Birds and wildlife

Red-backed Shrike

Lanius collurioGroup: shrikesUK Conservation status:Red

How to identify

Red-backed Shrikes are slightly larger, but slimmer, than House Sparrows. The male is unmistakable with a bluish-grey head, black mask, bright chestnut back and thick black bill. Shrikes like to perch on the tops of bushes, fence posts and telephone wires, where they have a good view of potential prey. Their catches are taken to their 'larder' where they are impaled on a thorn or wedged into branches for later. Dramatic declines have seen the Red-backed Shrike become almost extinct as a UK breeding species, and they are now a Red List bird. It's also listed as a Schedule 1 species under The Wildlife and Countryside Act.

Call

Red-backed Shrike

Volker Arnold / xeno-canto

Key

  1. Resident
  2. Passage
  3. Summer
  4. Winter
* This map is intended as a guide. It shows general distribution rather than detailed, localised populations.
UK distribution map for Red-backed Shrike
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec

Key facts