Butcher bird takes up residence

The presence of a Red-backed Shrike at Sea Palling over the weekend is a noteworthy occurrence, not least because this particular individual has been present for a good few days. Older readers may recall the Red-backed Shrike as being a regular breeder at scrubby sites scattered across the county. However, the shrike is now effectively extinct as a breeding species in Britain thanks to a long-term decline first noted in the late 1800s.

The Red-backed Shrike‘s demise was first noted in the north of its British range such that, while populations in northern counties were being lost, the bird was still being described as ‘tolerably common’ within East Anglia. This changed as the Twentieth Century saw a period of relentless decline. A survey in the 1960s put the breeding population at 253 pairs but by 1971 this had fallen to 81 and by 1980 there were just 23 pairs remaining. The final pair was last confirmed breeding in 1988 at Santon Downham in the Brecks and a pair probably bred nearby in 1990. Since then, breeding has been confirmed on just two occasions, although there is a handful of reports each year of singing birds seemingly on territory in suitable nesting habitat. These days most records refer to birds seen on passage, passing through East Anglia during spring or autumn and seemingly of birds from breeding populations in Finland, Sweden or Norway.

The Red-backed Shrike gets its local name of ‘butcher bird’ from its habit of impaling prey on the thorns of prickly shrubs or the barbs of barbed-wire fences. These grisly collections of prey may be used as larders since they can sometimes be found close to active shrike nests. Favoured prey items include larger insects (like butterflies, day-flying moths, beetles and dragonflies), together with small birds, small mammals and lizards. It is thought that a massive decline in the availability of larger insects lies behind the losses, possibly the result of agricultural change, increasing use of insecticides and a decline in habitat quality. One other factor implicated in the decline has been the illegal and morally repugnant activities of egg collectors. The colourful and highly-variable eggs of the Red-backed Shrike made them especially popular with egg collectors. As the birds became scarcer so their eggs became all the more sought after by collectors. The problem was exacerbated by the suggestion that the British shrikes were a distinct race, thus widening their attractiveness to egg collectors operating elsewhere within Europe. It is also possible that other difficulties may have faced the shrikes on their African wintering grounds. Whatever the ultimate cause of the decline it seems that things here will not improve in the short term.