A SMALL yet fearsome bird was caught on camera hunting and killing a giant rodent on a Scottish golf course – despite being 6000km from home.
Mark Begg captured a rare sighting of the Steppe Grey Shrike, or "world's smallest bird of prey".
It is believed to have been blown off course from its usual hunting grounds in Asia, on Winterfield Golf Course in Dunbar, East Lothian, on September 18.
Fascinating shots show the predatory songbird, known as a "butcher bird", issuing a "death bite" to kill the much larger vole before struggling to carry its mammoth meal to a nearby thicket.
The 60-year-old great grandad-of-one then snapped the pint-sized predator impaling its furry victim on twigs before ripping it apart.
Mark, from East Calver in West Lothian, said: "I started following it and I saw it land on the second fairway and then it started to run really fast, which made me think it was chasing something.
"I ran as close as I could to the bird without disturbing it and then I laid down on my belly and got my camera and snapped away.
"I managed to get photos of the bird performing the 'death bite', which is a bite to the back of the neck.
'It's accidental that it is here'
"I caught it trying to carry the vole across the field too. This particular vole was quite big and I knew it wasn't going to be able to lift it into the air.
"I just laid down flat and I knew the direction it was going to go in and I kept photographing it as it tried to lift the vole.
"This bird shouldn't be in the UK, this was an extremely rare sighting.
"When I took the photos of the bird with the vole, I was so excited about taking them I wasn't sure if any of them would be good.
"I had been photographing the bird for several days and the photos I had been taking were the sharpest photos I have ever taken in my life and I thought they were absolutely fantastic.
"The bird isn't from the UK. It doesn't breed or live here so it is accidental that it is here, and maybe a storm or something blew it across and it has been disorientated and showed up here.
"I'd say it is one of the world's smallest birds of prey."
He shared the impressive snaps on social media, racking up 3700 likes where users were quick to congratulate him.
One wrote: "Amazing! Great shots. Feel a bit sorry for the vole but nature and all that."
A second said: "Amazing birds. Great shots."
A third added: "They're not called butcher birds for no reason."
