Great grey shrike

Scientific name: Lanius excubitor
Bird family: Shrikes
UK conservation status: Not assessed
Protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

Key information

The great grey shrike is the largest of the European shrikes. Small numbers come to the UK in autumn and spend the winter here. They are very territorial so you're unlikely to see more than one at once. Shrikes are often 'mobbed' by other birds which recognise them as dangerous predators. Keep an eye out for a medium-sized, long-tailed bird sitting at the top of a tree. The black mask and grey plumage are distinctive.

What they eat:

Beetles and other insects, small mammals and birds. Food is often stored in a 'larder' by impaling it on a thorn!

Population:

UK breeding is the number of pairs breeding annually. UK wintering is the number of individuals present from October to March. UK passage is the number of individuals passing through on migration in spring and/or autumn.

UK wintering:: 62 birds

UK passage:: 125 birds

Identifying features:

Great grey shrike

Feather colour: Black Brown Grey White

Beak: Black Short Hooked Powerful Chunky

Natural habitats: Farmland Grassland Heathland Wetland

Similar birds:

Red-backed shrike

Magpie

Where and when to see them

Great grey shrikes visit open areas, including heathland, farmland, scrub, clear-felled areas of forestry and coastal dunes. They need to have perches from which to hunt, so they often sit on fenceposts and high up in trees.

* This map is intended as a guide. It shows general distribution rather than detailed, localised populations.

Resident
Passage
Summer
Winter

Great grey shrikes are regular but scarce visitors to the UK. They arrive, on the east coast at first, in autumn and many stay throughout winter and into spring (sometimes as late as April or May), when they migrate back to their breeding grounds in Scandinavia.

Minsmere

Coombes Valley

Arne

Great grey shrike