrived. The bird was quite mobile and on occasions went into cover but it wasn't long until it showed again to a group of around a dozen birders and photographers. A great way to end the holiday.

Brown Shrike on Holy Island makes it a north east double

Brown Shrike

Pictures sadly don't do this cracking bird justice

Safely spread out

Incognito

View to Lindisfarne Castle

Day break over the causeway

Curlew

 A bit of an arty pic

I was away in Devon when the Warham Green's Brown Shrike was showing off to the crowds, so when one was reported an hour further north than the Taiga Flycatcher it was always going to be in the plan. Sadly due to the tides there wouldn't be any access during the afternoon after the Flycatcher so we stayed over night in Ashington (where the famous Charlton brothers were born) for a morning assault.

A pretty dreadful nights sleep meant we were up early and on the road to Holy Island where we had seen the Asian Desert Warbler in the spring. My local contact Ross, kindly gave us some directions to walk from the car park. Rain and heavy cloud over night gave us a relative amount of hope as we walked through some pretty muddy terrain. Suddenly we saw two birders walking very intendly and in the distance were a small group of birders! This looked hopeful.

When we reached the group they informed us the bird had been seen ten minutes ago, so it was just a waiting game. It did seem very quiet and we did wonder perhaps it wasn't the bird they had seen at a distance. Then after around 20 minutes our target bird, the Brown Shrike, popped up on the fence line and duly performed like you would expect a Shrike too. The scope provided some fantastic views but the bird was in fairness too far for photographs & video. 

We were both delighted that we had seen both our north east target birds. It's certainly been a great year for birding that is for sure. Before we left we saw a Red-flanked Bluetail & Barred Warbler in the village. Around the island there were thousands of geese and waders to enjoy. We set off for home late morning both rather shattered and keen to recharge our batteries.