Long-tailed Shrike – Howmore, South Uist, Outer Hebrides, 4^th November 2000

My attempt at capturing the Long-tailed Shrike at Howmore, South Uist, Outer Hebrides, in November 2000. I remember being very struck by the peachy-orange lower back as it had a particularly vivid appearance in the light conditions. Unfortunately, the bird confined itself to the deep cover of a willow bush for much of the time.

News of a Long-tailed Shrike (a what?) reached me thanks to my loan pager, whilst I was on the ‘phone to the insurance company regarding the insurance payment for my lost pager on the 3rd November. Bizarrely, I was just explaining what the pager was for to the woman at Directline I was speaking to when the news of this mega, mega came through! I quickly curtailed the conversation and instead ‘phoned Graham Clark, who predictably, was about to ‘phone me.

Graham indicated that he was 90% certain he would be able to go for it and would know for definite at around 16:00, and that he would ‘phone me back after a meeting, having liaised with Christine on the matter. I agreed, in the meanwhile, to research ferry times and so on. I did this and discovered that we would have to travel overnight to be at Uig in time for the Saturday morning ferry, and then we wouldn’t be able to get a ferry back until the following Monday. Memories of my aborted Veery twitch! Less than normal telephone conversations continued during the process of booking the ferry, when first the man I spoke to at the Caledonian MacBrayne offices at Uig regarding sailing times and then the woman I spoke to at the Caledonian MacBrayne offices at Gourock who both were touchingly and genuinely interested in the purpose of the trip and the bird involved.

When I spoke to Graham again, he was up for this and we agreed that he would get to my house by about 21:00, after which we would set off so that we could get at least some sleep in the car, before getting up on Saturday morning for the ferry.

The drive went very well, and for variation we went via the M9, A84, A85, and A82 to Fort William rather than the more traditional M90, A9 and A86 to Spean Bridge, but it still took about five hours to get to Uig (I apparently strained one of my eyes during the latter stages of the drive, which gave me horrendous vision problems of the Saturday, but thankfully after I had seen the bird). Graham was able to get some sleep during the journey, and we both were able to get more sleep once we arrived at Uig. We had parked up around the back of one of the quayside buildings, and on emerging realised (unsurprisingly) we were no longer the only birders there. Although it had taken us five hours it had obviously taken others from down south much longer. We were no longer at the head of the queue having disappeared around the back of the quayside buildings on arrival, but this didn’t matter once we had confirmed our booking.

There must have been some 20 – 25 birders cars waiting for the ferry, and amongst the birders waiting were some very familiar faces. Amongst these were Richard Millington, Steve Gantlett and Ron Johns, and they were soon able to confirm that the bird was still present, which greatly contributed to the pre-twitch atmosphere.

Graham soon located some twitching colleagues from way back when, and besides talking to them we also were able to enjoy chatting to others including Calum Scott, Angus Murray, etc.. I also was surprised to find that Graham Ekins, the Wildlife Inspector from Essex (who I had seen at the Royal Tern and Swinhoe’s Petrel twitches) was there together with his crew. Whilst chatting to him it emerged that they had been for the Hooded Merganser the previous weekend, and this weekend they were chartering a fishing boat in an attempt to ensure that they could successfully twitch the bird without being trapped on the Uists for the weekend. This seemed like a good idea until we all saw the boat in question…. .

Anyway, soon after they had boarded their charter we were loaded on to the ferry. Once we had sailed, besides watching large concentrations of Kittiwakes and auks we were amused by seeing their tiny fishing boat bouncing up and down through the breaking waves. We sailed about 15 minutes after they did, and within 15 minutes we had overhauled them……! Happy sailing!

We soon opted for the full breakfast rather more sea-watching. Once we berthed at Lochmaddy we were amused to find that we were one of the very first vehicles to be disembarked. However, on the journey south to South Uist I refused to enter into the Grand Prix style racing to Howmore, in the knowledge that the bird was going to be there.

After some 40 minutes driving, we arrived at the scene of the twitch, which was basically adjacent to a scruffy coach hire company’s garage complex on either side of the A865, near the Post Office and a couple of crofts which apparently comprised Howmore. We parked up where most birders had parked on one side of the road and then assembled our gear before strolling across the road. Derelict buses and coaches and parts of the same littered the area around the garage yard on both sides of the road. Adjacent to the large garage shed on the opposite side of the road were three small willow sp. bushes adjoining a post and wire fence, and overlooked by the road and the small hump that the Post Office and further derelict buses and coaches occupied. Birders positioned themselves in locations from which they could ‘scope these bushes and we did the same, as it was apparent ‘it’ was in these bushes.

Indeed, it was, but it was never ‘obvious’ in the way that might be associated with a shrike. Rather it was unusually ‘skulking’ for shrike, invariably sheltering low and still in one of the three willow shrub bushes, and occasionally returning to a larder which appeared to comprise a mouse spp. which was impaled amongst the branches in the centre of one of the willows to vigorously feed.

Given this, and the fact that the bushes were still in leaf, it was usually picked out as a result of the peachy brown breast or lower wings.

Over the course of two hours or so it was well-watched, but unfortunately it was largely inanimate throughout this time. As a result, although it was a stunning bird, perhaps what will remain in the memory about the twitch was the sight of an adult White-tailed Eagle Graham and I picked up on whilst scanning the hill behind Howmore (which had also produced ringtail Hen Harrier and Peregrine), circling against a brilliant blue sky above the twitch before defecating in a big way!

We left to go birding elsewhere and returned towards late afternoon when the bird was slightly more active as we watched it from alongside the garage shed.

The following day it emerged that the bird had departed overnight, and then it became apparent why it had been so inactive during the day apart from feeding vigorously on its larder. There were theories that the bird had moved on due to the fireworks displays around the island that night, but as it was a perfectly clear night with low temperatures perhaps this wasn’t too surprising and due to natural migration instincts kicking in. As a result of its absence on the Sunday we were probably the last people to see it.

The bird was a typical shrike excepting the extraordinarily long tail, which was as long again as the birds’ body and head. Although it was bigger than Red-backed, Isabelline (I wrote this a long time ago!) or Lesser Grey Shrike it was smaller than Great Grey Shrike. The birds’ plumage was basically a subtle combination of that that might be associated with a grey shrike spp. and a Red-backed or Isabelline Shrike.

The black eye was surrounded by a black mask, which was flared at the rear beyond the ear-coverts and reached the bill at the lores. Above this was a thin whitish edge separating the mask from the cap, which was grey with a hint of brownish grey. The bill was typical of a shrike and was black with the inner part of both mandibles becoming grey and the base of the lower mandible being pale yellow. The throat and sides of the neck were off-white.

The lower back was a ‘brilliant’ peachy-orange and the flanks were a similar colour. The breast was not as vivid and merged into a whitish colour centrally and on the throat and belly, vent, etc.. The tertials, etc., were mid olive brown with pale fringes.

The combination of the head pattern and the brownish lower back was reminiscent of male Penduline Tit, whilst the colour of the flanks was reminiscent of Brambling.

Long-tailed Shrike, Howmore, South Uist, Outer Hebrides, November 2000 (image credited to Paul Hackett).