The Lincolnshire Bird Club

A 'probable' Steppe Grey Shrike was found today at Grainthorpe Haven.
The finders - two unknown birders from Grimsby, located the bird in heavy rain this morning and thought it was a Great Grey. Later, the two birders moved on to Donna Nook and mentioned to Steve Tarrant and Geoff Williams that they had seen a Great Grey. Steve & Geoff decided to take a look and arrived on site mid-afternoon. At first they could not see the bird but then located it in a sparse hedge beside a stubble field close to the haven. Steve's suspicions were immediately raised and he said 'this is not a Great Grey'. After a bit more checking the news was put out. I got a call from Steve at about 3.30 p.m when half way home from a fruitless trip to see the Red-flanked Bluetail, and then made a very hurried dash to Grainthorpe. It was just after 4.00 p.m when we arrived and the target bird was concealed in a bush! After a short time it emerged and sat in the open. This enabled me to get some video footage and still photo's. See album.
The bird was still present when we left.

Roy

Email address supplied - but no name.

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Andrew Chick
Website: http://www.forktail.co.uk/

This birds habit of running along the ground whilst holding its tail up was similar to a probable southern grey shrike that I saw at Wainfleet on 4 May 1996.

I was called to see the bird by a local farmer who had identified it as a great grey. I had my suspicions about the date, expecting to see a lesser grey on arrival. The bird showed well on a hedge and running across the road. It clearly was not a lesser grey, but the wing structure (long primaries and amount of white in the wing were not standard for great grey. This was well before taxonomists had dealt with the Steppe/Southern complex.

I put the news out as a great grey and I think some local birders came to see and photograph it (in addition to my own poor photos).

Years later, I saw the photos of the Isle of Man Steppe shrike and had a moment of realisation that the Wainfleet bird was surely the same species. I have circulated to one BBRC member but never submitted the record.

I have sent some photos to Andy for posting in the discussion album.

Cheers

Kev

Kev's images of the Wainfleet bird on 4 May 1996

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Andrew Chick
Website: http://www.forktail.co.uk/