Red-backed Shrike near Boilton Woods, Preston, June 2009

This bird was first spotted early in the day on Saturday June 20, by local birder Nick Green in a scrubby field on the north side of the wood; by early evening it had attracted many watchers. Unaware of its presence, I'd made a routine evening visit to Brockholes Wetlands to see what birds were around and was surprised by the large number of cars parked there. Despite this, no-one was in sight which seemed strange but eventually the word came through that everyone was up the hill on the far side of the wood watching the Shrike.


[Very distant view, 200+ metres]

When I eventually arrived at the spot at about 9pm (it was the longest day tomorrow) there were twenty or more people present with others coming and going. Everyone kept at least 200 metres away (a Woodchat had been frightened off in Bowland a few weeks earlier by people trying to get too close). We needn't have bothered though as a dog-walker passed within 50 metres of the bird without disturbing it. The Shrike seemed to be quite settled, often dropping from various perches to pounce on prey in the grass.

Surprisingly, and to the disappointment of those who came at first light the following morning, it had gone and was not seen again. This was a considerable rarity for the area although Clifford Oakes in his classic book on Lancashire birds mentions that Red-backed-Shrikes used to nest very close to here early in the twentieth century