Juvenile Red-backed Shrike at Larford Pool - September 24th & 25th 2008
The first county record since 2000.
Discovered by Dave and Jane Scott during the afternoon on Wednesday 24th, news of this bird filtered out late morning the next day following a telephone call from Steve Bloomfield at Worcestershire Wildlife Trust. Armed with fairly good directions as to where the bird had originally been found, a quick dash up to Larford was made and on arrival Andy Warr and I were faced with a fairly daunting task. The area looked ideal for a shrike with hawthorn hedges and scattered bushes for as far as the eye could see. We carefully checked each hedgerow in turn but after well over an hour of searching there was no sign of the bird. Andy was pushed for time due to work commitments and as we slowly walked back to our cars an agitated group of small birds was noticed near the top of a hawthorn bush. The reason for this commotion soon became apparent - a superb juvenile Red-backed Shrike!
News of the bird’s presence was quickly released and although it was fairly mobile at times, it continued to show well in to the evening. It was regularly observed catching a variety of insects including bees, caterpillars, dragonflies and beetles, some of which were spiked on to it’s favoured hawthorn bushes for later consumption. Following clear conditions overnight, there was no sign on Friday morning and the bird was assumed to have departed.
It’s occurrence coincided with a marked arrival of shrike species along the east coast, including many Red-backed Shrikes, a Lesser Grey Shrike and Britain’s fifth Brown Shrike.
Brian Stretch
September 27th 2008
Juvenile Red-backed Shrike at Larford Pool. Photos: Oliver Wadsworth
Juvenile Red-backed Shrike at Larford Pool. Video: Oliver Wadsworth
One of the many bees added to the shrike's larder.
Juvenile Red-backed Shrike at Larford Pool. Photos: Trevor Hannington
Juvenile Red-backed Shrike at Larford Pool. Photos: Andy Warr
Last recorded in Worcestershire as a breeding species on the Malvern Hills in 1962 the following have been recorded since:
Pair near Kidderminster at Devil's Spittleful - June 2nd 1963
Male near Kidderminster at Devil's Spittleful - June 8th 1964
Male at Upton Warren - September 11th 1966
Male in the Wyre Forest - August 28th 1972
Juvenile at Droitwich - September 13th 1976
Male at Upton Warren - June 18th 1977
Male at Frankley - May 16th 1988
Juvenile near Evesham at Norton - September 30th 1997
Juvenile at Upton Warren - October 3rd 1999
Juvenile at Throckmorton - October 8th - 13th 2000
