An eventful weekend

When my alarm beeped at 4.45am on Saturday morning and I stumbled out into the frosty darkness to help put up the nets for the ringing session, I had no idea the weekend was going to be such a memorable one.

It started well; there was a beautiful sunrise over the marsh and a nice variety of healthy birds in the nets. And then there was this one:



One more time...Red-flanked Blutail! Stunning.

What can I say...?! The excitement generated by this slight and subtely-coloured individual stems from the fact that Bluetails, though annual, are still an extremely rare autumn visitor to Britain. Their range is typically central and southeastern Asia; breeding across Siberia (and more recently into Finland) and wintering in China, Taiwan and surrounds. SO you might ask - what's it doing in north Kent?! Good question. Once little more than a myth here, Bluetails have become more frequent in recent years, presumably as their breeding range has expanded. Strong easterlies at the end of last week played a major part too- encouraging many bird species to make the flight over from Scandinavia and blowing others off course. It's often juveniles which are spotted here in autumn, first winter birds lacking experience and migrating to wintering grounds for the first time. This bird  however is an adult female Bluetail, told by its muted brown upper side (males are blue).

Finding the Red-flanked Bluetail was a surreal and wonderful moment but I was honestly just as thrilled to ring my first bird that day - an adult male Greenfinch.

After a late night on Saturday, I abandoned my plans for a sea watch off Sheppey in favour of a relaxing mooch about the farm. I was watching a pair of marsh harriers wheeling over the scrape when I got talking to a local birder just as his phone rang...

He gave me a look that said 'move!' and had word that a possible ISABELLINE SHRIKE (yeah in capitals!) had just been spotted at the pools that morning. Twenty minutes later we were scoping out a superb adult male bird, perched on brambles across one of the cattle fields adjacent to the ash track. Again this was a new one for me - more a curiosity that I've glanced at while leafing through the Collins guide, but what a cracking bird:

Isabelline Shrike (Lanius isabellinus sp.) , RSPB Cliffe Pools, 17/10/11

The obvious lack of 'barring' marked this out as an adult bird and since these are especially rare, it turned into a pretty big twitch for Cliffe. This was only the 6th record for Isabelline in Kent and while it obligingly held court to crowds of birders from its thorny perch, debate went on about its precise classification. Like the Bluetail the day before, Isabelline Shrikes are an eastern bird; they breed between southern Siberia/central - eastern Asia and winter in the tropics. But what makes ID more complex is the presence of several identified races of Isabelline Shrike. This is the best photo I could manage but I think it shows enough features to narrow it down.

There are principally two distinct sources of confusion - Turkestan Shrike (Lanius i. phoenicuroides) and Daurian Shrike (Lanius i. isabellinus), the latter breeding in China/Mongolia as opposed to central asia. Opinion on this individual seems to be favouring isabellinus or Daurian. However, reading this comprehensive review of Isabelline Shrike classification I am perhaps drawn slightly more towards phoenicuroides (but would gladly be proved wrong!) The 'peachy' flanks that this bird showed (better seen in the field rather than my photo above) hint at Daurian but otherwise I would agree with the study that this bird is "darker and more richly coloured above than isabellinus, with a rufous or rufous-tinged crown, white speculum, richer rufous rump, and paler under-parts". The pale under parts on the Cliffe shrike meant it could be seen by the naked eye at 200m and overall there seemed to be quite a lot of contrast between the upper and under parts. Google yr own pics - agree/disagree? One thing's for sure - it's a beautiful bird.

I got a bit of stick in the office on Monday morning for bagging these two ace eastern visitors, or in the words of Gordon the warden - having a "double Sibe weekend!". I wonder if these birds will find their way? And I wonder what else is out there...