Great Grey Shrike

Lanius exubitor

Scarce & regular Winter visitors of 15-300 per year in Britain from November-April.

Breeds in the Northern Europe & Northern North America.

Also winters in Southern Europe, Central Asia & the South Western USA.

In America, it is known as 'the Northern Shrike.'

Adults have grey upperparts with tinged brownish towards the east of its Eurasian range.

The cheeks and chin as well as a thin and often hard-to-see stripe above the eye are white, and a deep black mask extends from the beak through the eye to the ear coverts; the area immediately above the beak is grey. 

The tail is black, long, and pointed at the tip; the outer rectrices have white outer vanes. The underparts are white, slightly tinged with grey in most subspecies.