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Historically Extinct Birds in Britain... This article covers those species of bird which have been recorded in Britain since the end of the last glaciation and which have at some point been extinct. The ornithology of Britain is probably the best studied in the world but a number of species have become extinct in Britain in historical times. Others are known only through archaelogical records, while others, such as White-backed Woodpecker, are conjectured to have been found in Britain without any literary or archaelogical attestation.

Hazel Grouse

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Main article: Hazel Grouse

There are five records of archaelogical remains of this species from south western Britain one in the immediate post-Cromerian period and four from the late Glacial period. This species was probably native to Britain for a very short period after the last glaciation[1].

Western Capercaillie

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Main article: Western Capercaillie

The Capercaillie is quite well represented by archaelogical remains in Britain and Yalden and Albarella mention 27 records for Britain and Ireland up to medieval times[1]. It probably became extinct as breeding species in Britain in the 1780s but was reintroduced from Europe from 1837[2]. It has recently undergone a severe decline and the winter population was estimated at less than 2,000 birds[3]. In the lekking season of 2008, 98 leks were visited, and a total of 213 displaying males counted[4].

Fea's Petrel

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Main article: Fea's Petrel

There are three archealogical records of the bones from a small Pterodroma petrel, probably Pterdodroma feae from middens in the Scottish Isles, which were mixed in with the cooked bones of other seabirds. These are from the Scottish Iron Age and may be as recent as the English Anglo-Saxon period. These raise the intriguing possibility that this species which is now restricted to the Macaronesian islands and is a rare vagrant in British waters was once more widespread in the eastern Atlantic and may even have had colonies off the British or Irish west coast[1].

Pygmy Coromorant

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Main article: Pygmy Cormorant

There is a single late fifteenth or early sixteenth century record of a pair of this species very disitinctive metatarsi from Abingdon in Oxfordshire[1]. This species is now restricted to south eastern Euriope and with such an unusual record it is not certain that this record could be because of a traded bird but it is possible that this species was found in the extensive wetlands of Britain in medieval times.

Dalmatian Pelican

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Main article: Dalmatian Pelican

Although this species now breeds no nearer to Britain than the Balkans it bred in the extensive wetlands that existed in Bronze Age and Iron Age Britain. There are ten archaelogical records of bones [1] and it was recorded as breeding in the Rhine Delta in the late Roman period[5].

Great Bittern

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Main article: Great Bittern

Prior to the widespread drainage of wetlands in the 17-19th Centuries, the Great Bittern was a common and familiar bird to most people in all parts of Britain and Ireland. As evidenced by the variety of folk names for it such as "barrel-maker", "bog-bull", "bog hen", "bog-trotter" and "mire drum", mainly referencing either its voice or habitat. The Norfolk folk name "Butterbump" refers to the high fat content and it was a prized bird hunted for the table. It appears on lists of poulters prices from the 13th Century to the 17th Century and the price increases as the bird became scarcer[6]..

Great Bittern at Minsmere RSPB Reserve, Suffolk

The last breeding Great Bitterns in Scotland were found in the "southern marshes" in 1839[2] and by 1886 the species was extinct in England through a combination of persecution and habitat destruction and they recolonised in the early 20th Century[7]. They are now a flagship species for the RSPB and especially the reserves at Strumpshaw Fen, Titchwell,Minsmere, Ham Wall and Lakenheath Fen. the priority is to get a more geographically spread population and the establishment of Great Bitterns at Ham Wall and Lakenheath Fen are the first stage of this process[8]. The eventual aim is to have Great Bitterns throughout Britain including Scotland and Wales[9].

Little Bittern

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Main article: Little Bittern

The only proven incidence of Little Bittern breeding in Britain is of a pair which nested at Potteric Carr, Yorkshire in 1984[10]. Breeding was suspected in the 19th and early 20th centuries and some shot females contained fully developed eggs[2] and breeding was suspected again at the RSPB's Ham Wall Reserve in 2011 and confirmed in 2013 [11]. Some commentators have posited that in pre-modern times this species may have been an overlooked member of the British avifauna[6].

Black-crowned Night Heron

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Main article: Black-crowned Night Heron

There are two archealogical speciemns of the Black-crowned Night Heron in Britain. The oldest is from the Roman London Wall and the more recent from the Royal Navy's late medieval victualling yards in Greenwich[1]. It appears in the London poulterers price lists as the Brewe, a bird which was thought to have been the Whimbrel or Glossy Ibis it has now been shown to refer to the Black-crowned Night heron, derived from the medieval French 'Bihoreau'[6]. Black-crowned Night Herons breed as near as the Netherlands and in the far wetter and wider landscape of pre-modern Britain they may have bred. They were certainly imported for the table so the bone specimens themselves do not prove they were part of the British avifauna. In modern times the Black-crowned Night Heron is a vagrant and feral breeding colonies were established at Edinburgh Zoo from 1950 into the 21st Century[2] and at Great Witchingham in Norfolk where there were 8 pairs in 2003 but breeding was not repeated in 2004 or 2005[12].

Little Egret

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Main article: Little Egret
Little Egret in the UK

Historical research has shown that the Little Egret was once present, and probably common, in Great Britain, but became extinct there through a combination of over-hunting in the late mediaeval period and climate change at the start of the Little Ice Age. The inclusion of 1,000 egrets (among numerous other birds) in the banquet to celebrate the enthronement of George Neville as Archbishop of York at Cawood Castle in 1465 indicates the presence of a sizable population in northern England at the time, and they are also listed in the coronation feast of King Henry VI in 1429[13]. They had disappeared by the mid 16th century, when William Gowreley, 'yeoman purveyor to the Kinges mowthe', "had to send further south" for egrets[6].

In Britain it was a rare vagrant from its 16th century disappearance until the late twentieth century, and did not breed. It has however recently become a regular breeding species and is commonly present, often in large numbers, at favoured coastal sites. The first recent breeding record in England was on Brownsea Island in Dorset in 1996, and the species bred in Wales for the first time in 2002[14].

Purple Heron

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Main article: Purple Heron

Purple Heron was confirmed to breed in Britain for the first time at Dungeness, Kent, in 2011[15]. Prior to this it was regarded as a scarce passage visitor with its nearest breeding colonies in the Netherlands. At least two literary sources from the 16th and 17th Centuries mention a 'Black Heron' which has been conjectured to possibly refer to the Purple Heron[6].

Eurasian Spoonbill

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Main article: Eurasian Spoonbill

The Euraian Spoonbill is thought to have been a widespread wetland bird in southern Britain, and was often called a 'Shoveller' on the poulterer's price lists[6]. It was protected as a desirable quarry species for falconry but there are only two medieval archealogical speciemns[1]. It is thought to have finally been extirpated from England in the 17th Century[16] through a combination of hunting and habitat loss. In Europe the western populations have increased over recent decades[17] and there are now over 2,000 pairs in the Netherlands[18]. Following these increases numbers of Eurasian Spoonbills visiting Britain increased and the first modern breeding attempt was made in eastern England in 1996 but the single egg was predated. In 1999 a successful pair nested in north western England then in 2000 pair, one of which had been ringed in the Netherlands arrived at Mersehead, Dumfries & Galloway built nest platforms before disappearing and then reappearing some weeks later with a juvenile[2]. These sporadic attempts culminated with the formation of a colony at Holkham in Norfolk in 2010. In 2011, 8 breeding pairs returned to nest, successfully fledging 14 young[19].

Glossy Ibis

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Main article: Glossy Ibis

The common name Black Curlew may be a reference to the Glossy Ibis and this name appears in Anglo-Saxon literature, indicating that it may have bred in early medieval England but Walden & Albarella do not mention this species[1]. In recent years this species has recolonised wetlands in Spain and France and has become more frequent in Great Britain[20].

White Stork

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Main article: White Stork

The only historical record of White Storks breeding in Britain is from St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh from 1416[21] but this species may have nested in the more extensive wetlands of the pre-historical period and there are ten archaealogical records[1]. In 2004 a pair attempted to breed in the Calder Valley, Yorkshire but these were of captive origin[22]. There are also plans to allow a free flying colony to establish in Diss, Norfolk[23].

Black Stork

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Main article: Black Stork

There are possible records from the Devensian Tornewton Cave and the Lynx Cave, Clwyd dated by Carbon 14 to 2,945 years bp. The confirmation of these is, however, uncertain[1].

White-tailed Eagle

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Main article: White-tailed Eagle
Inside the tomb

White-tailed Eagles are well attested in Britain's fossil and archaeological records as well as from place names and literature, often using the alternative name of erne. One of the most famous examples is the Tomb of the Eagles in Orkney where the remains of a number of white-tailed eagles were interred[1]. White-tailed eagles were extirpated from Briatian and Ireland as a result of widespread destruction of habitat, added to, particularly in the 19th century, human persecution. The last breeding White-tailed Eagles in England and Wales were recorded in the 1830s, in Ireland in 1898 and in Scotland in 1916. The last recorded British bred bird was shot in Shetland in 1918[24].

There were two failed attempts at reintroducing White-tailed Eagles to Scotland prior to the successful Nature Conservancy Council project. An adult and two juvenile birds, captured in Norway, were released in Glen Etive, Argyll in the first, small-scale re-introduction attempt in July 1959. The young birds quickly adapted but the adult was unusually tame and was recaptured after attacks on domestic chickens. Then in 1968, the RSPB brought four Norwegian eaglets to release them on Fair Isle. The small number of birds used proved insufficient and the birds did not survive to breed[25].

Valuable lessons were learnt from these failures and from the mid-1970s, white-tailed eagles bred from Norwegian stock were released into more suitable habitat. The initial site was the Isle of Rum in the Inner Hebrides, and then in Wester Ross on the Scottish mainland. Later, in the early 21st century, a third reintroduction project was carried out on the east coast of Scotland, in Fife[26].

By 2015 there were 100 pairs of white-tailed eagle in Scotland [27] including the first breeding in Orkney in over 140 years [28].

Northern Goshawk

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Main article: Northern Goshawk

Osprey

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Main article: Osprey

The Osprey was extirpated from Britain and Ireland in 1916 and subsequently recolonised. Please see the article entitled Ospreys in Britain for more information.

Gyrfalcon

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Main article: Gyrfalcon

Great Bustard

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Main article: Great Bustard

The Great Bustard requires extensive areas of open country and would not have been a feature of the extensively foretsed landscape of prehistoric Britain. Early documentary evidence provides good reason for believing that this species did not colonise Britain until around the mid fifteenth century. This was possibly part of a general increase on the European mainland caused by major ecological changes ensuing from a deteriation of the climate and and the aftermath of the Black Death and other severe epidemic diseases from the early fourteenth century. In the seventeenth century, and beyond the Great Bustard was a familiar member of the English avifauna and accounts from the seventeenth century and early eighteenth century, do not suggest that it was a particularly scarce bird within its relatively restricted range. It declined very rapidly from the late eighteenth century, a decline largely fuelled by human persecution. The last record of native birds was in Norfolk in 1838.[29]. The range seems to have extended into the Merse of the Scottish Borders and it is described by Hector Boece in his 1526 History of Scotland [2]

Archaelogical records are restricted and date further back than the abiove suggests with three late Glacial records, one doubtful Roman record and one late Medieval record]]<[1]

In 2003 the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs issued a 10-year trial-licence to release Great Bustards in the UK. The Great Bustards for the UK reintroduction scheme are sourced from the population in Saratov oblast of the Russian Federation. The first known bustard nesting attempt was in 2007, and there were subsequent nesting attempts in 2008 but no eggs were hatched from these attempts. In 2009 the oldest males became sexually mature, and the first great bustard chicks hatched in the wild in England 177 years after they were wiped out. Two were chicks were fledged, although one was killed by a predator shortly after fledging[30].

Common Crane

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Main article: Common Crane

The Common Crane was extirpated from Britain in the late middle ages, please see the article Cranes in Britain for more information.

Baillon's Crake

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Main article: Baillon's Crake

Pied Avocet

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Main article: Pied Avocet

Kentish Plover

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Main article: Kentish Plover


Little Gull

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Main article: Little Gull

Black Tern

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Main article: Black Tern

Great Auk

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Main article: Great Auk

Pallas's Sandgrouse

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Main article: Pallas's Sandgrouse
Pallas's Sandgrouse

Snowy Owl

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Main article: Snowy Owl

Eurasian Eagle Owl

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Main article: Eurasian Eagle Owl

Eurasian Wryneck

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Main article: Eurasian Wryneck

White-backed Woodpecker

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Main article: White-backed Woodpecker

Savi's Warbler

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Main article: Savi's Warbler

Red-backed Shrike

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Main article: Red-backed Shrike
A pair of Red-backed Shrikes

1989 was the first year in which Red-backed Shrike did not breed in Britain when the last male returned to his territory in Norfolk and failed to find a mate. A pair had bred at the site in Thetford Forest in 1988 and this was thelast breeding pair in England. This was an inevitable but sad end to a long term decline in the numbers and range of this beautiful bird in southern Britain. In earlier times the Red-backed Shrike or "Butcherbird" was a familiar bird which could be found in a v ariety of habitats which providedscrub for nesting and perching with adjacent more open ground for hunting. By the late 1960s the bird had become a bird of heathland with strongholds in the New Forest, Surrey, the East Anglia coast and The Brecks but gradually these bastions fell until there was that last pair left in 1988[31].

The causes of the decline are, largely, unknown but it took place over most of the 20th Century and over much on north western Europe, but it is probable that the factors causing the decline are complex and may be on the African wintering grounds as well as in the breeding range. The Red-backed Shrike remains relatively common as a summer visistor in southern and eastern Europe. In Britain it is now an uncommon passage migrant but there have been sporadic attemts at breeding since 1988, mostly in Scotland and Wales but in 2010 a pair nested on Dartmoor and the following year two pairs nested in the same area[32].

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Yalden D.W. & Albarella U. (2009), The History of British Birds, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-019-958116-0
  2. ^ a b c d e f Forrester R.W. & Andrews I.J Eds (2007) The Birds of Scotland Volume 1 Scottish Ornithologists' Club ISBN 978-0-9512139-0-2.
  3. ^ http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/c/capercaillie/index.aspx
  4. ^ http://www.rbbp.org.uk/downloads/rbbp-report-2008.pdf
  5. ^ https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/1097/171_035.pdf?sequence=1
  6. ^ a b c d e f Bourne, W. R. P. (2003). Fred Stubbs, Egrets, Brewes and climatic change. British Birds 96: 332–339
  7. ^ Batten L.A et al (1990) Red Data Birds in Britain, T& AD Poyser ISBN 0-85661-056-9
  8. ^ http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/safeguardingspecies_tcm9-261583.pdf
  9. ^ Brown A, Gilbert G & Wotton S. (2012) Bitterns and Bittern Conservation in the UK British Birds 105:58-87
  10. ^ Allport, G & Carroll, D. (1989) Little Bitterns breeding in South Yorkshire British Birds82 442-446
  11. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/somerset/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_8854000/8854952.stm
  12. ^ Holling M. and the Rare Breeding Birds Panel (2007) Non-native breeding birds in the United Kingdom 2003, 2004 and 2005 British Birds 100 638–649
  13. ^ Stubbs, F. J. (1910). The Egret in Britain. Zoologist 14 (4): 310–311.
  14. ^ Holling, M. et al. (2010). Rare breeding birds in the United Kingdom in 2008. British Birds 103: 482–538.
  15. ^ http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-252299
  16. ^ http://blx1.bto.org/birdfacts/results/bob1440.htm
  17. ^ http://www.avibirds.com/euhtml/Spoonbill.html
  18. ^ http://www.werkgroeplepelaar.nl/bescherming.htm
  19. ^ http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/about_us/news/2011/120911.aspx
  20. ^ Hudson N. & the Rarities Committee, Report on Rare Birds in Great Britain 2010, British Birds 104, pp 557-629
  21. ^ Clarke, W.E. (1919) An old-time record of the breeding of the White Stork Scotland Scot. Nat. 1919 25-6
  22. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/3653171.stm
  23. ^ http://www.dissmercury.co.uk/news/wildlife_centre_hoping_its_storks_will_have_a_special_delivery_1_4053337
  24. ^ https://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/species/casestudies/whitetailedeagle.aspx
  25. ^ http://www.white-tailed-sea-eagle.co.uk/reintroduction-failures.html
  26. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/22343081
  27. ^ http://www.rbbp.org.uk
  28. ^ http://raptorpolitics.org.uk/2015/04/17/white-tailed-eagles-nest-in-orkney-after-142-year-absence
  29. ^ Shrubb (2011), Some thoughts on the historical status of Great Bustards in Britain, British Birds 104 pp180-190
  30. ^ http://greatbustard.org/management/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/GBG-on-rise_Press-release-2010.pdf
  31. ^ Gibbons D.W, Reid J.B & Chapman R.A (1993) The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1988-1997 T &AD Poyer ISBN 0 85661 075 5
  32. ^ http://www.birdwatch.co.uk/channel/newsitem.asp?c=11&cate=__11168

See also

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