Has anyone any thoughts on why the bird (s) never set up residence at Lakenheath this year? - is it just a odd year or have they deserted East Anglia for good?
Hello there,
Thanks for your post. An adult male and at least one female type bird were present from May 17 until at least early June this year. Everything went quiet around the first week of June which was unusual as they are usually heard singing and calling until the end of June at least.
Although it is very difficult to know what happened as we can't prove a negative, it seems that the birds left the reserve at some point during this period. Despite several visits to other suitable habitat in the area, we have not found any orioles elsewhere.
It is hard to say why this happened to be honest. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to prove successful breeding for golden orioles here since 2009. The entire north-western European population of orioles has been declining for a while now and the Dutch population (which we think our population has originated from.) has declined from around 10,000 years to 5,000 pairs in the last ten years or so.
I hope that has helped to answer your question. If there is anything else that you would like to know please do not hesitate to give us a ring on 01842 863400 or e-mail us on lakenheath@rspb.org.uk;
Regards,
David
Thanks David - has any research been carried out by the RSPB or like minded European conservation groups as to why there has been this decline?
Hello Peter,
Thanks for your reply. Although we can't be sure, it seems to be part of a general range contraction that is affecting a lot of summer migrants. For whatever reason, species such as golden orioles, red backed shrikes and wrynecks are increasing in southern and eastern europe and declining in north west Europe. There are many possible reasons why this may be the case but nothing has been conclusivley been proven as yet.