The Brown Shrike in Tiree was a bird that Dad (Robert) and I had not seen before in the UK. So, we decided to go for it.
When we eventually got to see the bird on Tiree, it was very sulky. We had distant views of it, and we saw that it indeed did not have a reddy-brown colour to it, and that the black cilium was not very distinguishable. A first winter, definitely, was our conclusion. And so too was that of the RSPB warden that lived next to the field that it was mainly seen in.
All in all, a real good jornt. Still, nothing would be a twitch on an island without a cream tea to celebrate. And as luck would have it, the Sun was shining (admittedly in the wrong direction) and the warm heat waves could be felt on our backs as we walked away from the site. No rain hammering down our backs, no waiting for 2 hours for the bird to show up and no drunken Glaswegian smashing our windscreen on the way back.
_________________ Alastair Carr
Where there is a will, there is a way....
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