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| Long-tailed Shrike (photo by Mark Wilkinson) |
On Sunday July the 5th, the weather forecast didn't look particularly great, with the possibility of rain from as early as 1000. However, I decided I should make the effort to try to connect with Ian Ford's Lesser Whitethroat at Campy Growers in Camperdown Park. An early start would give me enough time to get there, spend an hour or so trying for the bird and then head homewards, possibly via Victoria Park for hopefully better views of White-letter Hairstreak butterflies. I wasn't entirely certain that I was choosing the correct order to do both these things in, but I settled on my original plan.
I was up early and out the door for around 0655. House Sparrow, Herring Gull, Blackbird, Dunnock, Woodpigeon, Swift, Feral Pigeon, Magpie, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw and Starling got the day's list underway though things slowed down a bit after the initial rush. Song Thrush, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, and Oystercatcher were all added along with a Common Greenbottle before I reached Camperdown Park. Once into the park, I managed to find Wren, Chiffchaff, Treecreeper, Greenfinch, Great Tit, Robin, Whitethroat, Stock Dove, Nuthatch, Coal Tit and Great Spotted Woodpecker as I searched in vain for the Lesser Whitethroat which if it was still there, was being drowned out by the Wildlife Centre's Lar Gibbons' relentless hooting and 'encouragement' from those tidying up after the previous day's 'Doof In The Park'.
A Swallow was seen high overhead and both Grey Squirrel and Rabbit were found before I admitted defeat and headed in the direction of Balgay Hill. I reached Balgay Cemetery shortly before 0900 and quickly added Goldcrest and Jay to the day's list of birds. I made my way to the eastern end of Victoria Park via the top of the hill. Ringlet and Speckled Wood butterflies were found en route. I failed to find anything at the Planet Trail Elms. Checking the 'original' Elm for White-letter Hairstreaks proved to be rather frustrating though I managed a few glimpses of butterflies high in the top branches. A lady stopped to ask what I was seeing and as I was replying I spotted movement just above my head in a small Cherry Tree, on the 'island'. It was a rather unexpected White-letter Hairstreak down low (for once!). Somehow I managed to screw up my photo but thankfully managed one in the same tree a little later.
Over the next few hours, I had more sightings of these wee butterflies in the small trees on the island. Having put word out, I was joined by Lainy and Mark and we all managed some fairly decent views. The forecast rain also stayed away. Red Admiral, Green-veined White and Small White butterflies were also noted. House Martin, Buzzard and Siskin were also seen as we watched the butterflies. Just after 1305 as we were all about to head for home, word came in from Fife of a "probable Lesser Grey Shrike/small chance of Long-tailed Shrike". Mark decided quickly that he was going to go for the bird, although it hadn't been seen since the original sighting (by Ian Redfield, an American student at St Andrews who was surveying Corn Buntings when he chanced upon it). I didn't think it looked like Lesser Grey Shrike from the photos, but had no real idea of what Long-tailed Shrike even looked like.
Mark very kindly offered me a lift if I wanted to join him to go for the bird and with both species mentioned being 'lifers' for me, it was really a no-brainer, so off we went. En route we saw Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Swallow, Kestrel, Carrion Crow, Swift, Blackbird and Oystercatcher from the car. We reached the farm just outside Crail around 1420 and set off for the roughly 1 mile walk to the site where the shrike had been seen. Corn Bunting and Cinnabar moth were seen on the way. We bumped into the finder of the bird who confirmed there had been no more sightings since his original find. There was a small crowd already at the site, including some familiar faces. Will Cresswell and Willie Irvine were trying to sweet-talk the farmer, who was (probably understandably) rather apprehensive about what might happen if the bird turned out to be a Long-tailed Shrike (there has been only one previous sightings of the species in the UK - back in 2000, on South Uist).
There were a few thankfully rather brief showers of rain, which I wasn't dressed for, before a message came through that the bird had been seen again. We were literally just around the corner and ran round to find the bird had dropped out of sight, along the edge of the garden. The crowd split into a couple of groups, with each trying to see if they could pick up the bird. We were joined by Matt Jackson and Lukasz Pulawski and we had a brief catch-up chat. Shortly after that, I saw a bird in flight along the back of the hedge and quickly got my binoculars onto the bird. As the features came into focus, I realised it wasn't a bird I immediately recognised. I blurted out "in flight!" though I'm not sure if anyone actually heard me, or not. Lukasz reacted very quickly to the bird's flight over the field edge beyond the garden and managed to get a few photos of the bird in flight. These clearly showed that the bird was indeed a Long-tailed Shrike. I managed to see the bird distantly in flight a few more times but failed to get a photo. The bird was also re-found later by Dan Pointon using a thermal imager but despite it being in bushes in front of us, I just couldn't get onto the bird. Mark, being taller, did manage to get a few photos.
In addition to the shrike, we managed to see some distant Gannets plus Linnet, Meadow Pipit, House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Starling, Song Thrush, Yellowhammer, Pied Wagtail, Collared Dove, Curlew, House Martin, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Magpie, Skylark, Whitethroat, Wren and Buzzard. Rabbit, Brown Hare and Brown Rat along with a Yellow Shell moth were also spotted before we finally called it a day just after 2000. As we headed back to the car, twitchers from Yorkshire were still arriving. Over the course of the next few days, hundreds of birders visited the farm to see the bird before it vanished again. I finished the day with a combined total of 46 species of birds (30 in Fife, in Dundee), 4 species of mammals (3 in Fife, 2 in Dundee) and 6 species of butterflies (all in Dundee) and 2 of moths (2 in Fife). With a very unexpected lifer and my best views of White-letter Hairstreak, the day had turned out rather different to what I had envisaged when I'd headed out the door in the morning, around 14 hours earlier.
Mega-thanks go to Mark Wilkinson for giving me the opportunity to go for the Shrike, and for allowing me to use his photos from the day in this blog-post. Thanks also to Lainy (whose photos are from a few days later) and Lukasz for also allowing me to use their photos of the bird here too (as I unfortuantely failed to get any of my own).
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| Wren |
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| Song Thrush |
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| Robin |
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| White-letter Hairstreak |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Whitethroat |
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| Corn Bunting |
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| Song Thrush |
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| Tree Sparrow |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Brown Hare & Rabbit |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Collared Dove |
....and of course, the main attraction...
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| Long-tailed Shrike (photo by Lukasz Pulawski) |
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| Long-tailed Shrike (photo by Lukasz Pulawski) |
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| Long-tailed Shrike (photo by Mark Wilkinson) |
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| Long-tailed Shrike (photo by Lainy McCormack) |
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| Long-tailed Shrike (photo by Lainy McCormack) |
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| Long-tailed Shrike (photo by Lainy McCormack) |
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| Long-tailed Shrike (photo by Lainy McCormack) |
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| Yellowhammer, Tree Sparrow & Long-tailed Shrike (photo by Lainy McCormack) |
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| Long-tailed Shrike (photo by Lainy McCormack) |
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| Long-tailed Shrike (photo by Lainy McCormack) |
Birds (Dundee) - Blackbird, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Magpie, Nuthatch, Oystercatcher, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Siskin, Song Thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Treecreeper, Whitethroat, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies (Dundee) - Green-veined White, Red Admiral, Ringlet, Small White, Speckled Wood, White-letter Hairstreak.
Flies (Dundee) - Common Greenbottle.
Mammals (Dundee) - Grey Squirrel, Rabbit.
Birds (Fife) - Blackbird, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Collared Dove, Corn Bunting, Curlew, Gannet, Goldfinch, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Kestrel, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Linnet, Long-tailed Shrike, Magpie, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Feral Pigeon, Skylark, Song Thrush, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Tree Sparrow, Whitethroat, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Mammals (Fife) - Brown Hare, Brown Rat, Rabbit.
Moths (Fife) - Cinnabar, Yellow Shell.
