'It was incomplete' - RSPB explains why feasibility study on Red-backed Shrike was never published

 

 Red-backed Shrikes are common in parts of northern France and the Netherlands but the species forsaken Britain. This handsome adult male was actually snapped in Kosovo. Photo Julian Ruizp via Wikimedia Commons

HAVE conservationists given up on restoring the Red-backed Shrike  as a breeding species to Britain?

Time was when, in summer, the migrant bird was not infrequently to be seen in shrubby, insect-rich habitats in southern England.

If there were plenty of bee-attracting flowers and areas grazed by cattle, so much the better.

But, probably as a result of changing farming practices, shrikes went into decline and, by the 1980s, they were mostly only being seen as migrants on passage.

In July, 2021, the RSPB advertised for someone to conduct a six-month study "to research the feasibility of reintroducing an emblematic, but now largely absent, species".

It is understood an appointment was made and the survey carried out, so why has nothing been published?

When, earlier tis month, the question was put to the RSPB's species recovery team, back came the reply  "There was some research carried out but this was incomplete and the report was not published." 

So is that the end of the  story? Not necessarily so.

In his recently-published book, The Return of The Oystercatcher (Picador, £20),  American birder-investigator Scott Weidensaul describes his visit to the Knepp estate in Sussex where he met Britain's rewilders-in-chief, Charlie and Issy Tree.

He writes: "Buoyed by the success of White Storks, Charlie and Issy have been contemplating other reintroductions.

"One that is high on their list is the Red-backed Shrike which has virtually disappeared from Britain.

"A single male set up a territory for some weeks at Knepp in 2017 but did not stay.

"Given the species' habitat requirements - scrubland and thorn thickets amid diverse grassland full of bumble bees, grasshoppers, beetles and dragonflies  - Knepp would seem to be an ideal habitat, and a feasibility study for the potential reintroduction suggests the estate could support at least 25 pairs.

"But until a proposed Shrike Conservation Landscape programme to create other Knepp-like oases takes off, the reserve remains  an island in a sea of intensive agriculture."

The Wryneck says: Having commissioned and paid for the research, it seems a shame that the RSPB has chosen not to share the findings whether or not they are complete. Even if a reintroduction project were found to be completely unrealistic, it would surely be of interest and value to have insights into a species that the RSPB acknowledges to be 'emblematic'.