I will begin by apologising for this post being about myself and what I do rather than the wildlife I observe. But what can I possibly add about its subject anyway, and the landmark it represents should be recorded herein. After several bird lifers in Tenerife earlier this year my next one would be 500 for Europe (the Canaries being part of Spain), so it would be a pity not to write things up on a matter of personal ethics.

As any birder knows, there have been two Long-tailed Shrikes nationally this month. The first in Fife, Scotland from 5 – 8th July which prompted a massive twitch (see here) was only the second British record. Then a different individual was found much closer to home just across my county border in Glos on 8th, that date overlapping with the first bird. News of the latter was not put out straight away as the landowner was away from home and did not wish to accommodate another large-scale twitch until he returned, but everything fell into place at Eastleach Downs (SP208076) over this featured week.

Sunday 19th was one on which I needed to get out. So I started with an early visit to a Hawfinch breeding site in east-Oxon, then indulged a little local Odo surveying. Returning home for lunch and anticipating an afternoon in the garden, I checked the bird news and there it was! There had been anticipation that the Glos LTS would cross our county’s western boundary and now it seemed poised to do so. In any case this could be that Euro 500th, so there was only brief hesitation before I activated the microwave, wolfed down some left overs, then “got out the door”. I should add that I keep the Oxon Birding Forum muted since the sound of constant message alerts of varying relevance can drive me crazy.

The Long-tailed Shrike is just visible as a tiny dot in the above landscape (blue arrow). I was informed that the wooden post in the picture’s centre marks the county boundary. So in this instance I accepted Hawkeye must rule my quest was just into Oxon, eh Johnny Mac? I am by no means alone in adopting that interpretation. It was not a situation I wished to over-analyse, but of course that ensued in OBF the following day, together with discussions about where the on-site collection might be going and other birders’ behaviour. Such are why I keep WhatsApp groups muted. But by Tuesday 21st almost every active lister in the current OB league table had connected on the Oxon side of that hedge and post.

This species’ (see here) home range spans much of south and south-east Asia, where it favours scrub and open habitats and is typical of other Shrikes in its prominent perching habits. It is an extremely rare vagrant to western Europe, with just one Dutch (2011) and one Scottish (2000) accepted records prior to this months double bill. The individual of this post is in heavy wing and tail molt, and so could remain in its present locality until that process is complete.

I would like to thank personally the landowner who made an orderly twitch possible, our Gloster birding colleagues who arranged access and stewarded the parking facility provided; and lastly Oxon Birding admins who confirmed I had observed this 500th European record in my home county, possibly the rarest bird ever recorded there. This was also my British 390th and WestPal 535th bird record.

Fast forward five days and I needed to get out again. After waking very early on 24th, feeling disorientated from the continuing “heatwave” and too much time spent at home escaping it, I opted to go back for Shrike seconds. Arriving on site some time after 6am, this time I walked in from the Oxon side and joined a group of birders along the bridleway in the top picture that swelled to 25 while I was there. Some called the bird now and again, then I myself enjoyed good scope views from around 50 metres in pleasing light. So the relevant dot in the above picture is now larger than in this post’s lead one.

After a “bathroom break”, so often an unfortunate necessity now where early starts are involved; I returned to the car park, made my donation and went back for more. With no more than 50 observers present there was far less sensitivity about people treading the bridleway, as earlier in the week when hundreds lined the lane to the west, and so everything was good natured. The LTS continued to provide very good value, but the glary light was now terrible compared to early morning, with significant heat haze. I had seen this amazing rarity properly though in a variety of poses, and witnessed it feeding on invertebrate prey, so this intentionally brief post has become a little longer.