A great grey shrike was on the moor yesterday, not quite on the reserve but only about 50m from the boundary. We rushed down to see it after work and got excellent views as it perched on top of a thorn bush in the south west corner of the Hundred Acres field, which is just to the north of the MOD stop butt. It may well hang around for a while and although the firing range was in use today, hopefully tomorrow (19th Oct) and Thursday (20th) the red flags won't be flying and would-be shrike watchers can access the MOD land. As well as the shrike, an otter was reported today on the reserve after previously being seen last Saturday. Zoe the Estate Worker saw a short-eared owl out on Ashgrave whilst topping the grass and I had a small flock of fieldfare on the Malt Pit field whilst doing some sluice repair and step construction with the volunteer work party.