Great Grey Shrike, Deenethorpe, Northamptonshire ....... the Butcher Bird.

How often do I raise the subject of being in the right place at the right time. 

When I pitched up at Burn Coppice today at mid-day I met a gentleman doing an impersonation of an ice cube who had been searching the area on foot for a couple of hours with no success in a bitter cutting wind, we exchanged pleasantry's and he departed.

My tactic was to sit in the car and wait for the bird to come to one of its favoured perches, so I parked up with good panoramic views of the trees along the bridleway and waited in the car ...... twenty minutes later the bird appeared on top of a medium sized tree.

A bit distant for my 420mm f4 lens combination so these images are cropped and sadly the bird was also backlit.

My heart goes out to the unlucky gent. who I had met, I've been in his shoes and its not a pleasant experience to dip after investing time and energy into an objective ..... this was my third visit, the first two being unsuccessful.

Its that time of year ..... The butcher bird .......... and the Short Eared Owl.

Anticipation !

We are getting to the time of year that, hopefully, will see some passage migrant Great Grey Shrikes arriving in the country and County of Northamptonshire, even better if some remain for the winter.

Similarly Short Eared Owls are on the move with moorland birds moving down to lower elevations and migrant birds arriving for the winter.