Evening Talk: Times, they are a-changing by David Parkin

Fifty years ago Blackcaps were regarded as a ‘summer visitor’. Now they are regularly reported in winter from sheltered gardens and river valleys across England. These birds have been shown to be regular migrants from central Europe that appear to have evolved a novel migration and wingtering strategy. Chiffchaffs, too, are increasingly recorded in winter. With milder (really!) winters, birds are able to survive that in earlier times would have perished. Now, an exciting study by French ornithologists has uncovered another newly evolving migration, but this time at a trans-continental level. These, and other, discoveries will be described and discussed in the light of responses to climatic change.