The North Wall has been the place to be at Minsmere recently. Following on from the red-spotted bluethroat, then some incredibly showy bearded tits, we've had regular bittern sightings from there and then last week's bee-eater. Today, in a case of deja vu, a small crowd of staff, volunteers and visitors gathered again at the west end of the North Wall to look for the latest rare visitor at Minsmere. OK, so red-backed shrikes are not as rare as bee-eaters or bluethroats, but it's unusual to find one in late June, and this was a fine male too.
Found by one of our volunteers at lunchtime, this shrike could be difficult to locate as it seemed to favour the inland edge of a line of bramble and elder scrub - that's the far side of the bushes from where were watching from. At least it seemed to favour a dead bush, giving most of us a chance to see it if we were patient enough.
A male red-backed shrike feeding chicks by Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)
Red-backed shrikes used to be common breeding birds in the UK, but ceased breeding in the late 1980s as a result of habitat loss, landuse change and egg collecting. They are now only passage migrants, but occur annually at Minsmere - usually in the autumn.
While the shrike was the star bird today, there's plenty of other interesting species to watch. While I was looking for the shrike I saw, among others, bittern, grey heron, kestrel, whitethroat and linnet, with bearded tit and reed warbler further along the North Wall. Add in the variety of waders, gulls and terns that can be seen on the Scrape, marsh harriers and hobbies from the reedbed hides, and woodpeckers, tits and finches in the woods and there's lots of birds to see.
Mammal fans will benefit from spending time at the pond, where both water vole and water shrew were seen today. Insect enthusiasts will be kept entertained too. I saw Norfolk hawker along the North Wall, and there's a good mix of dragonflies, damselflies and butterflies to see, as well as beetles and crickets in suitable habitat. And, of course, there's a superb variety of flowers.