THE red-backed shrike, a bird driven to the brink of extinction in Britain is making a comeback on Dartmoor.

Conservationists have announced the fledging of two youngsters from England's only nesting pair of red-backed shrike.

The birds, at a secret location on Dartmoor, have been under close watch to guarantee their safety in a project managed by the RSP with support from Dartmoor Study Group, Devon Birds, Devon and Cornwall Police, Forestry Commission, Dartmoor National Park Authority and Natural England.

Kevin Rylands from the RSPB said: 'This is now the fourth year they have returned to Dartmoor, but they failed to breed successfully last year, probably due to the awful weather.

'A lone male visited the previous breeding site in May this year but failed to find a mate.

'Fortunately though, a pair was found at a new site in June and this bodes well for the future of the species on Dartmoor.'

Red-backed shrikes were driven to extinction in the UK in the 1990s. Egg collecting remains a major threat.

A combination of volunteers, staff and sophisticated wildlife surveillance equipment act as protection for the breeding pair.

Red-backed shrikes are a migrant species who return from Africa in spring.

They are also known as 'butcher birds' due to their uncompromising eating habits, which involve catching small creatures and often impaling them on sharp thorns or barbed wire.

These 'larders' can hold caterpillars, beetles, bees, lizards and even small mammals.

Once a familiar breeding bird across the country, they declined to extinction, last breeding in England in 1992, before their return to Dartmoor in 2010.

George Harris, chairman of Devon Birds, said: 'The red-backed shrike is a beautiful bird with striking feeding habits.

'Its loss from Devon last century was tragic, which is why we are so keen to support initiatives such as this, with necessarily wide-reaching partnership involvement, intended to see this bird's recovery in Devon.

'It's a big aspiration, but success will be worth the effort.'

Kevin Rylands added: 'We hope red-backed shrikes will continue to re-colonise Dartmoor but that is dependent upon birds returning next year, finding suitable habitat and not being disturbed.'