A Bumper find

6th March 2012 - The fact that Great Grey Shrike has been present on Beeley Moor for at least since before Christmas has been bugging me cos it's one of those places that I never know where to look, but I finally decided to go and find it today. The locality has also got Bramblings (we went to find those before Xmas too!) so hopefully I could get a BOGOF deal.
A quick dash over to Beeley after picking the nipper up from school found us on site at Wragg's Quarry for 1615. A guy was coming off the moor as we arrived and told us that he'd just had the shrike down near Bumper Castle. We followed them down to where they thought it had been and parked up. After a short scan round the shrike gave itself up by flying to a hawthorn and showing really well!

The Brambling were also found by my new birding friend and after satisfying myself with shrike-views I moved further up the hill to view the birches which held a good flock of at least 12 Brambling (this is probably an under-estimation!), plus Chaffinch and Linnet. Not bad for 45 minutes twitching before tea and many thanks to the birders that helped secure the sightings.

2012 Yearlist - 117