Wednesday 12 November 2008 - SOUTHERN GREY SHRIKE in Lincolnshire - A new addition to my British List - 08/11/08
SOUTHERN GREY SHRIKE in Lincolnshire
After spending the early hours of the morning nursing an hangover and being unable to remember much from the night before, I was actually dreading news of yesterday's SOUTHERN GREY SHRIKE still being present in Lincolnshire! Ridiculous I know! Anyway my 'Elaine Pager' was all broke so perhaps I could pull the duvet back over my throbbing head and spend my Saturday in blissful ignorance? Not possible I'm afraid. I checked on the internet but there was no news at around 7.20am so I texted some of the Cheshire Crew, within a few minutes Big Al Orton called to say it was still present. About a hour later I was on my way with Pezza Perrins & the Renegade Master for company.
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After receiving a nice tip off from Mark 'Feel My' Payne on the way up we made our way over to Grainthorpe Haven via Keyholme Lane rather than use the Horseshoe Point car park and walk the mile or so. It ain't nothing to do with me being lazy or nothing it's just that 'Big Pezza' gets all wheezy after strolling a few yards so it was more like a health and safety issue really. Anyway I soon managed to pick up the target bird feeding along a dyke in the distance, my first ever 'Steppe Grey Shrike' (race pallidirostris). After a short wait the bird came closer..... and closer.... and closer until the little beauty was more or less within touching distance. It even flew and landed to within inches of young photographer whilst he sat obliviously fiddling with his equipment. After the initial shock he must have peeled off a few decent pics, great stuff! Another funny moment was when an old geezer turned up, rushed over to view the field he thought we were looking in and began to look confused and panicy as he failed to locate the bird. It was because we were all looking beyond the field towards the top of a sign post where the Shrike was perched about a foot above his head!
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'Steppe Grey Shrike' - Grainthorpe Haven, Lincolnshire - November 2008
Photo by erm sorry I forgot where I obtained it from, please contact me for your royalty cheque Mr Photographer.... and well done for 'keeping a sensible distance' by the way.
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Unfortunately things began to get somewhat frustrating soon afterwards. The bird flew towards a hawthorn hedge that ran alongside a footpath between a stubble field and a nice green kale field. At this point most birders were content with viewing the bird distantly and waiting for it to return to the dyke. Unfortunately a few 'bell ends with big lenses' decided to 'bum rush the show' in order to get that 'money shot'. As a result an episode of chasing the bird from bush to bush ensued along with a certain amount of trespassing in both the stubble field and even worse in the kale crop! What also gets on my tits is that these numpties think nothing of ignorantly blocking your view of the bird, it's like owning a decent camera and lens gives you some kind of birding carte blanche to do whatever the fekkk you like. It's not all photographers but the good lads need to sort these idiots out, it's giving the decent fellas who we rely on for those mouth-watering shots in the magazines a bad name. To be fair there are a fair few birders that should take a long, hard look at themselves and their thoughtless actions too. Other birds on site included a late Barn Swallow and a number of migrating Pink-footed Geese.
STEPPE GREY SHRIKE factfile
If accepted (which it will) the Lincolnshire bird will represent just the 18th British record. There has also been one on the Isle of Mann..... but they're not part of Britain, so fekkk 'em!
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2004 - Ash, Kent - first-winter - 6th to 7th November.
2003 - Ballaghennie Ayres, Isle of Mann - first-summer male, in song - 17th June to 12th July.
2000 - Windwick, South Ronaldsay, Orkney - first-winter - 22nd September.
1997 - Long Buckby, Northamptonshire - first-winter - 3rd to 4th November.
1996 - Holland-on-Sea, Essex - first-winter - 18th November to 4th December.
1994 - Papa Westray, Orkney - 11th to 26th November.
1994 - Boddam, Mainland, Shetland - probable first-winter - 7th to 10th November.
1994 - South Walney, Cumbria - first-winter - 2nd November.
1994 - Great Wakering, Essex - first-winter - 26th to 30th October.
1994 - North Ronaldsay, Orkney - first-winter male - 14th September to 16th October.
1993 - Swindon, Wiltshire - first-winter - 23rd September to 28th September.
1992 - Easton Bavents & Southwold, Suffolk - age uncertain - 4th to 7th October.
1992 - Cape Cornwall & Kenidjack, Cornwall - 21st to 23rd April.
1989 - Portland, Dorset - first-winter - 1st November.
1989 - Bishop Monkton, Yorkshire - probable first-winter - 31st October to 1st November.
1986 - Landguard, Suffolk - age uncertain - 6th December.
1964 - Fair Isle, Shetland - first-winter - trapped - 18th October.
1956 - Fair Isle, Shetland - first-winter - trapped - 21st September.
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Southern Grey Shrike is very similar to the more familiar Great Grey Shrike and was only split as a separate species recently. 'Steppe Grey Shrike' is the eastern race of the Southern complex and is the only race that is a long distance migrant, particularly those in the north of its range, hence its appearance in Britain over the years. Some authorities treat pallidirostris as a separate species in its own right. It breeds in Northern Pakistan, Afghanistan, North East Iran and east of the Caspian Sea down to the southern regions on Mongolia and even into China. In winter birds migrate in a south-westerly direction with around 30% of the population wintering in Turkmenistan. The remaining 70% spend the time in the Middle East, Western Pakistan and in North East Africa.
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Coming Soon..... Tales of Seals & Desert Wheatears......
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