Shrikes of the World

• Shrikes of the World by Norbert Lefranc and Tim Worfolk (Bloomsbury, London, 2022).
• 336 pages, colour photos and illustrations.
• ISBN 9781472933775. Hbk, £60.
• Bookshop from £51

Shrikes are a family of songbirds that capture our imagination and enthral us when encountered in the field. They are inherently beautiful, often sporting black 'bandit masks' and white flashes in the wings and tail, alongside appealing colour combinations of black, white, grey, rufous and buff.

Their predatory habits, which will often see them take large insects or, in many cases, small birds or mammals only amplifies their uniqueness among passerines, while a penchant for choosing exposed perches from where to sit and survey their territories makes them generally easy to observe and study.

For the British birder, where every shrike species is sadly now at least a scarcity and some are extreme rarities, their allure is all the more intense. Each one tends to be a popular fixture, and their often-confident nature means they can be highly photogenic, as well as entertaining to watch. For example, many birders will point to the famous Steppe Grey Shrike in north Lincolnshire in November 2008, which used to perch on the gathered crowd’s cameras and telescopes, as one of their most memorable birding encounters on home shores.

And so, the publication of the latest in the Helm Identification Guides series will no doubt be of great interest to many. Shrikes of the World, by French ornithologist Norbert Lefranc and acclaimed artist Tim Worfolk, is in fact a fully updated version of Shrikes, their seminal work published in 1997.

It follows a familiar format to previous published titles in the Helm series, with an introductory section followed by the plates and then the species accounts. The first provides a wealth of information on taxonomic background to the family, as well as morphology, migration, habitat preferences, their predatory instincts and even historical bad reputation.

Sadly, the population changes section makes for sobering reading. Being relatively large passerines that require a good supply of prey, as well as expansive areas of suitable habitat (usually undisturbed rough ground or scrub), they have suffered greatly as humans have modified and 'tidied up' landscapes. The species accounts further reference a wealth of data and research on this, with the particularly well-studied European and North American species presenting some alarming declines in the face of human-induced pressures, from habitat loss to climate change.

The plates in Shrikes of the World are a joy to behold and feel like a real celebration of this diverse and attractive family. From the fiscals of sub-Saharan Africa to the Northern Shrikes of high-latitude Siberia and North America, the quality of illustrations is superb throughout. The variations of spread wings and tails in the 'grey shrike' taxa will surely hold plenty of interest for European birders.

The texts for each species include an introduction, detailed subsections on identification (including field identification, voice and a fuller description), geographic variation, moult and biometrics, as well as population movements and vagrancy. Each species is accompanied by a series of photos depicting plumage variation and at least one range map.

All in all, this is a superb piece of work, having been thoroughly revised and updated in all aspects. And what's more, the beautiful artwork that adorns the sleeve, depicting a vibrant, shrike-filled Mediterranean landscape, will ensure this book looks as eye-catching on the shelf as it is informative when opened up.