Long-tailed Shrike.........Long awaited Lifer

                                            EASTLEACH DOWNS

                                     in Gloucestershire

                                        21st July 2026

Long-tailed Shrike.

Long-tailed Shrike has been on my most wanted list for quite a few years , i had a birding holiday to Kazakhstan in 2017 and had many target species i wanted to see including a top 5 targets , Long-tailed Shrike being one of those Top 5 !!!!

Well unfortunately i was approx a week to late for them at the only site we had as they had already bred successfully and moved on.

Fast forward to 5th July 2026 and low and behold only  Britain's 2nd ever  Long-tailed Shrike had been found in Fife.

The only previous British record of Long-tailed Shrike was in the Outer Hebrides in November 2000.

Long-tailed Shrike.

Only problem i had with the Fife bird was getting there, it was roughly 10 hours drive from my home to where the LTS was being seen, eventually i managed to get a lift but the day before we were due to go the LTS had moved on , beginning to feel a bit cursed with this particular species now , i guess at least it did the decent thing and disappeared the day before we were due to go ,saving on a long wasted journey & expense.

Preening it's long tail.

The story doesn't end there, news of remarkably another Long-tailed Shrike on the Gloucestershire / Oxon border on the 8th July (overlapping the dates of the  Fife LTS).

This sighting was kept quiet until the 18th July due to understandably logistic reasons.

Great field work by dedicated local birders re-found the Gloucestershire / Oxon bird on the 19th July.

Game was back on, will i eventually connect with this stunning bird after all. well yes i did , i joined AE, RR & PG on a very successful trip on the 21st July and had some wonderful views of this cracking bird.

We watched it for well over 2 hours , it was constantly feeding on Bees & Grasshoppers.

It did some preening and i would think it will stick around for  a little while longer.

Great organisation by local birders & farmer with parking and onsite instructions, many thanks to them.

Here are some pics of the stunning

Long-tailed Shrike

Long-tailed Shrike

                                                

Hudsonian Godwit in Suffolk

                                               CATTAWADE in SUFFOLK

                                                                  17th July 2026

                                                

Hudsonian Godwit.

A trip to Cattawade in Suffolk on the 17th July proved very successful, we parked up at Cattawade picnic site and walked a short distance to view the splendid Hudsonian Godwit.

When we joined the assembled birders we were told the Hudsonian Godwit was present but had just walked out of sight behind a large grassy mound.

Thankfully after only a few minutes the Hudsonian Godwit reappeared and although distant at least we could see it, this bird was a welcome year tick for me & a lifer for AE, the heat haze made viewing difficult but thankfully the Hudsonian Godwit made a slow but steady pace walking done the side of the estuary  feeding as it went & getting closer by the minute.

Eventually it came quite close but heat haze was a problem as far as photos go but seeing this cracking bird was well worth the journey.

We saw it wing stretch on a couple of occasions and the black underwings were clearly seen.

Here are a selection of photos :

Hudsonian Godwit.

ABBERTON RESERVOIR 

Ruddy Shelduck

We called into Abberton Reservoir on the way home and had some superb views of nesting Cattle Egrets, plus it was great to see several Little & Great white Egrets, there was good numbers of Grey Heron & at least 5 Spoonbills.

Nesting Cattle Egrets 

There were very large numbers of Egyptian Geese & although not tickable there was  a stunning ♀ Ruddy Shelduck.

Ruddy Shelduck & Egyptian Geese