Our flight to Fair Isle was uneventful and we soon dropped down onto the gravel runway to be met by our hosts Hollie & Deryk Shaw, who took our bags back to their croft, whilst Jase & I started birding. Heading south we soon arrived at Quoy and caught up with a Blyths Reed Warbler and only my 2nd Lanceolated Warbler that had been frequenting the small reed bed & 'rig' (vegetable patch). The Lanceolated Warbler had been ringed a few days previously and was found to be in full body moult and looked a bit scruffy.
We'd heard that a possible Red-tailed Shrike had been seen by Greg as it was getting dark the day before we arrived. A quick search by Deryk and Alex revealed nothing so we thought nothing more about it. Until Jason suddenly said “whats that, its looking down like a shrike" Sure enough there was superb male Turkestan or Red-tailed Shrike sat on a post about 400 m away. Ringing Alex to let him know we were soon joined by all the islands birders to watch this superb looking little predator as it gradually worked its way closer along the fence lines.
After watching the shrike and fulling our SDF cards with numerous images we left to look elsewhere. Only to get a message less than an hour later that the Obs Staff had trapped the Shrike at Midway and were going to ring it. We were 5 minutes away so hurried up in time to see the bird in the hand and check the ageing and I.D features. A faecal sample was collected for DNA analysis as the taxonomy of the Red-tailed / Daurian Shrike complex is still in a state of flux.
If confirmed as a Turkestan / Red-tailed Shrike this would be a first for Shetland & Fair Isle as since Isabelline Shrike was split there have been no confirmed records of either. I've been lucky enough to see at least 3 'Isabelline Shrikes' on Shetland - see here & here. A great first full day on Fair Isle.
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