Wildlife Photographic Journals

Heading North for Seabirds - End of the day bonus

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am not one for chasing after rare birds. If a rarity should be in the locality then I may make a visit, but I don't generally care for the crowds that are often attracted. A Lesser Grey Shrike had been reported for several days in an area immediately to the south of Seahouses, known as 'Long Nanny'. So as our Farnes trip docked, we decided to go and check it out, before heading further north to our next destination. We eventually located the site with a bit of navigation from the laptop with a wobberly mobile internet connection. The bird was quickly found when we arrived, sitting on a barb wire fence, and seemed to be flying round 'a circuit' whilst foraging for bees. It was a great looking bird but it seemed slightly sad knowing that there was never going to be a response to its occasional moments of song. The best tactic appeared to be to sit and wait close to the fence in an area of long dune grass (to provide some cover) and hope it would land close-by. It landed close enough to get some photos and for one fleeting moment during one its flights, I thought it was going to land directly in front of me.

I only have these three of shots of this rarity to show that were taken in some fairly poor light conditions.

A good bonus to finish the day. Now it was time to take a 60 mile drive north to our next destination, Dunbar in south-east Scotland, for a trip out the following day to Bass Rock.