LONG-TAILED SHRIKE - EASTLEACH 2026

In early July, a Long-tailed Shrike was reported to be on the edge of a large field near Eastleach on 
the Oxfordshire/Gloucestershire border. This was an amazing discovery by a local farmer and
was only the third record of the species in UK. The normal home territory for this Shrike is
Asia, so it had flown a long way to get here! The bird was a young male and was moulting
its flight feathers for much of its time in UK. I visited the site several times from 29 July
to 5 September and took a variety of images of the bird as it hunted for Grasshoppers, 
Beetles and other insects and, occasionally, it caught a Shrew. It completed its 
moult at the end of August and departed overnight on 11/12 September.
Sadly, it seems very unlikely that it will find its way home.

To view the images, please click on the main image and use the side arrows.