Looking Back; My First Shrikes

After reliving the excitement I felt from the Dawlish Warren Lesser Grey Shrike - a superb find by Lee Collins - I thought I'd have a reminisce of all my first encounters with the three most regular species of Shrike found in the UK. 

Dartmoor ~ Monday 19th April 1999

After a rather uneventful morning walk around Yarner Wood, Jean, Dad and myself headed on to Warren House Inn hoping for some Ring Ouzel action.  We were in luck with good views of a pair - such a shame they have become so scarce in the county now.  We also saw a couple of Wheatear and a stunning male Whinchat surrounded by numerous Stonechat, my first of the year.  Best bird of all though came as a complete shock - we knew one had over wintered on the Moor but didn't have a clue it was still knocking around, or where.  As we walked down to the short turfed area at the bottom of the valley, we were struck by a bright white bird perched up on a dead tree along a dry stone wall at the base of the opposite slope.  I'll never forget the next few words that came out of Jean's mouth "It's a Shrike!".  It was indeed - a pristine and absolutely stunning Great Grey Shrike facing us in bright sunshine, the dark eye mask looking really tidy and it was amazing to see that small but fierce looking black beak for the first time.  We watched it for a good half and hour perched up and flying about. Pure ecstasy. And a good example of how the surprise factor added to what would already have been an incredible experience.

Exmouth ~ Wednesday 20th October 1999

A juvenile Red-backed Shrike had been residing near Mudbanks for several days, Jean and Dad saw it on the Monday of this week whilst I was at school.  Much to my surprise when Dad collected me from the bus stop after school on Wednesday all my birding gear was in the car - we were off! And about 45 minutes later we were parking up at Mudbanks Lane in Exmouth.  It was almost 17:00 and the light was fading fast, you could certainly have described the conditions as dimpsy (what a great word!).  We rushed from the car up to the small green a short distance to the north, where the Shrike had been hanging out. Despite the light, there it was, my first Red-backed Shrike and in a rather un-shrike like place!  I can still remember watching it in the half-light chasing a late flying bumble bee for a good 15 seconds, it was remarkable to see how agile it was in flight..

St. Levan ~ 29th March 2002

This was part of an extraordinary days birding in Cornwall with Phil A, Jeremey Mc and Dad. This day will probably make up the next 'looking back' post, but to complete this entry I must mention the fabulous Woodchat Shrike we saw.  We walked from the car park at Porthgwarra, and as soon as we arrived at the small field surrounded by a dry stone wall and scrubby hedges where a small crowd was waiting, we could see it.  Shrikes are great birds anyway, but to see such a beautifully coloured one was a real treat - the rich chestnut cap looked amazing in the sunshine, a colour I'd never seen on any species of bird before. I also remember being amazed at just how small it looked, although this didn't stop it looking like a beast of a bird.

Not the same Woodchat, I photographed this bird in Plymouth on 3/5/09

I've seen several of all three species since, but what truly fulfilled my shrike needs was being part of the protection team around the breeding Red-backed Shrikes on Dartmoor.  Getting to know such a charismatic bird so closely, and to watch them hatch and fledge young was just so so special. I helped out on two seasons, sadly the second season wasn't a good one at all, but during the first my personal highlight was scanning left to right in the telescope and seeing no less than TEN Red-backed Shrikes!! Completely nuts.

Looking Back; Dawlish Warren 26/5/02

My second looking back post and it's the second one from Dawlish Warren. I remember this day so vividly as I should have been revising for my Geography GCSE exam the following morning! Mum wasn't best pleased when Phil Abbott phoned with news that an adult Lesser Grey Shrike was at Dawlish Warren, and that he was leaving now and asked if I wanted to come.  Thankfully I managed to do some serious negotiating and Dad, myself and my Geography revision books were in Phil's car ten minutes later...

To carry on this post I am just going to copy what I as a sixteen year old wrote in my diary, word for word;

"A.M. Phil took us to Dawlish Warren where were saw a Lesser Grey Shrike. Had superb views of an ad (prob male) at Warren Point. An absolute cracking bird and it gave cracking views sat on top and on the side of small bushes. Watched it at different distances on many different bushes, it stayed up on the bushes for long periods of time but did occasionally go on to the ground presumably to feed. A brilliant little bird being just a bit bigger than a near by Dunnock. Like Great Grey Shrike but more black on forehead and no white, clearer white-wing patches which were very obvious, and a lovely pink tinge to its breast. Also obviously smaller than a Great Grey and seemed to sit up straighter than Great Grey. In flight striking white outer tail feathers and again very obvious wing flashes. It was a very sweet bird, a brilliant bird, brilliant rarity, absolutely brilliant views and a good Devon bird. Between exams too! Truly sensational, one of my favs. Seen 4 shrike species now, commoner ones in 1999 and Woodchat and now this in 2002. Amazing!  Also saw: Reed Bunting (male), Skylark (loads) and Whitethroat (2). We didn't hang about. Park - Shrike for an hour - back to the car!"

To brighten up this post a bit here's a pic of the star bird, taken by my mate Jez whose name will pop up from time to time on these looking back posts - he twitched it later that day...

Lesser Grey Shrike (c) Jeremy McClements

Oh and by the way I managed a B in GCSE Geography, which is hard solid evidence that birding actually helps with revision! Take note any young birders reading this, birding is good for you whatever the circumstances.

Looking Back; Dawlish Warren 14/10/00

Birds, birding and wildlife is my main passion in life, I get so much enjoyment and pleasure from it day in day out. One could say it's what makes me tick.  But during a particularly dull dog walk this morning when my head was away with the fairies, I realised that as a more experienced birder it's just not quite the same, there's a certain excitement that's now lacking.

When I started birding and was just getting into birds, everything was new. I didn't have Harry Potter or revision books next to my bed as I was growing up, but bird books.  I knew the Collins Bird Guide off by heart page by page plate by plate, and I read it over and over and over again. As a result all the species and the different plumages in there that I'd never seen before, however common, had an almost mythical status in my head. And whatever the species was, when I first clapped eyes on it in real life after studying it on paper for so so long, it was so captivating and felt like I was actually living the dream and had achieved a massive goal in life. Yes, at the age of 30 I do still see 'new' birds now and then, rare birds turn up that I've never seen before, but they are few and far between as twitching isn't really my thing. And now days when I do twitch something, the bird is so intensely photographed, blogged and tweeted that I kind of feel like I've seen it before I've actually seen it! My main reason for twitching these days is if I think the bird I'm going to see will be educational for me, and will ultimately help me become a better birder.

My usual bed time reading

Anyway, back to starting out and the amazing feeling of learning your way through your early years as a birder, this is what's encouraged me to do some 'turning back the clock' blog posts and relive some of the elation I felt as a teen. 

A photo from the archives of Dad and I at Branscombe in 1989.

I'm lucky enough to have a birder for a Dad, in fact he's what got me into birding in the first place, and much to my delight when I was growing up we went out pretty much every Saturday. Mind you, I think Dad was just as pleased about this as I was - I was the perfect excuse for him to go birding all the time!  I used to keep something of a diary in my early birding days, and these are going to help me construct these 'Looking Back' posts...

My birding diarys from the early 00's

A random page from one of them. Full details of the days birding on the right hand pages, highlights in green felt tip on the left pages, with major highlights/rarities starred in red!

And first up is not so much a day, but a very memorable hour which I can recall so clearly despite it being over 15 years ago!

Dawlish Warren ~ Saturday 14th October 2000

Dad, myself and our very good birding friend Jean Millen (aka 'my birding Mum') were spending this mid October day at Dawlish Warren.  We had spent the morning on the Warren and looking around the Bite, but hadn't seen much special. After our lunch we walked along the sea wall towards Langstone Rock, which is where all the magic happened. 

Even from a distance we could see the (back then regular) Common Scoter flock very close in just off the rock, there were about 50 in all, of both sexes, but as we got closer I thought I glimpsed a white stripe down the wing of one of the birds that were resting. We all looked closer, it was slightly bigger, over all a different shape with a completely different face pattern to the female Common Scoters, just two small white dots on a darker brown face. It then flapped - I was looking at my first ever Velvet Scoter!  This was just the start of it. We had already seen a couple of Red-throated Divers, but a close summer plumaged bird was a delight to see, although this was completely eclipsed moments later.  On the flat calm sea a dark green-gloss head appeared, with a beautifully patterned white necklace and a striking blood red eye, I was looking at a summer plumaged Great Northern Diver!  I'd seen many winter Great Northern Divers before, but to see one in this plumage was immense, and not something I thought I'd see without going to northern Scotland or further!  Also whilst looking at the sea we noticed an all dark seabird with pointy wings, and it kept coming closer and closer - it was a dark-phased adult Arctic Skua - the closest view I'd ever had of one.  It sat on the sea, flew west, but soon returned back east before landing on the sea again.

We were just folding up the telescopes and began walking away when a few alarming Herring Gulls made us look up - Osprey!  It circled really low over our heads a couple of times, before disappearing off west towards Dawlish Town.  I'd only seen a handful of these in the past so it really was the icing on the cake.  What an incredible hour!

Reliving this hour of birding ecstasy has made me realise one thing hasn't changed with me and my birding.  Whether I was 15, or 30 (today), I get the most pleasure from seeing a bird I wasn't expecting.  I don't just mean the rares (though they are always nice obviously!), but even just scarce birds, or unseasonal ones. My biggest buzz has always, and I think will always come from the surprise-factor of the unexpected.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed that. Tough if you didn't because there will be more!