Northern Grey Shrike
18th February 2012
There's not much around at the moment, apart from the Common Yellowthroat that's thirty miles down the road near Newport, Gwent. I've seen plenty of these little 'sculkers' in the States and they are not easy to pin down, also given the amount of people there will be on a fist day twitch for a mega rarity like that, as a photographer, it's best to stay away for the time being. Therefore, I went out birding locally and thought I'd see if a wintering Northern Grey Shrike was up on a local moorland. This particular bird goes missing for long periods,( Weeks ), at a time, but he was there today.
He was perching on the tops of isolated small trees, silhouetted against a grey winter sky. These birds can be a nightmare to photograph because of this, you have to try and get them lower down, which they don't like. The bird was perched on top of a large Hawthorn bush which was no use for a photograph, for the reasons mentioned above. I decided, therefore, to wait lower down in some dense Gorse bushes near a fence line. I waited for about half an hour, until as I hoped, some walkers came along and pushed the bird off his perch, he could have gone further away but on this occasion he came down to the fence line. I quietly poked the lens through a gap in the Gorse, as one particularly vindictive piece was sticking right where the Sun doesn't shine, I had no choice but to put up with it as these birds are so spooky and if I had moved he would have flown immediately. I managed to get a few shots off before another walker came along and the bird was gone again. I couldn't complain because it was a walker that gave me the opportunity in the first place. I would have liked to have been a bit closer but you have to take what's on offer in these lean times.
Please see UK Birds.
He was perching on the tops of isolated small trees, silhouetted against a grey winter sky. These birds can be a nightmare to photograph because of this, you have to try and get them lower down, which they don't like. The bird was perched on top of a large Hawthorn bush which was no use for a photograph, for the reasons mentioned above. I decided, therefore, to wait lower down in some dense Gorse bushes near a fence line. I waited for about half an hour, until as I hoped, some walkers came along and pushed the bird off his perch, he could have gone further away but on this occasion he came down to the fence line. I quietly poked the lens through a gap in the Gorse, as one particularly vindictive piece was sticking right where the Sun doesn't shine, I had no choice but to put up with it as these birds are so spooky and if I had moved he would have flown immediately. I managed to get a few shots off before another walker came along and the bird was gone again. I couldn't complain because it was a walker that gave me the opportunity in the first place. I would have liked to have been a bit closer but you have to take what's on offer in these lean times.
Please see UK Birds.