This review first appeared in 'Stratford-upon-Avon Scene (Incorporating Shakespeare Pictorial)' Vol. 2, No.15 (page 241), in July 1948.
The Stratford-Upon-Avon Scene* was described as The magazine that comes from Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, for people interested in Shakespeare and Shakespeareland
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Bird and place names were spelt as shown. For their current status, please see our county lists.
Birds of Warwickshire
Under the title *"Notes on the Birds of Warwickshire," Mr. C. A. Norris, until recently a resident of Stratford, has collected a lot of information concerning the distribution of birds in the county, together with records of rare visitants. It is, however, much more than a dry-as-dust collection of fact, for interesting detail and comment leaven the whole.
It is fairly certain, for instance, that not a reader of this paragraph is aware that in 1851 Lord Willoughby de Broke shot at Compton Verney the only Bartrim's sandpiper known to have visited the British Isles. Indeed, it is more than likely that they had never heard of the bird.
Touching on the heronries in the county, Mr. Norris gives their number as five and details their history. Referring to the colony at Wootton Wawen, said to have been first noted in 1937, local inquiry will probably show that the nesting place was in use at least 20 years earlier.
*Published by Cornish Bros., price 8/6.
The review was anonymous, but the magazine was edited by Major Geoffrey Jaggard.
Bartrim's Sandpiper was a misprint for Bartram's Sandpiper, an American vagrant now known as the Upland Sandpiper. The Compton Verney bird was a first for Britain and Ireland, and is now in the City of Worcester Museum*. There have been (up to 2002) a further 43 verified British sightings, including seven before 1947, though none in our region.
(* WMBC reminds you that these are other organisations' sites and that the Club accepts no responsibility for their content)