Red-backed Shrike of Britain

The Red-Backed Shrike, Lanius collurio, is an attractive and graceful bird who became extinct as a breeding species in the late 1980s. 

Some European Red-Backed Shrikes pass over Britain while on their way to their wintering grounds in southern Africa.

The RSPB reported several pairs successfully nested in Dartmoor in England and Shetland in Scotland since 2010. 

 Ornithologists hope Red-Backed Shrikes will once again recolonise their former breeding ground in Britain.

Red-Backed Shrikes are slimmer and slightly larger than house sparrows. 

Males have a blue-grey head, black mask, white throat, pink breast and reddish back [Picture of a male – Birdguides: https://www.birdguides.com/gallery/birds/lanius-collurio/632835 ). Females and juveniles are a dull brown colour.

The hooked bills of Red-Backed Shrikes are a common feature in all species of Shrikes.

The typical habitats of Red-Backed Shrikes are open woodland, meadows, heaths, pastures, scrubland and hedges. 

Shrikes are raptor-like birds as they consume a wide range of insects [bees, beetles), small birds and mammals, amphibians and reptiles. 

The habit of Red-Backed Shrikes of impaling their prey on thorns and branches earned them the name of “butcher-birds”. 

The usual hunting method is to wait high on a perch for their prey to pass by. They return to the same perch once their prey has been caught. 

Red-backed Shrikes were once a common and widespread breeding species across southern England. Sadly, they became extinct because of changes in agricultural practices and loss of habitat. 

“In 1945 there were several hundred pairs… still breeding in Britain, but in the 1950s and 60s they underwent precipitate declines, perhaps because of the advent of intensive farming. By 1974 the wryneck had ceased to nest here; by 1989 so too had the shrike”.

Red-Backed Shrikes have recently “made sporadic attempts to breed here again; and now it has been suggested that Lanius collurio might be on the verge of recolonising its British habitat [Independent – https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/the-unexpected-and-cheering-return-of-the-red-backed-shrike-a6806541.html).

The RSPB reported in 2010 that a pair had nested successfully for the first time since 1989 at a secret location in Dartmoor. The chicks were killed after being taken by magpies.

According to the RSPB in 2013, the same nesting pair ”fledged two youngsters at new undisclosed site on Dartmoor this summer…“This is now the fourth year they have returned to Dartmoor, but they failed to breed last year - probably due to the awful weather [BBC - https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-devon-24322881 ).

Another pair of Red-Backed Shrikes successfully raised 4 chicks in 2015 on Shetland in Scotland [Press & Journal - https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen/675946/rare-bird-extinct-britain-chicks-secret-scottish-location/ ).

Approximately 200 Red-Backed Shrikes from Europe briefly stop in Britain while flying to and from their wintering grounds in southern Africa.

Most of the passage migrants are from Scandinavia. They fly along the east and south coasts of Britain during the autumn. A few also visit Britain during the summer 

[Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/16/red-backed-shrike-charismatic-butcher-bird-birdwatch ).

A map showing the distribution of European Red-Backed Shrikes has been provided by the BTO [Eurobird - https://eurobirdportal.org/ebp/en/#home/LANCOL/p52weeks ).

The breeding season begins in late May and ends in July. Pairs nest on rough, open land where there are trees and bushes.

Four to six eggs are laid by the female which take approximate 2 weeks. The chicks learn to fly after another 2 weeks.

The Red-backed Shrike is a red-listed species of bird in Britain.

The Red-Backed Shrike is classified as of Least Concern by IUCN.

Europe holds 60% of the global population. The European population is declining following “a dramatic decline in the west and north-east of its breeding range from 1970 to 1990 at least. However, in Europe, trends between 1980 and 2013 show that the population is stable” [Birdlife International).

“Red-backed Shrike is undergoing a severe decline in Spain’s Basque Country, with numbers having dropped by 95 per cent over the last 40 years.”.

“Over the whole of Spain, a negative trend in Red-backed Shrike numbers is also apparent, and since 1998, the species has lost more than 50 per cent of its population”.

“These figures contrast with the status of the species across European, where the latest numbers from the European Birds Census Council show the species to be stable up to 2015” [Birdguides - https://www.birdguides.com/articles/basque-red-backed-shrike-population-in-free-fall ).

The main threats to Red-Backed Shrikes are loss of habitat because of afforestation and agricultural changes, increased use of pesticides and climate change [cooler and wetter summers). 

For more information on the birds of the gardens and countryside of Britain and Ireland, please visit,

http://bird4u.mzzhost.com/index.html