Long Nanny

I was fortunate that the lesser grey shrike lingered for a couple of more days. After work today I drove up to Newton links to see the bird. It's a poor excuse to visit this area to see a rare bird as the links have some wonderful flowers at present such as Bloody cranesbill, Houndstongue and Burnet rose adding plenty of colour to this beautiful landscape. The last time I came here was to see some Shore larks. The Shrike was magnificent and favoured the fenceposts just metres from the path. It was uttering a scratchy, almost inaudable song. I visited the Tern colony just around the corner and there were hundreds of mainly Arctic terns and many Little terns. While I was there a fine Roseate Tern flew in and landed among the Arctics. I have included only two of the many shots I took. The Shrike in song emphasising how close I was to it and the Roseate with Actics and the cropped shot you can make out the grey rings on its legs.