Fifty years of ornithology in Suffolk

FIFTY YEARS O F O R N I T H O L O G Y IN SUFFOLK W .

H.

PAYN

This 50th year of our Society's existence seems an appropriate occasion to review some of the significant changes that have t a k e n place—for better or for worse—during that time, in the Suffolk ornithological scene. Most of them have been the result of modern farming practices which have largely transf o r m e d our county's landscape to the detriment of its wildlife.

In the west, black conifer forest has swallowed up most of the wild Breckland, replacing its unique heathland fauna and flora with a smaller and less interesting forest ecology. Much of the agricultural landscape has been subject to still more disasterous changes with the sweeping away of hundreds of hedges and shelter belts, the grubbing of wasteland and the filling in of so many ancient pits and ponds. The centre and south-west of the county have suffered particularly in this respect, with their plant, bird and butterfly populations greatly reduced.

Only the coastal belt has so far escaped the worst inroads of bulldozer and chemical spray and here the varied bird life has survived better, though most of the coastal "sandlings", similar in their ecology to the Breckland, have also been given over to intensive forestry.

A m i d all these debits which so distress those naturalists who r e m e m b e r the Suffolk of the 1920's and 1930's, a considerable n u m b e r of credits are, happily, to be found. Three particularly important milestones stand out along the road which has been followed by our Society since 1929. The lirst was the publication in 1932 of Claud Ticehurst's History of the Birds of Suffolk, which brought together between two Covers all that was then known of the history, status and distribution of the county's birds. It has been the foundation on which most of o u r present ornithological knowledge has been built up. Then, in the immediate post-war years, came the establishment by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds of our two great c o u n t y bird reserves, Minsmere and Havergate Island, each owing its existence to the flooding of grazing marshes which f o r m e d part of Britain's wartime coastal defences. Developed with skill and imagination to provide the wetlands habitat which is dwindling so rapidly elsewhere, they have proved of o u t s t a n d i n g value in maintaining secure breeding areas for m a r s h harrier, bittern, bearded tit, avocet and many others, a n d potentially for other species that may yet colonise them.

Trans. S u f f . Nat. Vol. 18 part 1.

53 They have also of course drawn thousands of bird-watchers to visit the Suffolk scene. Other smaller but very valuable reserves have also been created by the Nature Conservancy and by the Suffolk Trust for Nature Conservation. The third important milestone in our Society's progress down the years was reached in 1950 when thefirstof our annual Suffolk Bird Reports was launched. These reports have grown year by year and have brought together the observations and discoveries of an increasing number of bird watchers from Suffolk and beyond.

The many and far-reaching physical changes in the landscape have inevitably led to marked changes in the status and distribution of many birds. Since Ticehurst's History appeared in 1932 somefifty-twonew species have been added to the county list. This sounds and, indeed, is very impressive, but most of them have been casuals or vagrants and their inclusion on the list is due entirely to the large number of competent ornithologists, who are now on the watch for them throughout the county, and particularly near the coast where so many of these rarities first appear.

Better bird protection measures and the provision of suitable habitat in our reserves, as well as large new reservoirs and gravel pits have led to the reestablishment as breeding birds of the marsh harrier, bittern and avocet and, rather insecurely at present, of the black-tailed godwit. The black redstart, little ringed plover, Savi's and Cetti's warblers have also arrived as natural colonisers. It remains to be seen whether the latter species was able to survive in our recent arctic weather.

A number of other species, notably the Sandwich tern, have benefited from protection but little and common terns are suffering from disturbance on our beaches and will probably only survive within the reserves.

The kittiwake colony at Lowestoft is new since Ticehurst's day and so are the breeding curlews on the Breck. Redpolls and grey wagtails are increasing as breeding species and the siskin has joined them. Our breeding colony of golden orioles is of course of outstanding importance.

Most of the gulls have increased considerably as winter visitors, while Suffolk now supports a thriving breeding colony of herring and lesser black-backed gulls. The Canada goose is widespread and bids fair to become a pest, as does the collared dove, a recent colonist from eastern Europe. Several ducks, notably shoveler, tufted duck and the shelduck have shown a distinct upsurge in breeding numbers.

FIFTY YEARS OF ORNITHOLOGY IN SUFFOLK

Trans. Suff. Nat. Vol. 18 partl.

54

Suffolk

Natural History,

Vol. 18, Part 1

T u r n i n g now to the losses and decreases that have taken place d u r i n g o u r Society's existence, we find a depressingly long list. W e have probably lost as breeding birds both the c o r n c r a k e a n d wryneck, while the M o n t a g u ' s harrier and h o b b y have not nested in the county for some years though t h e y may yet r e t u r n . T h e n u m b e r of woodlarks, red-backed shrikes, stonechats, whinchats, redstarts, wheatears, tree pipits a n d nightjars—all wasteland species—goes steadily downhill.

M a n y — p e r h a p s m o s t — o f our once c o m m o n birds are also s h o w i n g a progressive decline in n u m b e r s in the 'prairie farming" a r e a s of central and west Suffolk. Particularly noticeable has b e e n the widespread decrease in the n u m b e r s of cuckoos, nightingales, green w o o d p e c k e r s , little owls, snipe, partridges a n d of s o m e of the warblers.

A t my h o m e at Härtest in 1939 forty-nine species nested regularly in the garden and its immediate vicinity. N o w . forty y e a r s later, only thirty species do so and the likelihood of any m a j o r recovery seems sadly remote.

O n e o t h e r aspect of the ornithological s c e n e — a n d it is a very i m p o r t a n t o n e , that calls particularly for c o m m e n t . is the p h e n o m e n a l increase since the last war in the n u m b e r of those w h o find pleasure and relaxation in watching and studying birds. W h e n Ticehurst wrote, in the late 1920's, there were very few bird-watchers in the county on whose experience and local k n o w l e d g e he could rely for help. Ornithologists at that p e r i o d all s e e m e d to gravitate to N o r f o l k , to the Broads or to B l a k e n e y Point and Cley. Few came to Suffolk, and much of the c e n t r e and south was unvisited by c o m p e t e n t observers.

T o d a y , by c o n t r a s t , experienced observers are widespread t h r o u g h o u t the county and their n u m b e r s are regularly rei n f o r c e d by enthusiasts f r o m elsewhere. T h a n k s to them all very few unusual birds probably pass through without being seen a n d r e c o r d e d .

Such then is a brief history of our county's ornithology over the past fifty y e a r s — a catalogue of sad losses of both habitat a n d species, yet with very considerable compensations as-new h a b i t a t is p r o d u c e d by m a n ' s efforts and new species are a d d e d to t h e county list. It is surely up to us, as a study society, to try a n d e n s u r e that no more species are lost from it.

W. H. Payn, F.L.S., Härtest Place, Bury St.

Trans. S u f f . Nat. Vol. 18 part 1.

M.B.O.U., Edmunds.