Well finally with no really big news and a good weather forecast (for birding rather than finding birds) I decided to go to Holy Island. The Brown Shrike was reported as still present on Saturday but with clear skies I didn't expect it to stay any longer.
Birder's tides (Get on island before dawn, tide comes in and the island remains pretty quiet for most of the morning!)
Tourist's tides (Tides go down at 9:00am, people flood on, and the whole day is busy)
The Brown Shrike was still present and distant as most people had reported last week. Sitting on the Straight Lonnen for well over an hour watching this bird were rewarded with some closer views. Never really close but with the warm light it was brilliant to see.
In addition to the Shrike there were; 2 Sparrowhawks, 3 Kestrels, 1 Merlin and 1 Peregrine.
A super flock 50+ Twite on the Snook and an impressive raft of Brent Geese.
When I left there was a queue of traffic almost back to Beal Barn (waiting to come on the island).