Long-tailed Shrike

Rare Oxfordshire sighting.

The Long-tailed Shrike or Rufous-backed Shrike is found across Asia.

The first-ever vagrant Long-tailed Shrike (Lanius schach) recorded in the UK was a first-winter individual found at Howmore on South Uist in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, on November 3–4, 2000

The second record was in Crail, Fife, Scotland on July 5, 2026.

On July 8 a Long-tailed Shrike, was spotted in Gloucestershire and was widely reported among the birding community on July 18. BirdGuides confirms that these are different birds on the basis of plumage differences and overlapping dates.

Sightings of the “Gloucestershire” bird were reported pretty much daily by ebird-alert@birds.cornell.edu.  Photographs were posted on national and local FB groups with Oxfordshire claiming a County first as well as an England first, as the bird was frequenting a hedge on the county border close to Eastleach Martin.

Ebird reports include precise locations and astonishingly it would seem that this bird has remained in pretty much the same place. It was there yesterday.

Parking has been made available in a field a ten minute walk south of the site, which is a short distance NE from the road north from Fyfield, east of Eastleach Martin.

There are nine recognised subspecies of Lanius Schach, distinguished by variations in plumage. The English bird is most probably Lanius schach erythronotus (with the alternative possibility of caniceps) on the basis of its rufous-suffused grey back and a breeding ground further west across Central Asia (such as Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan) making it the most plausible candidate for a western European vagrant.

When I arrived this morning one of the photographers pointed to the bird about ten metres away remarking that my scope was “overkill”! I got some decent record snaps in the hour from my arrival at 6.50 a.m.

Mike Haddrell
21 Aug 2026

Photos credit: Mike Haddrell