Butcher Bird!

Having decided to visit Dalton Crag again this year for his third in a row Jeff Butcher struck lucky with the bird partially named after him when he found the Great Grey Shrike with a group he had taken up there in the hope of seeing it and probably thinking he was living in the land of dreams as they made their way on to the crag......Excellent stuff Jeff.

Jeff is obviously making a habit of finding 'shrikes' as he was also in the right place at the right time on 29 May when he found a female Woodchat Shrike in/around the plantation behind Tower Lodge in the Trough of Bowland.

Back to today's find......is this in fact the Alston Moor GGS come to winter on Dalton Crag having having raised three young there at an undisclosed location. The species has had a presence in winter on the moors at Alston for many years, this year two birds stayed on to breed......interesting!

Many thanks to Jeff for allowing me to post his two images of this exciting find on Dalton Crag......again.