TWITCHING A RARE ASIAN SHRIKE
WEATHER: sunshine and showers, light winds
After returing home from the Isles of Scilly on the 5th October I have only ventured out the flat on a couple of occasions, this is because the weather has been awful and I picked up COVID on the way home. I generously gave the covid bug to Dawn and we have both been under the weather together.
A week ago a rare shrike was found in a field on the outskirts of Gillingham in North Dorset, some 22 miles for our home. It was identified (to be confirmed) as an Isabelline Shrike.
Isabelline Shrike ( Lanius isabellinus ) the genus Lanius is latin for butcher, refering to the habit of the Shrike family to store thier food on thorns and spikes to eat later, thus forming a larder. Some shirkes are referred to as 'butcher birds'.
This bird is way off course, it breeds over a huge area in Asia, and migrates to east African Countries for the winter, nevertheless, it looked perfectly happy chasing insects on the small hedgerow in North Dorset.
As I got to the site it started to rain, a few birders were already present, they told me that the bird had been showing well but had just dived out of sight looking for shelter from the rain.
It came back out when the sun apeeared some 20 minutes later, I watched form several positions and at one stage I had it to myself. However, I could not get near to it and all my pictures were digi-scoped from quite a distance.
Other birds seen in the hedge and the surrounding fields include< Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits and a Chiffchaff. At one time it looked as though the shrike was chasing the smaller birds, maybe to 'butcher' them?
