Where Issy? Thurlestone 11th October 2018

We awoke to a very windy and wet morning and got soaked just loading the car ready for the onward journey. At breakfast I studied the weather forecast and the bird news from the day before (thank goodness for WiFi!). The rain would peter out around mid-morning but the strong wind would remain and in fact was going to get much worse after a temporary lull later in the day. One item in the list of birds seen stood out from the page, an Isabelline Shrike had been found close to Thurlestone on the South Devon coast, almost directly on our line, give or take 50 miles or so, to our next scheduled overnight stay near Falmouth. I pulled up Streetmap and Route Planner on the web and was amazed to see that the location of the Shrike was less than two miles away from where Mrs Caley and I had seen our only previous Issy three years ago at South Huish Marsh. It would only take a couple of hours from Branscombe.

Isabelline Shrike, South Huish Marsh, 17th October 2015

My original plan was to look for Dartford Warblers at Aylesbeare Common but in the rough weather they'd be keeping lower than a Dachshunds belly so we drove straight past and kept our date with a coffee at Darts Farm near Exeter, if you're ever there check out the fantastic tiling in the atrium area (top quality workmanship!), had a quick chat with the RSPB staff and drove on to the busy A38. We couldn't resist nipping into Labrador Bay to look for the resident Cirl Buntings but again the weather, being as lousy as it was, pretty quickly defeated that effort, you could barely stand straight in the gusty wind and there wasn't a bird to be seen. Before leaving I checked the bird news for an update on the Isabelline Shrike, thankfully it was still present so we'd be ok to see that. Another message had me screaming in angst so loud you could probably hear me back in Weymouth! The blasted Lesser Yellowlegs, that we'd failed to locate the previous day, was now stood on the mud right outside the Radipole visitor centre! Aarghhh!!! What do these birds have against me? I'm on holiday, they could at least be kind.

By the time we'd arrived at Thurlestone the rain had stopped but it was just as windy as before. The message had stated that the bird was "in scrub next to the 2nd tee of the golf course". We were parked at the top of the beach and looked down over the golf course. I checked the bird news again before setting out on the cliff path, the info had changed slightly and it now read "by the 2nd green hut on the golf course". This was now becoming confusing. We trotted down to the head of the cove, noting a Ringed Plover alone on the sandy beach, and stood next to the 2nd tee of the golf course. In a small cleft in front of the tee there was a scrubby area with a hut. Too easy, I thought, they obviously meant the tee not the green just don't know much about golf. The ideal place for a Shrike to be, out of the wind, nice and sheltered. We watched the brambles and thickets for the next half hour, surely a Shrike would have shown by now? A Stonechat, a Greenfinch and a Linnet were the only birds that showed. The info must be wrong so, after a bit of debate, we decided to head further along the cliff path and investigate. It was increasingly blustery along the higher cliffs and I couldn't believe any bird let alone a Shrike would want to be up here in such an exposed spot. On rounding the headland I scanned the clifftop ahead of us and noticed first one green hut and then further away, another green hut! The info hadn't referred to a golf "green" but to the bloody colour "green"! Doh!! 

Now we were on to it. It was quite a walk to the "2nd green hut" but after 15 minutes or so we arrived and catching our breath started looking. There were just three other birders present and they all seemed to be interested in one small sallow that stood at the edge of the golf course. It only took a few seconds to locate the Isabelline Shrike since it was doing exactly as a Shrike does, perching prominently on a spindly bough. 

The Isabelline Shrike in typical pose.

We watched for a while and then moved closer towards the bird which had now relocated to another sallow. From the higher vantage point we could now watch the bird more easily although holding the camera steady was difficult in the wind. We were facing the sun too so images would be backlit. I had an inkling that one of the other birders, at that stage I had only seen them from the back, looked familiar and as I strode towards him I realised that it was one of our fellow Oxon birders and thoroughly good chap Jim! A long way from home but he had made the trip because as he said "I want to expand my list and there's not much to see in Oxfordshire!" True that. Jim had been on site since first light, he is very keen and an excellent photographer, and had suffered some miserable weather for the first few hours. At least he, as was I, was now able to get some decent shots of the Shrike in the good light. Mind you his photos, as always, are somewhat better than my own meagre efforts! See them at Jim Hutchins Photography

At first the Shrike was quite hard to pin down at close range, it frequently flew to the furthest of the only three sallow bushes on that part of the cliff, regardless of which one you stood next to! Eventually though it became more approachable and posed beautifully both on the sallows and on weedy stems. It frequently dived down into the brush presumably to trap a bee or other insect for food but I never actually saw it consume anything. 

The Isabelline Shrike was a first winter and similar to the bird seen just a few miles away in 2016. They are beautiful birds with a lovely red tail that was frequently fanned out to assist in balancing when perched on an exposed stem or twig. It has been proposed that this bird is of the sub-species Daurian Isabelline Shrike but my grasp of taxonomy isn't very good so enough of that. I just enjoyed spending time with a really nice bird!

We had to move on though, it was still a couple of hours drive to our next hotel, so reluctantly we pulled away and returned along the cliff path to the car. A fabulous Raven drifted past totally unfazed by the strong wind, in fact it appeared to be enjoying flying into it judging by the rolls and turns it was making. I envy birds like the Raven in rough weather, we find it tough going while they absolutely embrace it and seem to love it.

With no chance of finding a coffee stop on the main dual carriageway we settled on a stop at a Garden Centre for refreshment. I had a plan to stop at a place just a few miles from Falmouth where there was potentially another Lesser Yellowlegs to get (or not!). After the anguish of discovering that the Weymouth bird had appeared today where we'd been just yesterday this would offer a chance at some retribution. We arrived at Devoran Quay on the Fal Estuary known as the Carrick Roads, just after 17:15 meaning it would be dark in less than an hour and a half and we had to find the spot where the bird might be. It was a five minute walk out to the end of the quay where the wading birds were congregated. I could see Curlews, Oystercatchers, a few Dunlin and Black-tailed Godwits and lots of Redshanks but all were distant and I couldn't really distinguish between the smaller birds at the distance they were at and had left the scope in the car. So another ten minutes were wasted while I returned to the car and fetched the scope (what's the point in having the damn thing and then leaving it in the boot? We are desperate for a new one but that's another story!). The tide was coming in which was pushing the birds closer to us but once the water had covered their roosting spots they all flew over to the opposite bank and were even further away. I scanned the Redshank flocks as best as I could in the failing light but couldn't find a Lesser Yellowlegs amongst them even though it was probably there somewhere. I did find a group of three Greenshanks and I wondered if they could even be the same birds that we'd seen at Lodmoor yesterday. Almost definitely not but I often like to muse on such possibilities. This time I wasn't too bothered about missing out on the Yellowlegs since we could come back this way tomorrow or even later in the week.

Redshank

We headed into the rush hour traffic, equivalent to the mid-morning hush at home, and drove to the Meudon Hotel near Mawnan Smith. It was a beautiful evening, the wind had died down a bit but it was almost dark by the time we arrived so no time to appreciate the surroundings. I had selected this hotel since it boasted a lovely sub-tropical garden set into a valley with a path that led down to a sheltered cove and beach. Something that we could explore after breakfast in the morning before moving off to our holiday cottage for the week. Or so I had thought....!