Soldier-ornithologist George Montagu would have been thrilled at breeding success of raptor named in his honour

                                                             

Male Montagu's Harrier - this bird photographed at an unknown location by Hari K Patibanda (image: Wikimedia Commons)

NO one would have greater appreciated the current hoopla about Britain's rarest breeding raptor, the Montagu's Harrier, than George Montagu, the man who first confirmed  it as a species separate from the similar-looking but heavier Hen Harrier. 

Coincidentally, Montagu  was born in 1753 at  Lackham in Wiltshire - the county where this year's successful breeding male was hatched at a protected site in 2016. 

A soldier who rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, Montagu dedicated all his free time to the study of nature, especially birds.

The bird whose plumage he differentiated from the Hen Harrier was shot on August 10, 1803, and found to have the remains of a Skylark in its stomach.

He named it the Ash-coloured Harrier, and it was only later  that it was named in his honour.

Three years earlier, Montagu had discovered Britain's first known Cirl Buntings feeding in winter among a flock of Yellowhammers and Chaffinches. The following spring, he found them breeding near Kingsbridge in Devon.

According to his biographers, Barbara and Richard Mearns, Montagu was also involved with the first British records of the Cattle Egret, Little Gull Roseate Tern  and Gull-billed Tern. 

He also established that  the so-called "Greenwich Sandpiper" was the Ruff in winter plumage and the "Ash-coloured Sandpiper" was the same bird as the Knot.

Montagu predicted the demise of the Great Bustard as a breeding species in Britain when he wrote: "Young ones are frequently taken by shepherds' dogs before they are capable of flight, and their eggs are eagerly sought after for the purpose of hatching under hens . . .and the consequence will be a total extinction in a few years"

Montagu died, aged 62 after a tragic mishap.

While  alterations were being carried out at Knowle House in Kingsbridge, he stepped on a rusty nail protruding from an old piece of timber.

A few days later, on June 20, 1815, he died of tetanus.

                                        

The only known portrait of the pioneering ornithologist, George Montagu

Bygone birding: Dartford Warblers were formerly to be found on the commons of South London

 

Below is an extract from John Cotton's note on the distribution of the Dartford Warbler in his 1835 volume, The Resident Song Birds of Great Britain:

This is one of the least known among the British warblers. 

It is rather larger than the common Wren but much longer by reason of its tail which is one half its length nearly. 

It is called the Dartford Warbler from having been first discovered in England near that place.

Mr. Sweet says it is  "one of the rarest of the British species of this tribe", but mentioned by Montagu as not uncommon about Kingsbridge, Devon, and in the neighbourhood of Truro in Cornwall.

It is also occasionally met with on Bexley Heath, near Dartford, Kent; also on Blackheath and on Wandsworth and Wimbledon Commons where it is said to breed in the furze-bushes.

It feeds on grasshoppers, moths, butterflies, caterpillars, ants and various other insects.

The habits of this bird are very little known.

Dr. Latham informs us several were shot, in the winter of 1783, on a common near Wandsworth in Surrey from which circumstance that author very justly observes that if it is found here only as a winter migrant

In the month of September, 1796 (says Montagu) we observed many of these birds about Falmouth in Cornwall, frequenting the furzy hills

He recalled: "We killed several from that time to  December 24 when a sudden fall of snow covered the ground for some time, driving them from that area."

It has been found, however, to breed in this country, Montagu having discovered a nest on July 17  on a large furze common. 

It was placed among the dead branches of the thickest furze, about two feet from the ground, slightly fastened between the main stems, not in the fork.

The nest is composed of dry vegetable stalks, particularly goose-grass, mixed with the tender dead branches of furze, not sufficiently hardened to be come prickly.

These are put together in a very loose manner and intermixed very sparingly with wool. 

This thin flimsy structure much resembles the nest of the Whitethroat. 

The eggs are also somewhat similar to those of the Whitethroat, but rather less, weighing only twenty-two grammes.

Like the eggs of that species, they possess a slight tinge of green and are fully speckled all over with olivaceous brown and cinerous on a greenish whiteground.   

                                     

 Wimbledon Common - former home to Dartford Warblers (photo: Doyle of London/ Wikimedia)

            

Female Dartford Warbler (photo: Vcebollada/ Wikimedia)

Early identification guide - in three volumes - expected to fetch up to £800 at auction next month

                                  

This study  of an Avocet - in slightly exaggerated pose - is one of the illustrations included in a very early identification guide: George Graves's three-volume British Ornithology: Being The History with a Coloured Representation of Every Known Species of British Birds. At that time, the tally  was a modest 144.  The three books are expected to fetch between £500 and £800 when they go under the hammer as a single Lot  at the Dominic Winter auction at Cirencester in Gloucestershire on September 2.

What did for Britain’s first Long-tailed Shrike - was it a hungry cat or was it the cold and exhaustion?

                                         

Long-tailed Shrike - this bird photographed in Sumatra, Indonesia (image: JJ Harrison via Wikimedia)

THIS summer’s  sightings of Long-tailed Shrike - firstly at  Crail in Fife, then at  Eastleach Martin, near Gloucestershire - have sparked recollections of the first British record of the species.

This was the bird that showed briefly on South Uist in the Outer Hebrides in late-October and early-November 2000.

It was  first spotted as "a bird with a long tail" on October 27 by a police sergeant, Jon Brain, who alerted a more experienced birder, Andrew Stevenson, who caught up with it as it was perched on a fence outside the local Ben Mhor stores in Benbecula.

His tentative identification was confirmed by experts from the RSPB and the Scottish Wildlife Trust who put out the word to the outside world.

Cue:  a speedy  influx of 200+ twitchers, some arriving on by private flight (at least seven flights were chartered) and some by fishing boat or by the regular Caledonian  MacBrayne ferry from Uig to Loch Addy.

Once it had been discovered, there was disappointment that the bird mostly skulked out of view within a willow bush, providing few clear views.

But this slight sense of deflation was nothing compared to the mission-unaccomplished desolation of one group who had to turn back to Uig after their boat encountered engine trouble en route through the Little Minch.

Alas, beyond the Saturday of that weekend the Kazakhstan  visitant was no longer seen prompting speculation in the Aberdeen Press and Journal newspaper that what it dubbed "the long distance flier" had become an exotic dinner for a lucky island cat.

The more realistic appraisal from the man who found the bird, Sgt Brain, was that the bird was no more likely to have fallen victim to a feline than any other bird

His reckoning was that, on the basis of its "wet and bedraggled" appearance it had succumbed to the cold.

He was quoted in the November 9 edition of the Stornoway Gazette and West Coast Advertiser as saying it looked a "bit dischuffed".

But back to the recent arrivals. 

Given the high  August temperatures in much of Britain, cold weather is unlikely to have proved a challenge for them.

The Fife bird only stayed briefly, but its Gloucestershire bird has lingered. 

It is possible that the "two" are, in fact, the same bird, but the general view seems to be that they are separate.

                                 

Was vagrant  bird 'exotic dinner' for lucky cat? How the Aberdeen Press and Journal reported the shrike's visit 

Two-hour twitch: Coombe Hill Nature Reserve, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

                                              

Date: August 9, 2026

Time: 9.30am - 11.30am

Weather: Sunny and very warm

Target species (which went unseen): Green Sandpiper

Star species seen: Red Kite

Other species recorded included: 

* Heron 

* Mallard

* Moorhen

* Buzzard

* Blackbird

* Chiffchaff

* Whitethroat

* Great Spotted Woodpecker

* Blue Tit 

* Long-tailed Tit

* Great Tit

* Greenfinch

* Jackdaw 

* Carrion Crow

* Woodpigeon

* Robin

* Swallow

* Housemartin

Also: Clouded Yellow butterfly, Grey Squirrel

Study in pink and black. High price expected for bird painting at forthcoming Aussie auction

This striking  oil-on-canvas study entitled  Shoalhaven Riverbank with Black Swan and Cockatoo is expected to fetch between 120,000 and 150,000 Australian dollars (£63,000 - £78,000) when it goes under the hammer next Monday August 24 at a sale to be held by Bonham's at their saleroom in Sydney. Measuring 153cm x 122cm, it was painted in 1988 by Arthur Boyd who died, aged 79, in 1999.

Apartment overlooking wader-rich Humber Estuary would be just right for birder (with a deep pocket)

 

This is the "Eagle's Nest" - an observatory feature of a three-bedroom luxury penthouse apartment with views across the wader-rich Humber Estuary to the lighthouse Spurn Point. The property in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire,  includes its own sauna. It would be great for the family of any birder with a special interest in shorebirds because these abound, particularly between August and March. Offers in excess of £440,000 are being sought by the agents, BMH (Bettles, Miles and Holland), for the leasehold which is understood to expire on January 1, 2126.  

                                                                

The penthouse is at the summit of  Eastshore on Cleethorpes seafront

                                                    

At times, there are so many flying Bar-tailed Godwit, Knot and Oystercatchers  that the view across to Spurn lighthouse is temporaily  almost obscured