You can't beat a good Shrike

And this was a really good Shrike....in fact a really good pair of Shrikes!

We set off to North Norfolk at 5.15am this morning arriving in the car park at Burnham Norton just after 7am. It was still misty and the sun was only just coming up as we walked along the track towards the sea wall. Straight away we were looking at the Steppe Grey Shrike and as we walked on we got even better views of this stunning and charming visitor. (A first for Norfolk and a first for me too!) Somebody had put out a pot of mealworms for the bird which kept it coming to our end of the field. (I'm not sure I agree with feeding vagrants like this but I guess that's a debate for another time)

Steppe Grey Shrike at Burnham Norton

The Southern Grey Shrike at Burnham Norton

Check out the white in the wings

SHRIKE!

The bird performed really well and we left more than satisfied with the start to our day.

Next stop was the car park of Birds Eye Frozen foods at Ness Point Lowestoft where we again struck gold parking up and seeing the Red-backed Shrike without even leaving the car. This bird was even more charming than the previous and we enjoyed it's company from the comfort of the car for an hour or more as it feasted and drank from the puddles in the car park.

Red-backed Shrike

Red-backed Shrike at Ness Point

Red-backed Shrike

RB Shrike

We got wind of a couple of Yellow-browed Warblers showing a couple of miles away at Gunton so headed off to try for them. On arrival all we found was a Treecreeper which has been reported by the locals as a possible Northern. It did look frosty but I'll leave it to the smarter brains to decide if it has Northern roots. We failed to find either YBW although one was heard.
Heading back down the A12 I decided on a quick stop at Minsmere to round our day off. We made our way to Bittern Hide where we found the Little Crake showing as we entered the hide. The guy that put us on it had been waiting several hours and there we were on it in seconds.....what a day!

Poor record shot of the Little Crake

Year list is now 256
Life list now 349