I read about Golden Orioles in the RSPB 'Nature's Home' magazine today 08/01/2022 and thought I should publish this information from last year. Only avid readers will stumble upon it, I hope and therefore not cause too much aggro.
According to the article Golden Oriole has not bred in the UK since 2009. I was shocked. I assumed there was still a small population hanging on in East Anglia. They also mentioned Wryneck as not breeding and yet there were three years of reports of birds in Northumberland in recent years all in the same area during the breeding season. I hope that this is just kept quiet for the sake of the birds and maybe no breeding has been confirmed.
Getting back to the Golden Oriole, here is a summary of observations made last year, with dates but no sites mentioned. All observation were within a 2 mile radius.
Observer 1 18/05/2021
yellow bird seen
Observer 2
oriole heard singing 07:44, 19/05/2021
Observer 3
green bird seen 10:00, 19/05/2021
Observers 4 + 5
oriole heard singing (recorded by observer 4 20/05/2021
Observer 4
oriole heard singing (recorded) brief view 26/05/2021
Observer 2
oriole heard singing 07:20 06/06/2021
Observer 2
oriole calling 17/07/2021
Observer 2
oriole calling 20/07/2021 not 100% harsh screaming call not unlike water rail but bird was moving through tree tops unseen.
Obviously this could have been a wandering male trying to locate a female or multiple birds. Prior to the first sighting there had been a small arrival of Golden Orioles along the east coast. It will be very interesting if the sightings are repeated this year (2022). However, it still leaves the dilemma, to publicise or not to publicise.
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