Twitching at My Age! Long-tailed Shrike.

A Long Way for a Long-tailed Shrike 

Monday 24th August 2026

Eastleach Martin, Gloucestershire

At the recent raptor watch at the Old Llama Park, Alastair mentioned how good it was when he saw the Long-tailed Shrike at Eastleach Martin in Gloucestershire. My first thought was that Gloucestershire was a bit too far for me these days, until he pointed out that it was close to Oxford.

My geography is normally pretty good, but I had clearly lost the plot with this one! Oxford is just about the limit of my driving these days, and I hadn't realised how close the bird was to the Oxfordshire–Gloucestershire border and the chance to see a Long-tailed Shrike was too good to miss. Martin, a former resident of the Oxford area, was also keen to go, so we set off.

The bird would be a lifer for me and, as this was its first appearance in England, it was a new bird for everyone. The only previous British record was at South Uist in 2000. This individual had been present since 8th July and had been showing well ever since.

A Star Performer

We arrived at around 1.00 pm after a tedious journey of more than three hours, with numerous hold-ups along the way. We joined around 15 other birders and, fortunately, didn't have to wait long for the first sighting.

Every now and then it would fly to another nearby perch, but it never went far and continued to give us excellent views.

The Supporting Cast

There was also a good selection of other birds around, including this smart Whinchat, sitting proudly at the top of the bush with the shrike below it to the left.

Martin's photographs capture the scenes perfectly.

• A very friendly Wheatear was also showing well nearby. 
• Earlier, other birders had seen Grey Partridge and Corn Buntings, adding a few more species to an already memorable afternoon.

Summary

After such a long journey, we couldn't have asked for a better result. A superb bird, fantastic views and a new lifer for me - definitely worth the drive!

New species for the 2026 Year List:

186  Long-tailed Shrike

187  Whinchat

My UK life list now stands at 371 after this my second "lifer" of the year.

A Very Long Way from Home

Long-tailed Shrikes are normally birds of Asia, with their range stretching across Central and eastern Asia, so this bird had certainly travelled a long way from home. It is thought to be a first-summer bird of the northern, migratory form Lanius schach erythronotus, which makes Central Asia a possible area of origin, although there is no way of knowing exactly where it came from.

Quite how it found its way to Gloucestershire is another matter. It was presumably the result of an exceptional navigational error, possibly helped along by favourable winds, and it is remarkable to think that a bird whose normal range is thousands of miles to the east should eventually turn up in a field on the Gloucestershire–Oxfordshire border.

Even more remarkable is that it wasn't just a one-off. Another Long-tailed Shrike appeared at Crail in Fife only weeks earlier, making 2026 an extraordinary year for this exceptionally rare visitor to Britain.