Red Backed Shrike Taken at Barns Ness on 27th May 2012 using Nikon D40X with Nikon 300 mm zoom lens.   Red Backed Shrike. Species : Order: Family: Local names: Lanius collurio. Passeriformes. Laniidae. Butcher Bird. Site Of Nest: Food: Plumage: Length: Feature: Breeds on heaths and commons with thorn bushes and gorse. Eats large insects, small birds, frogs, rodents and lizards. It hunts from prominent perches, and impales corpses on thorns or barbed wire as a "larder". This practice has earned it the nickname of "butcher bird." The male's upper parts are reddish with a grey head and a typical shrike black stripe through the eye. Underparts are tinged pink, and the tail has a black and white pattern similar to that of a wheatear. In the female and young birds the upperparts are brown and vermiculated. Underparts are buff and also vermiculated. 16 - 18 cms. Lost as a breeder in this country in the 1990's but they have returned to breed in Dartmoor in 2011 Voice: