Two days later, and mainly from the golf club car-park, I watched the it for a long while. Its hunting territory was just to the south of the car park in a small grassy valley running roughly parallel to the main road at NY727.439 (see photo). The valley was crossed by telephone wires whilst in the bottom there were sections of broken wall. All this area was from 50-200 metres from the car park and the valley perhaps 50-70 metres wide. The bird would perch on the wires or on the broken walls below. It was never out of sight for more than a couple of minutes (and then only because it was hidden in the grass feeding). The wires, especially, were a favoured perch/look-out. I watched it for almost 3 hours and it was actively feeding/hunting throughout that time. When ascending from the ground to the wires above it would rise with a rather fluttering, skylark-like flight. On two occasions, whilst on the wires, I saw it eject an undigested pellet and on another occasion I saw it deal efficiently with what appeared to be a bumblebee. At another time some juvenile Swallows and a Goldfinch perched on the wire only a few feet from the Shrike; however, as it eyed them closely, this appeared to be an unwise move. The bird was seen again two days later (August 5) but then apparently not afterwards.
Mainly due its very pale grey (worn) upperparts and its dark-tipped, horn-coloured bill, there had been rumours that this might be a very rare Steppe Grey Shrike, similar to the Lincolnshire bird which I saw in the previous November. However, I don't think so, as with its two prominent white wing bars, it appeared much closer to the 2008 Padiham bird although its plumage wasn't exactly the same. The consensus view of those who had seen it was that it was a second calendar year Great Grey Shrike.
For birds to remain in Britain in the summer months is most unusual although there are a few records for late spring and early summer. Consequently, this was possibly the first British record for August. Additionally, its presence at this time of year (and the earlier presence of this bird or another one at precisely the same place in April led to rumours that this was part of a breeding pair. If that was to be the case it would be of considerable interest but there appears to be no publicised evidence to support this possibility.
