Butcher Bird

 Sep 24th  Wells Woods

A brown shrike had been hanging around for around a week in North Norfolk and I couldn't organize a trip sooner due to no way of getting to it. Yesterday was my only opportunity as Dad was free to take me. However, it had not been seen since Tuesday. The weather was bad that day and I thought it may reappear again. It wasn't to be, sadly. I had missed my chance. If only I was there a couple of days ago. When we got to Warham Greens, where the bird had been reported, all we found were hundreds of greylags, the first skeins of pink-footed geese, a great white egret and a friendly birdwatcher who ended up tagging along with us to our next destination.

Wells Woods has been a bit of a migrant hotspot recently. In the last few days there was a red-breasted flycatcher, a red-backed shrike and a yellow-browed warbler and to my amazement, they were still around during our visit. The only thing is I didn't know where about on the site they were. We had vague landmarks and directions by passers by, but nothing from stopping us from accidently straying away from their whereabouts. The spot for the flycatcher was the only obvious location marked by a few birdwatchers, but the bird itself was nowhere to be seen. We were told it was last seen an hour and a half ago, so we decided to check out the shrike first. However, we missed the turning and ended up walking down towards Holkham Pines by mistake. 

Red Kite

Realising our mistake, we retraced our steps, had lunch at a bench and returned to the flycatcher spot. Still no flycatcher in sight, though it did apparently reappeared 30 minutes before I showed up again. I waited for a short while, but the only notable thing to be seen was a red kite. We decided to move on to the shrike, following the correct path this time, passing a field of pink-footed geese. A group of people standing along a barbed wired fence and leaning on some hay bales pointing their cameras in the same direction gave us hope and we were instantly directed to the bird sitting on another section of wire.

Red-backed Shrike and those watching it!

Believe it or not, this was my first red-backed shrike in the UK. I did see a couple while in France in 2016, but never in this country. They had been another one of those birds that have eluded me for so long, until now that is. This bird is a juvenile, lacking the colours and bold black masks of the adults. We watched as it jumped between the fence, the ground and a low hanging bramble branch, hoping to see if it catches something to do what most shrikes are known for; stashing its prey on thorns or barbs on a wire. This is why they are also called butcher birds. I was slightly disappointed not to witness such behaviour, though kind of relieved at the same time. This may not have been the brown shrike that I was intended in seeing, but I'm still satisfied in adding this particular shrike to my British list.

After spending some time with this wonderful bird, it was time to try our luck with the flycatcher one more time. On the way, 3-4 red kites circled around above our heads, one was even low enough to see every detail of it. They were joined by two buzzards circling even higher than they were. It made up for the lack of flycatcher as it yet again never showed itself while I was around. While waiting for it, a sudden short downpour caught us by surprise, though it was at this point someone managed to spot a possible tree pipit while it was raining. No red-breasted flycatcher or yellow-browed warbler, but at least I was lucky with the shrike. One out of three is a success in my book.