FIFTY YEARS LATER: THE REMARKABLE RECOVERY OF THE WHITETHROAT

Whitethroat - 'animation and vitality'

FIFTY years ago, catastrophe decimated the UK's population of whitethroats.

A drought in the species' wintering grounds in the western Sahel, just south of the Sahara Desert, caused as many as 70 per cent to perish. 

That was back in 1968 and 1969, and numbers were low throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.

Since then, however, they have bounced back, and this enchanting, scratchy-songed summer migrant is now numerous and conspicuous along hedgerows in many parts of the UK.

In 2000, there were reckoned to be about 945,000 pairs, but, notwithstanding a dip last year, the number has probably comfortably passed the million mark over recent years.

In the book, The Bird Listener *, Lord Grey of Falloden - Foreign Secretary in the run-up to World War One - is quoted as describing the whitethroat's song as "fussy, as if the bird were always in a hurry or slightly provoked.

"Sometimes the tones and manner suggest scolding, but the prevailing impression it gives is that of excitement and happiness, and its animation and vitality area a pleasant feature in the places that it chooses to inhabit. 

* The Bird Listener: How birdsong brought joy to the life of a much-troubled British politician

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