On Monday afternoon we had to be in Cambridge, so I convinced Amy that the Cotswolds was on the way home — which it was, it just took two and a half hours to get there from Cambridge and the same to get home! We parked up and made the short walk to the mighty crowd gathered to watch Britain's third ever Long-tailed Shrike — following the second in Fife a few weeks ago and the first some 26 years ago on the Hebrides!
Views were never that close, but we were fortunate that the bird flew towards us and started hunting just within range of my new camera, the Canon R5 Mk II. Even better, the sun disappeared behind a cloud and the heat shimmer settled for a bit.
We didn't stay long as an early start beckoned the following morning, but it was great to complete my set of shrikes on the British list — and we had such a laugh. A spontaneous jaunt, spending more time in the car than watching the bird — a proper twitch, absolutely bonkers!
As Amy said, "you have to shrike while the iron is hot!"
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