Red-backed Shrike

 

The mantra is - see the bird, get a record shot, get a quality picture. Quality pictures being the real objective and they are few and far between. I have probably only ever seen half a dozen Red-backed Shrikes but in my gallery of those shots, deemed as quality keepers, I have more pictures of them than of any other species.

They are a bird that seems to have little fear of humans or disturbance. They tend to establish small territories to which they stay loyal for days or even weeks and they sit out in the open for long periods at easy eye or camera level. If you can't get a decent picture, then it's probably time to give up on the photography. 

The juvenile recently reported at Medmerry proved to be equally obliging

Most birds seen in the UK these days are on migration passage but they were once a common breeding bird in this country.

A report - The past and present status of the Red-backed Shrike in Great Britain (Peakall, 1962) gave evidence of the decline of the bird as a breeding population. It is now virtually extinct in this country as a breeding species and is a Red List schedule 1 bird.

Egg collectors got some of the blame for the loss of the last few birds but the report suggests that the warmer, wetter summers lead to smaller numbers of large flying insects and therefore to a decrease of those species of birds which specialise in preying upon them. 

This does not bode well for some other species, likely to re- establish themselves here, that would be seeking the same prey - White Stork, Black Stork, Roller, Hoopoe and possibly Bee Eater. Lets hope the warmer dryer summers we are now experiencing increase the populations of these larger insects although I have my doubts given the continuing decline I see about me

I did also get to see the Buff-breasted Sandpiper whilst I was at Medmerry. I also took a picture but at 400 metres and with a heat haze it hardly even qualifies as a record shot. Fortunately the view through the scope, the location and the Jizz were enough to convince me.

Why can't all birds present themselves like the Red-backed Shrike?

Red-backed Shrike

Only one bird in today's blog, a juvenile Red-backed Shrike at Farlington Marsh. It has suddenly become the place to visit, Pectoral Sandpiper, Bluethroat, and now the Shrike all in the space of a week. Just a pity some of them couldn't have come over the border into Sussex.

We spent a few minutes looking at the Pec Sand which was again feeding on the mud in the same spot as earlier in the week. I had hoped for some better pictures but with the sun behind it and glare off the water, there was no chance of an improved shot. We may have been able to get a better angle but there was a risk of spooking the bird and we could see other birders approaching in the distance.

We then went off in search of the Red-backed Shrike, in the shrub area to the north west of the stream. Initially it didn't look promising with very little flying in the strong winds. However, Dave soon picked it up in flight and with the bird seeming indifferent to our presence we had some good close up views.

It would have been nice to have longer with the bird, all to ourselves, but with a number of other birders in the area we were soon developing a twitch. Flushed with our success of two good birds before ten o'clock we headed off down to Selsey in search of other goodies.

And the absence of any more pictures in the blog speaks volumes of our success for the rest of the day. We should have stayed in Hampshire.

Red-backed Shrike

I was in two minds over going to see the juvenile Red-backed Shrike found at Tidemills yesterday. It sounded like a good bird and was showing well but there was the risk of a large scale twitch which I tend to avoid. In the end I did nothing, sitting at home until a tweet came through saying that it was still there.

Still some doubts, I already had good pictures of a juvenile plus some good shots of an adult male (see here). Finally I made a decision and set off, annoyed that I had not gone first thing in the morning to avoid the crowds.

When I got there it wasn't too bad. Only three people watching the bird and it really was showing well.

It came into a perch only 15 -20 feet from where we were standing and at at times was on the ground picking up bees only a few feet in front of me. Fabulous views and also good lighting, a rare combination.

I am usually happy with one or two good shots out of say two hundred taken. Today the success rate was more like 50% with half the pictures still to process

A great session but nothing is perfect. When I left an hour later the numbers watching had increased to around fourteen and it was getting uncomfortable. I am a bird photographer and I want to get close and get the best possible pictures but it takes time and effort.

Wait for the bird to come to you, rather than chasing it around the site. If it approaches you and feeds around your feet, it feels safe and you will get good shots. If its moving away from you and you chase it, your chances of getting a good picture are reduced.

I have to admit, this bird was difficult to flush but the pattern of its feeding changed during the time I was there. When I arrived it was using one perch. It stayed there for about fifteen minutes and was feeding close to the people observing it. Pictures were easy to get. By the time I left it was covering a much wider area moving from perch to perch every couple of minutes with a small group always in pursuit.

Don't stress the bird. You can get good pictures without trying to stick your camera three feet from its face. Make sure it stays there for other people to see.

Moan over. What a great bird.


A few more shots taken on a subsequent visit. I have never used so many pictures of a single bird before.

Red-backed Shrike

I was just arriving at Seaford when an alert came up for a Red-backed Shrike on the Cuckmere, just south of the Visitors Centre. It was only a few minutes away and too good a chance to miss, although it sounded as though it was on the main route down to the beach, so would soon be busy with day trippers.

I arrived at the car park and hurried down the track but it was just as I feared. I could see three or four people with their scopes and cameras pointed at a tree and even at a distance could see the bird perched out on the top. Sounds promising, but there was also a family, complete with a couple of dogs and kids kicking footballs, just about to walk between the observers and the bird - and they did. Inconsiderate or what? The bird was flushed from a perch giving clear views and with good light to a barbed wire fence where it was part concealed by the long grass.

I took a few record shots that I knew would be poor but then the bird flew off and it looked as though I had missed the chance. I searched for about an hour but then gave up and was walking back to the car when there it was, sitting in the original tree and this time completely ignoring all the people walking past. Better still it was a male in full colour plumage.

Red-backed Shrike

We soon had a mini twitch with about ten birders and various members of the public stopping to ask what was going on. A few were genuinely interested but most seemed to be more keen on taking pictures of the twitchers than of the bird.

Breast pinkish or light brown tinge dependant on lighting

Crown blue grey and back reddish brown

Fortunately things soon died down and most of the birders moved off, happy that they had their year ticks. We were left with just four bird photographers, happy to have seen the bird but unhappy, as they always are, knowing that there is a better photograph than the one they have just taken.

In hunting mode

I called in at Steyning on the way back to have a look for Brown Hairstreaks but I had left it a bit late in the day. There were a few of the more common butterflies flying but the Brown Hairstreaks were nowhere to be seen.

Common Blue - nice butterfly but the wrong colour

I am not sure who found the Shrike but my thanks for passing on the information. It was a great bird to see and to photograph.

Croatia

I have just returned from a weeks holiday touring around Croatia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was not a birding or butterflying holiday but I did have expectations of getting some time out and finding a few interesting specimens. The region contains a good range of different environments and there is no intensive farming so I had seen reports of organised trips coming back with 140+ butterflies, 90+ birds, and 50 + moths, all recorded in a week. I was staying on the drier and less productive Adriatic coast but I would have been happy to settle for just a fraction of these numbers.

There was one problem - the temperature. I had been expecting it to be around 28°C. It was actually over 40°C nearly every day, peaking at 43°C in the shade when we visited Mostar. For me this is cold beer and air conditioned room time. There were supposed to be Rock Partridges on the hill behind our hotel but it was a 700m climb. I am keen but even before sunrise it was distinctly uncomfortable, by midday the climb would probably be life threatening.

The birds and butterflies also seemed to be in short supply in the heat. There were plenty of Swifts, Swallows, and House Martins around at dawn and dusk and more House Sparrows than I had expected but very little else. I did manage to scrape a few shots together over the week but it was all a little disappointing.

Spotted Fritillary

Spotted Fritillary

This Spotted Fritillary was a good find but it didn't hang around for long and most other butterflies were in poor condition. This Scarce Swallowtail was worth the chase although it has seen better days.

Scarce Swallowtail - missing a few bits.

The next two pictures are of the same butterfly. My first thoughts were a Cleopatra which would be a new species for me but then when I photographed the other side, in slightly different lighting conditions, it looks more like a Brimstone. For my first sighting I want to be sure so I think, this time, I will have to settle for a Brimstone.

Cleopatra or Brimstone

See comment from Spock below - it looks as though it was a Cleopatra. I am always happy to get feedback, especially when it gives me a new species.

The best place I saw for butterflies was a little meadow around the border post between Croatia and Montenegro. For some reason there seemed to be dozens of them flying there, mostly around the large sign that said strictly no photographs.


There were a few day flying moths in evidence. The first one below I have not been able to identify yet, the second is a four-spotted Footman. I hate to think of the hours I spend searching the web and various books trying to make these moth identifications.

Moth - not identified yet

Four spotted Footman

We only got close enough to one Dragonfly to be able to get pictures, that was the Southern Skimmer. There were good numbers of these around the fountain in the arboretum at Trsteno.

Southern Skimmer

Southern Skimmers in mating-wheel

Southern Skimmer

The last day of the holiday was the only time that I really saw any birds. It started hot and I decided to leave the telephoto lens at the hotel. I had carried it around all week without using it. I wanted to reduce the weight I was carrying and the heat haze was rendering it almost useless. It cooled down a bit during the day and the birds started to appear. Either that or I was starting to look a bit harder. All the following birds were taken with a 100mm macro lens. Not ideal for bird photography but at least a chance to practice the field skills in getting a bit closer.

Not 100% sure on this one. I think it is probably a female Blue Rock Thrush

Turtle Dove

Red-backed Shrike

Lots of insects about in the heat, I have the bites to prove it. Two interesting ones are shown below. The first is a Carpenter Bee. So called as it burrows into wood to create its nest. The picture does not give any idea of scale but these are twice the size of a Bumble Bee. Bees are usually hard to photograph. They seem to vibrate all the time and it is difficult to get a sharp picture. This one though seems less prone to movement making a sharp picture possible.

Carpenter Bee

Another insect that vibrates a lot, or at least makes a lot of noise are the Cicadas. They are hard to spot on the trees but they are everywhere. As soon as the first rays of sunlight come over the horizon and the temperature starts to rise the noise starts up and it stays with you until late in the evening. For me it is all part of the Mediterranean experience.

Cicadas

And one final good news story. These Barn Swallows got too big for their nest and their weight caused it to collapse. A local worker found them and not sure what to do he put the remains of the nest and the chicks into his safety helmet and hung it on the wall. Everyone is happy. The mother flies in about every sixty seconds with food for them. The chicks have a wonderful view of all the tourists and the tourists have a nice picture to take home. I would think that the worker is also quite proud of the little family that he saved.

Re-housed Barn Swallows

I think I just got unlucky with the week we chose and the unusually high temperatures. The countryside looks ideal for a birding or butterflying holiday and I would like to give it another go - but I will probably try June next time.

Dartford Warblers

This blog should have been called Wryneck but I have managed to dip on two more birds, one in the fields to the east of Budds Farm sewerage works and the other on the North Wall at Pagham Harbour. You would think that would have made for a disappointing day but the Red-backed Shrike and a couple of Dartford Warblers on Hayling Island gave us some good birding even if sandwiched between failures on the Wryneck at the beginning and end of the day.

Budds Farm is always worth a visit, great ponds even if you have the sewerage works as a backdrop and always the chance of some unusual ducks during the winter. There is a wonderful Willow tree there that has recently been taken over by the Herons and Egrets. It looks ok at the moment but I doubt the tree will last very long with all the extra fertiliser that it is going to get.

Heron and Egret Roost

There have been a couple of reported sightings of the Wryneck at Budds Farm and I have made two seperate visits to look for it but both with no success. There were plenty of Willchaffs and a large Long-tailed Tit flock but nothing else of real interest other than a Grey Seal out in the harbour and a Small Copper abberation.

Long-tailed Tit

A well worn Small Copper ab.caeruleopunctata 

We moved on to Sandy Point on Hayling Island to get Dave his year tick on the Red-backed Shrike. Fortunately this was easier to spot than the Wryneck. You cannot enter the Nature Reserve so all my shots are a bit distant. I had been hoping to improve on the ones I had taken last week but these look no better.

Red-backed Shrike

and with captured moth

The surprise was in finding at least two Dartford Warblers on the site. When the Shrike ducked out of view we started watching a a small group, possibly a family, of Stonechats moving around the reserve. They were easy to spot sitting out on top of the brambles and gorse but they were being accompanied by a couple of birds that looked darker and always disappeared into the vegetation below them. We eventually got decent views and it was clear that they were Dartford Warblers.

They are never easy to photograph and this is the best image that I managed to get

Dartford Warbler

I had always thought that Dartfords and Stonechats were competitors for territory but here they formed a definite flock. Whenever the Stonechats moved on the Dartfords would follow and go into cover in the bush on which the Stonechats had perched.

Stonechat

Finally we moved on to Pagham North Wall, to be told that a Wryneck had been showing well there for most of the day. Not for us though. We waited a couple of hours and had one view of a woodpecker type flight between two low bushes but it was not enough to confirm the sighting.

Have a look at the Pagham Birders site for some great shots including one with the bird sticking its tongue out. Great timing by Trevor in getting the shot, not so good by us in turning up too late.