Long-tailed Shrike!!

 I've been very lucky to have seen many species of shrike over the years, but the one I saw today; Long-tailed Shrike wasn't, to be honest, one that I was even aware of until this year! It is a proper 5-star, mega rarity in Great Britain, with just 1 record here before this year. The second record for Britain, an adult type, was found earlier this year (5th July) in Crail, Fife, and stayed for just three days. Amazingly,  "my"bird, this time a 1st summer male, was found in Eastleach Martin, Gloucestershire on 18th July, and is still there at the time of writing.

I went down this morning, and couldn't believe either the tameness of this bird (down to 10m away) and the amazing colours of this bird's plumage. A real stunner!! Here are a few photos (!) and a video.

Whilst I was there, just over two hours, the bird was feeding very well on a variety of small insects. Some of the pictures show how the bird is in full moult (note the tail), thought to be the reason why it has hung around for so long, and the brown fringing on the wings (black in a full adult, I believe). One, if not the best, bird that I've ever seen in Britain!

Long-tailed Shrike

A few other birds seen whilst there were: Wheatear, Red Kite (2) and a couple of Red-legged Partridge.