It was a very busy day for Alan keeping both Birdline North West and Birdline Wales up to date. The winds had combined to blow in a whole host of good birds across the regions. Seabirds such as Sabine’s Gulls, Long-tailed Skuas, Balearic and Sooty Shearwaters were all being phoned in from all around the huge coast line that stretches from south Wales to Cumbria. No sooner had one of the pre-recorded messages detailing the latest bird sightings been updated than more news came in! So the whole day was spent on the phone talking birds but not seeing any! This was very frustrating particularly as best of all a juvenile Baird’s Sandpiper had been found not that far away on Anglesey. But with so much news coming in no chance of a twitch to see to see this major rarity. Then mid-afternoon came news of a bird that could not be ignored, a juvenile Red-backed Shrike. Ok so not as rare as a Baird’s Sandpiper but this bird was just down the road at Conwy RSPB and what’s more the first record for Alan’s local patch, you can’t miss that! With Birdline up-to-date Alan dashed out, jumped in the car and, nothing. The car was dead as the preverbal door-nail, no life at all, he was going nowhere. Back to the phone this time to phone the AA, breakdown assistance, and luckily a mechanic soon arrived. Alan joined the chap at the car and luckily it was nothing more than a flat battery. The mechanic did not have one with him but did have back at base in Conwy. Alan followed him back and the mechanic soon had the new one fitted and Alan was underway again. Now what to do? Go back home and pick up birding gear and risk missing the bird or go straight to the reserve and try and find the bird without bins and scope? A few minutes later Alan was on the reserve feeling very under-dressed with no optics! Luckily five other birders were already looking for the bird and after a tense few minutes the shrike showed, whew! What a relief to finally see one of the many great birds that he had been talking about all day. The juvenile Red-backed Shrike kept low and often proved elusive but did eventually show very well, many thanks to the kind birders who happily shared their telescope with Alan.