A Final Flourish

This is my final posting of the year.This week Mike and I made a return visit to the Fylde Coast.Last week we had been successful with an excellent day out but we only had very brief views of the Great Grey Shrike at St. Annes.It was my plan to possibly get some decent images of this very scarce visitor to Lancashire.

We began our day out with a return to Newton Marsh at Freckleton.It was a very frosty and icy morning but with some stunning winter sunshine.The pools were mostly iced over but one corner was free of ice and occupied by dozens of mostly wigeon.They looked stunning in the brilliant light and I took many images of them as they posed for the camera.

We then moved on to St Annes where we knew of a local church which was being used by a peregrine falcon as a perching and roosting spot.We were delighted to discover the peregrine was in residence and I took many images from the adjoining car park.On then to our main target species for the day,the Great Grey Shrike.

The shrike had been present for many weeks and was occupying a large bramble field but it was flighty and could disappear for long periods.It was not long before we located the shrike and eventually it came very close to where we were standing to give some stunning views.I was kept busy with the camera and some of the results are shown above.This was a wonderful end to my photographic year and I now look forward to 2015.We returned home through the Fylde countryside hoping to see a barn owl but our luck was out. A fabulous end to the year with excellent company and good weather. Thanks for looking in and all the very best to all my photographer and birdy friends. See you all next year.