Off with your head!

What you lookin at?! Great Grey Killer (Graeme Duncan)

White-winged assassin (Graeme Duncan)

When a Shrike meets a Song Thrush (Ciaran Hatsell)

Off with your head! Henry the 8th Shrike Butchers Robin (Bex Outram)

Tuesday 16^th October comments: The winds battered the islands today, the tiles danced on the roof and the birds took cover. As did the Ranger team! The easterlies pounded every corner of the islands, with most bird hunkering down in any bit of shelter they could find. The horrendous weather didn't seem to bother the Great Grey Shrike too much as it remained into its' 2^nd day and continued to cause havoc.

Amazingly, this plucky little killer managed to take out a Song Thrush, a bird which is around the same size! Having only ringed the Thrush yesterday, it’s a shame it didn’t get far, but at the moment it’s a Shrike eat migrant world out there! It just underlines how fearless and aggressive these birds are, well capable of punching well above their weight! A Ring Ouzel was among a few new arrivals today and the long staying Turtle Dove dubbed 'Terry' is incredibly still here! The bird has been present since the 25th September and is becoming a real fixture on Inner Farne. Terry should be on his way to the Sahara right now so he better get a move on! And stay away from our Great Grey killer!

In other news, our first seal pup of the year on Brownsman Island was discovered today and we’ll be heading out in the next few days for another count. Excitingly, Rocky has now departed the islands to start his first year as a Grey Seal. He’ll be tried and tested and hopefully back in the near future, wish him luck everyone!