The Great Grey Shrike: 2021's biggest hit

 2021 was in many ways one of the best birdwatching years I've had. From rollers in Spain near to where I was staying to white-tailed eagles in Russia, it was a great year for great species. However, nothing approaches the excitement and surprise I felt when a great grey shrike suddenly turned up on the agenda in November. 

The great grey shrike is often called a 'micro-raptor' due to its predatory (and rather gruesome) way of life. It can catch everything from mice to sometimes even small birds, and when it does it finds something sharp to stick the prey item on, periodically returning to it. This is why it is known as 'the butcher bird'. Shrikes are common in Spain, where starting from 2020- I kept encountering Iberian grey shrikes everywhere (this is a close relative of the micro-raptor), whilst in 2022 after a deliberate effort I made my acquaintance with the woodchat shrike, which because of its Latin name I call the senator shrike. 

In Russia my initial plans entailed visits all over the nature reserves there. One such planned visit was to a massive swamp in the east of the oblast where the great grey shrike lived. In fact, I wanted to see this bird so much it was at #1 of my wish list for most of the summer, surpassing even greater spotted eagles. However, after these plans derailed, I gave up on the bird. I likely wouldn't have seen such a small bird there anyway- that swamp is not that passable. 

I was shocked and surprised at the news that a great grey shrike had turned up right next to where I live in the UK, in November. So, without further ado, I went there to join a small crowd of people looking for it. At this point, I had just obtained a telephoto lens, which had full manual focus, but wasn't quite used to it for them moment, which had a negative impact on most of my photos. It didn't help that the conditions on this murky morning weren't that suitable for photos. 

After a long wait, I spotted the bird and began taking photos

As I waited, it periodically flew across the field, back and forth, to perch in different places. It seemed in no hurry to leave, which suited me just fine because most of the photos I got weren't that good quality. 

After a few photos like that, it returned to one of its roost spots, and sat there long enough for me to focus in properly. The bird wasn't sitting very far away as well.

After I took that image, I hung around for a while longer, during which the bird attempted to hunt a few other birds, and then disappeared into a nearby field. This was 2021's best wildlife moment, when a bird which was #1 on my wish list turned up so close to home.