On the morning of 19 Oct, there was an RBA message about an Isabelline Shrike at Gillingham. I passed the news onto a few locals who I knew would be interested, whilst deciding to wait for other Birders to head off & check it out. After all, Gillingham is well over an hour away & there was plenty of time to get there that afternoon. In addition to the distance, I had a few thoughts that meant I wasn't going to be heading there immediately. Firstly, it was an odd location, was the initial identification as an Isabelline Shrike correct and was it pinned down and showing well. A couple of hours later, my local Purbeck Birding mate, James Leaver, put the first photo of it on twitter. Well it was clearly showing well & it was an Isabelline Shrike type.
The problem now came down to taxonomy. A few decades ago, there was a single species Red-backed Shrike, which ranged from Western Europe across to the Tibetan Plateau. By the late 70s, the Eastern subspecies were split off as Isabelline Shrike, which was sometimes also called Red-tailed Shrike. This left Red-backed Shrike as a Western Palearctic species which continued into the Western edge of the USSR. About ten to fifteen years ago, Isabelline Shrike was split again into Turkestan Shrike & Daurian Shrike: with Daurian Shrike containing the most Easterly of the Isabelline Shrike subspecies. To add to the confusion, Isabelline Shrike remains as a occasionally used pseudonym for Daurian Shrike and I've seen Turkestan Shrike still being called Red-tailed Shrike. This is particularly daft, given these are names that have been used for the Turkestan Shrike & Daurian Shrike complex before the split & are still being used after the split for individual species. Therefore, calling the Shrike an Isabelline Shrike doesn't indicate whether people are referring to it as a Daurian Shrike or that it not been identified down to a species. After a quick look at a few books, my initial reaction was that it looked like it was probably a Daurian Shrike. I also was pleased to see a few other good Birders calling it as a Daurian Shrike, including Marcus Lawson, Julian Thomas & Martin Cade. I've not seen a Dorset Turkestan Shrike, but I did see the Portland Bill Daurian Shrike in late Oct 12. I decided not race off to Gillingham that afternoon.
One week on and the Gillingham Shrike was still there and had been showing well during the week. I had been out a lot in the Isle of Purbeck in that week, with little reward. Finally, there was a still, sunny day and I spent the morning at St Aldhelms. After some lunch, I decided to head off to Gillingham for the late afternoon. I arrived around 16:00 and ten minutes later, I joined a handful of people standing back & watching a large area of Brambles in the corner of the field. Earlier in the afternoon, it had been closer to this group, but had moved into the corner with some people following it. The Shrike wasn't on view. Perhaps not surprising as there were two toggers standing right next to the Brambles, with one who couldn't stay still and was patrolling in and out of the area on small paths. Another clueless togger with no understanding of fieldcraft & doing what I call Aidan-ing i.e. chasing Shrikes around, as soon as, they pop up in a desperate attempt to get even more close photos. Local Birders will understand the reference.
The right hand togger did some excellent Aidan-ing: When the Shrike popped up, he was quick to move towards it, causing it to move further back or disappear. In between appearances, he was moving around the Brambles trying to get closer to it
The Shrike was keeping low and well back in the Brambles. After about a half hour of waiting, another photographer arrived and pointed out there was a path down the side of a Maize field, which we could use to get closer to the Shrike. A few of the waiting group & I followed him. This led us to a different side of the Brambles where we stayed still & waited. Fortunately, the Aidan-ing togger wasn't patrolling on this side of the Brambles. Within a few minutes, the Shrike popped up and sat on view. We stayed still and it performed nicely for over five minutes on one perch.
Probable Daurian Shrike: Showing the limited mask behind the eye, the indistinct supercilium and the lack of rufous in the nape
About five minutes later, it popped up again for a second extended performance: but it was now in the shade. When it popped up a third time it wasn't as close.
I decided that time was getting on & I would try to get back to Purbeck to look for a Short-eared Owl, that had been seen the previous evening for my Isle of Purbeck Year List. In the end, I had left it too late and it was dark before I was close to the Purbeck border: c'est la vie. I had seen the Shrike well in excellent light and as it turns out, on its last afternoon. It disappeared on that evening's clear skies. The question now is which species it is?
The identification of first winter individuals isn't easy. The new ID Handbook of European Birds is perhaps the most up to date guide that I've got. Reading it, I can see features suggesting both species. The mask being restricted to behind the eye and the not particularly distinct supercilium, suggests a Daurian Shrike. Both the mask and the supercilium should be clearer on Turkestan Shrikes. The pale brownish grey of the upperparts again fits better for a Daurian Shrike, with Turkestan Shrikes described as having a rather dark cold brown-grey upperparts, compared to pale brown-grey on Daurian Shrike. The Britain's Birds photo field guide states the nape and rump on Daurian Shrike is the same colour of the back, whereas, it refers to the nape and rump as rufous on Turkestan Shrike. While the nape looks OK for Daurian Shrike, is the rump too rufous? On balance, I favour it being a Daurian Shrike: assuming the field guides are to be believed. It will be interesting to hear what BBRC think.
Apparently, a DNA sample was collected and it will be interesting to see what that comes back as. Just before I posted this Blog Post, I saw a tweet from Martin Collinson that said " Gillingham 'Izzy' Shrikes, Oct 2024: genetically in a clade containing both Daurian and Turkestan (and Red-backed) Shrikes so we can't ID". So, DNA won't help on this occasion.