Back in 2000 the Isabelline Shrike (Lanius isabellinus) was split into 2 different species namely: - Daurian Shrike, became Lanius isabellinus and Turkestan Shrike, became Lanius phoenicuroides. Yes, I know its a bit complicated but after scientific studies, ringing, photographs etc this is what happened.
The appearance of a Turkestan Shrike on coastal farmland near RSPB Bempton Cliffs, Yorkshire gave lots of birders a chance to see, at close hand, one of these new species. So along with Kevin C, we left Rochdale at 7am and made the journey over to the east coast not far from Bridlington. What a pleasure to drive along the M62 and the various roads on an early Saturday morning. Upon arrival we parked up and immediately saw our friend Mark K, now sporting a full beard, similar to Bear on Emmerdale. We made our way down a couple of lanes towards the farm where the bird had taken up residence and were met by the farmer, who was charging £10 each. Quite a crowd had gathered to see the Shrike as we took our place amongst the scrapyard. Then the bird was seen albeit a little distantly as it hunted its prey/food items mainly consisting of bees, beetles, worms, flies. After about 40 minutes of watching the Shrike we headed to the cliffs to see the Black browed Albatross that had been showing very well for the admiring crowds. It performed admirably for us also flying around and landing on its favourite perch on Staple Newk amongst the large Gannet population. News reached us that the Shrike was giving better views, down to 25 yards at times, so we dashed off to witness this! It was a real treat to see the bird so closely and admire its subtle plumage and it hooked beak, we admired the bird for about 15 minutes until it ended the show and flew back to its hedgerow some 75 yards away, stunning experience!
Back to the car for refreshments, then after saying goodbye to Mark K, we headed to North Cave Wetlands to hopefully catch up with Green Sandpipers and a Red Crested Pochard that had been reported from there. We soon caught up with about 5 Green Sandpipers but the Red Crested Pochard could not be located, even after about 40 minutes of searching through various flocks of sleeping ducks. We visited the other hides and saw Common Terns chasing about, then we met a local who told us where to look for the Red Crested Pochard, we foolishly listened to him and walked back to the reedbed hide and spent another 30 minutes on another fruitless task. A good day out was enjoyed by us and again, the most famous car park of a motorway the M62, was kind to us with no hold ups as we reached home.
