The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Great Grey Shrike 10am Kelby Lodge area. Unfortuntely shooting party in area so may move on.

Robert,
I know Kelby is between Sleaford and Grantham; grateful for a Map Reference for Kelby Lodge, though. This GGS is the nearest to Lincoln so far this autumn so hopefully it'll stay around.

Freddy

(For those local birders wishing to chance their luck) :

According to a Birdguides report timed as seen at 09.30 today (Tue), the GGS was seen in a new location in Rauceby Warren (LWT Reserve), "near the railway line", just a couple of minutes flight time NE from Kelby Lodge Farm.

( OS 130....GR TF 034441. )

Rauceby Warren Location and Access :
The Reserve consists of a 1.3-km linear strip that runs along the S side of the A153 Sleaford-Grantham road, about 2.5 miles W of Sleaford and N of the railway line. There is parking space through a gate near the Sleaford end or on the open space at the W end.
There are 2 Waymarked Routes.

Freddy

No joy today after searching Rauceby Warren and along the road to Kelby.

Of historical interest a Great Grey Shrike overwintered in the Rauceby Warren area from 1986 to 1991 and could be extremely difficult to find as it ranged far over the adjacent golf course and was often unreported for weeks.

Colin and Sheila

Colin and Sheila,
Further to your post, most birders will agree that twitching Great Grey Shrikes can be a very frustrating experience. Some GGS are locality tourists, ranging far and wide over a given territory such as the Rauceby Warren 1986-1991 bird(s); others seem more locality loyalists frequenting a favoured but limited stretch of hedgerow, woodland edge, etc. ........and, of course, just to make it even more frustrating for us, some start in one group and then move to the other; some are loyalists in the morning but tourists in the afternoon; and yet others simply 'disappear' within a couple of days or so. .......hence the experienced birder's maxim :

' If you've got something better to do and like, never twitch a Great Grey Shrike. '

The Welbourn GGS was more of a locality loyalist : I went for it 4 times during its stay and connected each time (and, importantly, only a 15 minutes' drive from BBH, so no long distance twitch involved.)
A current bird is on Muspit Lane, South Wheatley, Notts having been reported regularly for some days now along much the same stretch of hedgerow.
The current Tetney Lock (village) bird has been seen on each of these past 4 days.
The Frampton-Cut End GGS frequented much the same area before it moved away but the Brothertoft bird didn't show today after yesterday's (first) report.

If it stays around, it will be interesting to discover which daily routine the Kelby-Rauceby bird adopts, although to date it has been reported on 2 successive days only a few hundred yards apart.

I suppose the one crumb of comfort you achieved from today's trip was that you didn't have far to drive home after dipping out; more a case really of having checked out the local area rather than a twitch.

Freddy