Two Years in the Waiting

At 9 o'clock this morning just as I was starting to do some work and the coffee was brewing I received a phone call from Martin Bevan asking did I want to go for a walk around Perthcelyn. I thought I should carry on with my work so I told Martin I would put the coffee in a flask and he should come to my house and I would take my car.
We parked in the usual place and walked up the hill to where the Great Grey Shrike had been seen in previous years. This area has now really sprouted up and doesn't really look so suitable for a shrike and so it proved. We then walked through the fire break in the forestry until we came to the clearfell above the Abercwmboi area. Here we had a choice of left or right so I said lets take the left until we come to the next line of trees. Very lucky decision because after 100 yards Martin spotted a Shrike on top of a dead tree to our left. It's about 2 years since we last had one in the Cynon Valley after going many years with at least one turning up. Definitely give us a warm feeling on a bitterly cold day.
We then went on a scouting mission for Rob to Llan Wood to look for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker alas to no avail but we did pick up Brambling for the year ( 2 Males & 1 female ).
Of course I then went home and worked for the rest of the day !!!!!!!