Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vertebrate > bird > Bird |
| Red List Status: | Critically Endangered (Breeding) [CR(br)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Lanius collurio |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Linnaeus, 1758 |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Stanbury et al., 2021 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Rare/occasional Breeder |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Species protection required for breeding attempts. Consider and as appropriate implement the recommendations of the 2016 SPA Review. Reintroduction candidate |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Reintroduction feasibility study suggests that extensive areas of grass-scrub habitat mosaics are needed at landscape scale for this species to successfully re-establish, either through reintroduction or natural recolonisation |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 5. Remedial action identified |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Relict or natural rarity |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - sufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Implement nest protection measures in suitable locations for this species to protect breeding birds and their nests from disturbance and relevant site-based threats, including at newly-colonised sites.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Special (in situ) measure
Duration: Unknown
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Following the recommendations of the re-introduction feasibility study create extensive landscape-scale grass-scrub habitat mosaics in one or more locations in S England in support of a potential reintroduction attempt.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat creation
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Trial aviculture followed by full reintroduction
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: (Re-)introduction
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: South Downs and Dorset
Comments:
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.