Oriole, Shrikes & Crows

Golden Oriole (Eurasian Golden Oriole) Oriolus oriolus

A scarce passage migrant on the coast of East Yorkshire, the beautiful Golden Oriole was recorded just once in the Hull area throughout the whole of the 20^th Century. This was a fine male found near Paull during the first week of May in 1947. The bird was seen by a Major Batchelor and several others during its stay. In the 1860 Hull Museum Guide it is reported that "specimens [of the Golden Oriole] have been seen near Hull". Details would have been nice!

Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio

The Red-backed Shrike never nested in the Hull area, even when it was a common summer visitor to England in the 19^th Century. This is despite Thomas Nelson noting one-off breeding from near Beverley and Easington in his 1907 Birds of Yorkshire. The earliest record for the Hull area also comes from Nelson, who mentions one "observed near Hull" sometime prior to 1845. The next concerns a male that lingered on the city outskirts for ten days in June 1941. It was spotted by G. H. Ainsworth, the then Yorkshire Naturalists' Union bird recorder for the East Riding, as he was cycling in open country on Wawne Road towards Hull, through what is now the Bransholme housing estate. He first noticed a funny bird sat on telephone wires that, as he approached, glided down into some bushes. Ainsworth watched it for some time as it swooped down from bushes and wires to catch insects. During its stay it became very obliging and showed little fear of passers-by. As it hung around for some time Ainsworth thought that it might be breeding with an unseen female, although he found no nest.

More lingering spring migrants were responsible for the next record, when a pair were seen near Cottingham from 29^th May to 4^th June 1955. No more were reported for over four decades until an immature bird was observed at Saltend on 23^rd September 1989. This was followed by a singing male at the same site on 29^th May 1996.

There is a clear trend for spring records over autumn ones in the Hull area, although the number of years taken to acquire the above five records is testament to the rarity of the species in our part of the world. Red-backed Shrikes must have occurred more frequently in the Hull area when the species was a regular breeder in Britain, but it now requires an enormous amount of luck to ever see one here.

Lesser Grey Shrike Lanius minor

Two of these very rare vagrants from southern and eastern Europe have been claimed in the Hull area. The first concerns a bird seen “in Hull” on 3^rd July 1980. This was rejected by the British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC), who adjudicate on such matters. The second record, a first-winter bird reported from Saltend by several observers on 16^th October 1989, does not appear in any of the BBRC reports.

Great Grey Shrike Lanius excubitor

The Great Grey Shrike is a very rare autumn migrant and winter visitor in the Hull area, but one may turn up in any scrubby patch during this time. The visits by passage birds are characteristically brief; one found at Saltend on 6^th October 1998 was not seen again. Another at Castle Hill, between Bransholme and Swine, on the afternoon of 17^th October 2000 was gone by the next morning.

Winter birds, in contrast, tend to hang around much longer if they find a suitable location. One spent several months at West Ella in early 1970, while on 25^th March 1996 I found a singing bird near the Foredyke Stream at North Bransholme. I followed the bird as it made its way north along the thick hedgerow on Old Main Drain before it was lost to view near Carlam Hill Farm. The next day it was relocated in the scrubby field that now hosts the Bransholme Fishing Pond. It remained there, attracting dozens of observers, until it was last seen on 7^th April. A photograph of this shrike appeared in one of the national birdwatching magazines soon afterwards. Indeed, the bird was very obliging and performed for admirers by gruesomely catching and dismembering a Dunnock among the hawthorns. The only other record concerns one seen behind Hallgate School, Cottingham, on Christmas Day 1982.

Jay (Eurasian Jay) Garrulus glandarius

Common over much of Britain, the Jay is a rather rare bird in Hull. It occurs mainly as a passage migrant during autumn dispersal of British birds or immigration of Continental birds. The recent trend has been for single Jays to be seen every few years as they pass through the area. Lone birds have been seen as follows: at Kerry Woods (near Kirk Ella) in 1975; moving west over Paull on 11^th October 1986 and again at Kirk Ella on the same day; Kerry Woods again on 20^th August 1988; Woody Carr near Wawne on 18^th January 1989; North Bransholme on 5^th September 1992; Hull Golf Course (Kirk Ella again) on 6^th December 1993; Sutton Fields Industrial Estate on 21^st September 1997. The spring of 1997 also saw two birds at Kerry Woods on 21^st March. This site is seemingly the most productive for the species in the Hull area. A huge invasion of Continental immigrants in the autumn of 1983 brought thousands of Jays to Britain. The only ones recorded from the Hull area were at Priory Road fields on 27^th November and Wawne’s Paradise Wood on 29^th December. Others likely to have been part of this invasion were at Paradise Wood on 27^th February 1984, and again on 12^th April, and at Harland Way (between Cottingham and Skidby) on 10^th May the following spring.

Jays appear to have visited the region in larger numbers in years gone by, with a flock of four reported from Northern Cemetery in the early 1960s. The largest numbers seen in the area occurred in late April 1948, when two flocks of around 30 birds were seen heading south high over the Humber at Hessle. The flocks were roughly an hour apart, with a few stragglers inbetween and afterwards, and these birds were no doubt homeward-bound visitors from the Continent.

Magpie (Black-billed Magpie) Pica pica

Magpies are more common in the Hull area now than at any time in living memory. Nelson (1907) states that they were becoming scarce in the East Riding a century ago due to persecution from gamekeepers and farmers. Around the same time, at the beginning of the 1900s, John Nicholson made no mention of the Magpie when he listed the birds coming to his garden on the outskirts of West Hull. This is despite Nicholson hosting such birds as Hooded Crow, Nightjar and Cuckoo.

Game shooting was a major pastime of the social elite in Edwardian Britain and any creature that preyed on gamebirds or their eggs and chicks was ruthlessly slaughtered. Magpies, opportunistic predators and scavengers, were near the top of the game preserver's hit list. They recovered a little during the two World Wars, when many gamekeepers were away fighting, but they were hammered once again as soon as their persecutors returned. Game shooting slowly declined in the latter half of the 20^th Century, however, and by the 1960s there were odd pairs breeding on the outskirts of Hull. Two birds at Kirk Ella in March 1981 were the first recorded in that village. They were uncommon at Saltend in the mid 1980s, although Bonavia (1990) regarded them as fairly common residents around Cottingham between 1981 and 1986. A pair or two were breeding at North Bransholme during the early 1990s, despite being a favourite quarry of the airgunner, and at least one other pair was resident on the Sutton Fields Industrial Estate around the same time. They had also become common along Hedon Road, the western villages and most other parts of the Hull area by then. Magpies were still reportedly increasing around Hull's Avenues in 1996, with four or five seen daily. Increases were also noted from Cottingham in the mid 1990s, with Paul Milsom seeing a pair or two in every hedgerow around Priory Road between 1995 and 1996.

Magpies are usually seen in pairs but they have a tendency to flock in winter and early spring. It is at these times that the largest numbers have been reported in the Hull area. Ten were noted at Priory Road in January 1982, this being a big count back then. An impressive 21 at Priory Road in October 1995 was followed by a whopping 47 in January 1996. A further 17 were on Snuff Mill Lane in January 1993. Seventeen were at the Bransholme Sewage Works in March 1992 and 19 were there again in September. Up to eight were seen the following year and 30 in March 1998. My peak count at North Bransholme was 12 in January 1993, while Michael Flowers recorded 13 in Hedon Road Cemetery in the spring of 1997. It is noticeable that peak counts from most individual sites have increased significantly over the past 20 years.

Jackdaw (Eurasian Jackdaw) Corvus monedula

In 1901 John Nicholson, writing in The Naturalist, included the Jackdaw among the list of birds that visited the garden of his Hull town house, close to Pearson Park in the outer suburbs. Nicholson described the Jackdaw as a common bird that bred in the vicinity, no doubt in the chimney pots of the smart houses and holes in the mature parkland trees.

By 1967, when Patrick Boylan wrote his Birds in Hull, largely based on notes taken since 1960, the Jackdaw could still be found breeding in many Hull suburbs, such as Newland Park. In 1990 Peter Bonavia wrote The Birds of the Cottingham Area 1980 - 1986 and listed the Jackdaw as an abundant breeding species that was increasing in the area. In the same period, around the mid 1980s, the Jackdaw was described as an uncommon bird at Saltend that was mainly met with in spring and autumn. There was no breeding among the docks. I suspected that thinly scattered pairs were breeding in old trees in the woods and lanes about Wawne at this time. This is probably still the case, although I have never seen a nest. In 1995/1996 Paul Milsom recorded up to 60 Jackdaws on the Priory Road fields. Breeding was still being noted in the chimneys of old houses in nearby Cottingham. A few pairs may breed in similar circumstances in Sutton and also the outlying villages to the west of Hull, but definite breeding records seem to be very thin on the ground. This is hopefully just a result of a lack of recording and not a genuine lack of nesting birds.

Occasional Jackdaws visit the parks in the inner suburbs of Hull but the species is mainly a bird of the villages, city fringe and outlying farmland. I regularly saw large numbers among the great flights of Rooks east of North Bransholme during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Counts included 50 in December 1989 and 500 with 1,000 Rooks in late November 1993. A great swirling mass of 800 Jackdaws was observed going to roost at Paradise Wood, near Wawne, on 23^rd January 1994.

Rook Corvus frugilegus

The earliest mention of the Rook in Hull comes from the Zoologist (1846, p. 1366). This described the unusual nesting and rearing of young by two pairs between chimney pots in George Street, in the town centre, in 1840. John Nicholson reported the Rook as being a common sight over Hull gardens in 1901 and Nelson (1907) regarded it as the most common of the larger land birds in Yorkshire.

By the time Boylan wrote Birds in Hull in 1967, however, the only remaining rookeries in the city boundary were in the northeast suburbs, Sutton and Marfleet. Several urban Hull rookeries were abandoned between 1963 and 1966, these being at St. John's in Newland, Trinity burial ground (near the Marina) and at Holderness House on the corner of Holderness Road and Laburnum Avenue. A regular flightline between the rolling fields west of Hull and the rookeries to the northeast was still in evidence, however, ensuring a constant stream of birds over the city. Occasional birds also dropped down to feed in the cemeteries and parks. Three pairs of Rooks tried to nest in an elm tree in the Hedon Road Cemetery in 1972 but the attempt failed and they were never seen again at that site. The expansion of Hull during the late 1960s and 1970s engulfed more rookeries on land at North Bransholme, but they slowly declined. One at Wawne Lodge, on Pennine Way, became extinct about 1987 and the last Hull rookery, in Ash Plantation on Lothian Way, contained around 30 pairs in the 1980s before being deserted in the early 1990s. Harassment from airgun-wielding youths had a lot to do with the extinction of the Ash Plantation rookery.

There are still several rookeries in the Hull area, outside of the Hull city boundary, including 60 nests at Wawne village and at least 100 at Long Carr (between Wawne and Skirlaugh) in 2001. There are perhaps more near Swine and in Wawne's Woody Carr but any colonies at this latter site are heavily shot over in spring, as is Long Carr. There have always been large rookeries around Cottingham and Bonavia (1990) reported 199 nests at Harland Way and 133 at Castle Hill in 1984. These figures also seemed about right when I lived near Harland Way in the mid 1990s.

Large, wheeling flocks of Rooks sometimes congregate in the outlying fields around Hull. Up to 250 birds from the Cottingham colonies regularly feed on the Priory Road fields, usually preferring pasture. I counted 300 at North Bransholme in January 1993 and an impressive 1,100 on 8^th November the same year. Over 1,000 were there again in the company of 500 Jackdaws on 28^th. Much smaller numbers can often be found in many open spaces in and around Hull, including arable fields, any remaining pastureland, playing fields and also parkland and wide roadside verges. I often see a few Rooks feeding around the North Point shopping centre in the heart of Bransholme and the occasional bird or two may even come to a well-stocked bird table in the outer suburbs.

Carrion Crow Corvus corone corone

The Carrion Crow is the common, large, black crow that can be seen all over the city and throughout the wider Hull area, from the city centre and Humber shore to the outlying villages and farmland. Their bulky stick nests can be found in the tops of trees almost anywhere, in streets, remote copses, parks and even on busy roundabouts. The status of the Carrion Crow in the Hull area has changed significantly over the past 100 years. John Nicholson made no mention of the species when he wrote of the birds visiting his garden in the outer suburbs of West Hull at the beginning of the last century, despite including the Hooded Crow and Jackdaw. This suggests that the Carrion Crow was genuinely absent from the neighbourhood at that time. If so, this was surely the result of wholesale trapping and shooting by farmers and gamekeepers. Carrion Crows are still heavily persecuted by gamekeepers to this day on account of their fondness for gamebird eggs and chicks. They are also popular targets for airgunners. The expansion of Hull over the course of the last century created oases in the parks and cemeteries where Carrion Crows could live in safety from the gun. By 1967 Boylan could say that they were breeding regularly and commonly in most such places in the city. Bonavia (1990) described the Carrion Crow as very common around Cottingham in the 1980s and this status could be applied across the whole Hull area by then. They still seem to be increasing and spreading right across the city and can be seen atop almost any television aerial, lamppost or tree. They are also commonly seen patrolling the farmland fields, playing fields and parklands for worms and other titbits.

Carrion Crows mainly hang around singly or in pairs, but small groups of half a dozen or so are not uncommon and large gatherings can also occur. Fourteen was the highest count at Saltend in 1984, 57 were on the Pickhills fields (off Priory Road) on 14^th February 1995 and 30 were in poplars behind Hedon Road Cemetery one winter day in 1999. There is a large winter roost of Carrion Crows in East Park and birds stream in from across the region in late afternoon. Over 270 were counted there on 3^rd January 1998, with 375 on Christmas Eve 1998 and 243 on 23^rd January the following year. The Carrion Crow is probably more common now than at any time during the last century and is one of the most familiar birds in the Hull area, but it is admired by few. The Carrion Crow certainly seems to have been lumped in with its larger cousin, the Raven, as a legendary symbol of bad omen in the popular psyche but it is undeniably an intelligent, adaptable and successful bird in both town and country. One wonders how much the jet black plumage, harsh call and apparently stern expression have to do with its unpopularity. Not all Hull Carrion Crows are completely black, however, and many show varying amounts of white in their wings, sometimes forming a distinct white wingbar across the flight feathers.

‘Hooded Crow’ Corvus corone cornix

The Hooded Crow is a race of the Carrion Crow and replaces the all-black variety in northwest Scotland, Ireland, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Large numbers of foreign Hooded Crows used to winter in eastern England during the first half of the 20^th Century and they were scarce visitors to John Nicholson's Hull garden. The proliferation of tips and landfill sites in their homeland since the Second World War meant food was not so hard to find in winter and the annual exodus to Britain became unnecessary. Very few now make the journey. Boylan noted just two winter records of Hooded Crows in Hull between 1960 and 1966. Two more were at North Bransholme on New Years Eve 1980. One was present down Fountain Road, off Beverley Road, between early February and early March in 1984 and another spent a couple of months on the Priory Road fields that same year. One was at Saltend in November and December 1985 and one flew over North Bransholme around the same time.

An apparent Hooded Crow feeding on a grass verge at the junction of Wawne Road and Honiton Road in the heart of Bransholme in March 1995 was probably a hybrid with a Carrion Crow. A definite hybrid, meanwhile, was in East Park between 2^nd and 3^rd April 1996.