Grey Shrike-thrush

[John Harris <>]

I could set my calendar by it! It is the 1^st May  and suddenly I hear the metallic ‘ching’ of the Grey Shrike-thrush which shelters every winter in the shrubbery under my eaves. I sometimes see it quite clearly through a window when it comes to roost late in the afternoon every day. I have decided it is a male and it surely must be the same one who comes back at the same time every year and which I will hear every day for months until suddenly he stops. Or does he ‘come back’? Perhaps he is always here but I do not see him. The winter ‘ching’ is very distinctive. I am not all that good at distinguishing calls and the GST has quite a few different calls outside the winter which I do not always recognise because I do not see the bird at the same time as I hear an unfamiliar call. I do see a GST every now and then in the trees behind my house if I am lucky so it could be the same one. But every winter, ching, there he is!!!