Weather delivers a good run of migrants

The beginning of October can prove either incredibly exciting or very frustrating if you happen to be a birdwatcher. While it is the time of the year when most of our migrants are on the move, the prevailing weather conditions ultimately dictate where and when they might turn up. If the winds are from the west then Norfolk’s east coast is unlikely to turn up anything unusual. If, however, the wind is from the east and there is overnight rain or fog on the coast, then huge numbers of migrants may make landfall, delivering a veritable feast for the birdwatcher.

This autumn has got off to a good start and there have been some good numbers of migrants reported from across the county. Most have been familiar and expected species, like wryneck, yellow-browed warbler and red-backed shrike, but there have been one or two less common species. More of the action has been taking place further north, however, particularly in relation to rarities, and it has been the Northern Isles, Shetland and Orkney that have hosted the best birds so far. Included in these have been a number of American species, transported across the Atlantic within the fast-moving tracks of autumn storms.

October is traditionally the month when many birdwatchers head west, journeying to Cornwall and on to the Isles of Scilly. These small islands provide the best opportunities for catching up with some of the rarest vagrants and they also provide the added benefit of some late season warmth, extending the summer for a few more weeks. For the more hardcore birdwatchers – those seemingly more interested in the number of species they have seen – the autumn migration becomes a bit of game. Should they remain on the mainland, ready to dash to Norfolk or head to Scotland, or should they base themselves on the islands, where a rare bird might only make a fleeting visit before disappearing, never to be seen again?

As someone who is more interested in watching the birds on my local patch or in engaging with a bird within its wider landscape, autumn is a less pressured, more enjoyable affair. I can savour what happens to come my way and if it does come? Well, then it doesn’t matter.

Butcher bird success

The recent news that Red-backed Shrikes have bred in England for the second year running is particularly welcome. While it does not necessarily mean that the species is going to recolonise the country, it gives hope that we might see an increased number of successful nesting attempts in future years.

There was a time when the Red-backed Shrike, or ‘butcher-bird’ as it is sometimes known, was a common breeding species across much of the country. Bits of scrubby habitat, thick with bramble, hawthorn and blackthorn, were favoured for nesting, as were the newly established conifer blocks of the dry breckland soils. Victorian ornithologists were the first to note that Red-backed Shrike numbers were in decline, even though the species was still widespread as a summer-visiting breeder. During the 20^th Century, however, the population collapsed and the loss of birds from previously favoured sites seemed relentless. As the numbers of breeding pairs shrank, so the population retreated to heathland habitats and their protective gorse. The last of these haunts was near Santon Downham in the brecks, where the last pair nested in 1990, the year I first moved to Norfolk.

The reasons behind the decline are thought to be linked to agricultural intensification, but egg-collecting almost certainly played a major part in the decline. The colourful and often variable eggs were particularly attractive to egg-collectors and as the birds became increasingly scarce, so the eggs became all the more prized. Although much less common today than it once was, egg-collecting still continues. For this reason, the shrikes nesting near Dartmoor have had to have round-the-clock protection. This highlights the dichotomy in our society; there are those who will selflessly give up their time to help protect and conserve rare species, acting as wardens, managing habitat and liaising with birdwatchers. Then there are those whose selfishness sees them take eggs and put the future of a species at risk, simply because they seek ownership over something that is not theirs to have.

For me, the Red-backed Shrike remains a passage visitor. It is a bird I catch up with most autumns, usually in some scruffy bit of scrub on the coast. The ‘butcher bird’ is probably all the more special to me because I do not encounter it that often. Mind you, it is such a striking and charismatic species that, even if it were once again a common breeder, I am certain that it would still hold a special place in my affections. I guess you might be wondering about the ‘butcher bird’ tag. Well, this comes from the shrike’s habit of impaling prey items on thorns and barbed wire, maintaining a larder, much like an old-fashioned butcher’s shop window.

Butcher bird takes up residence

The presence of a Red-backed Shrike at Sea Palling over the weekend is a noteworthy occurrence, not least because this particular individual has been present for a good few days. Older readers may recall the Red-backed Shrike as being a regular breeder at scrubby sites scattered across the county. However, the shrike is now effectively extinct as a breeding species in Britain thanks to a long-term decline first noted in the late 1800s.

The Red-backed Shrike‘s demise was first noted in the north of its British range such that, while populations in northern counties were being lost, the bird was still being described as ‘tolerably common’ within East Anglia. This changed as the Twentieth Century saw a period of relentless decline. A survey in the 1960s put the breeding population at 253 pairs but by 1971 this had fallen to 81 and by 1980 there were just 23 pairs remaining. The final pair was last confirmed breeding in 1988 at Santon Downham in the Brecks and a pair probably bred nearby in 1990. Since then, breeding has been confirmed on just two occasions, although there is a handful of reports each year of singing birds seemingly on territory in suitable nesting habitat. These days most records refer to birds seen on passage, passing through East Anglia during spring or autumn and seemingly of birds from breeding populations in Finland, Sweden or Norway.

The Red-backed Shrike gets its local name of ‘butcher bird’ from its habit of impaling prey on the thorns of prickly shrubs or the barbs of barbed-wire fences. These grisly collections of prey may be used as larders since they can sometimes be found close to active shrike nests. Favoured prey items include larger insects (like butterflies, day-flying moths, beetles and dragonflies), together with small birds, small mammals and lizards. It is thought that a massive decline in the availability of larger insects lies behind the losses, possibly the result of agricultural change, increasing use of insecticides and a decline in habitat quality. One other factor implicated in the decline has been the illegal and morally repugnant activities of egg collectors. The colourful and highly-variable eggs of the Red-backed Shrike made them especially popular with egg collectors. As the birds became scarcer so their eggs became all the more sought after by collectors. The problem was exacerbated by the suggestion that the British shrikes were a distinct race, thus widening their attractiveness to egg collectors operating elsewhere within Europe. It is also possible that other difficulties may have faced the shrikes on their African wintering grounds. Whatever the ultimate cause of the decline it seems that things here will not improve in the short term.