Without doubt the most sinister of bird families to be encountered in the British Isles are the shrikes with seven different branches of the family accepted as being visitors to our shores.

Face masks, hooked beaks, nickname of ‘butcher bird’ and a family name lanious (from the latin lanior, to rip in pieces), means sinister really is a most descriptive word, despite all adult birds having stunning plumage.

Their nickname was earned because of the shrike’s habit of making ‘larders’ of its prey, using thorns, spiked bushes or barbed wire to impale a selection of insects, small animals, and birds to return to when needed.

Oxfordshire has recorded three members of the family — red backed, woodchat and great grey shrikes.

All are now only visitors as the last regular breeder in Britain, the red backed, was effectively lost in the 1990s due to a mixture of insecticide use, habit loss, and egg collectors.

Most of the birds passing through are scaly brown and cream juveniles, but an adult red backed shrike — grey-headed, heavily-masked and with a beautiful chestnut back and pink hued breast — was very popular with birdwatchers in the spring of 2002, when it paused for just part of a day on the edge of the Downs at Churn.

However, now is the time when the largest of the family, great grey shrikes arrive for the winter from northern Europe and as I write, one has been seen several times in fields at the rear of Farmoor reservoir, hopefully settled in to a territory, as a couple of others have done in past years.

This magnificent bird with its jet black mask contrasting vividly with silver grey, white and black plumage is usually best looked for at the tops of bushes, trees and telephone wires searching for prey. It has remarkable eyesight and I have seen birds swoop several yards before dropping to snatch up a lizard, or large beetle, for the larder.

Great grey shrikes are faithful to regular sites each year and Berkshire’s Wishmoor Bottom and Bury Downs, Hampshire’s New Forest and Surrey’s Thursley Common are all regular wintering sites where it’s well worth trying to get a glimpse of this sparkling bird at work.