Helpston's wildlife
Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat
John Clare wrote that the whitethroat is 'a bird little know celebrated for its song which often imitates the nightingale in variety and loudness'.
The happy white throat on the sweeing bough
Swayed by the impulse of the gadding wind
That ushers in the showers of april - now
Singeth right joyously and now reclined
Croucheth and clingeth to her moving seat
To keep her hold and till the wind for rest
Pauses she mutters inward melody
That seems her hearts rich thinkings to repeat
And when the branch is still her little breast
Swells out in ratures gushing symphonies
The whitethroat is quite probably the commonest of our summer migrants around Helpston. This member of the warbler family can be heard singing loudly from any patch of hedgerow, throwing itself up in the air to deliver its scratchy song [click to listen]. The road between Woodcroft Castle and Maxham's Cottage is a particularly good place to find them, but they can also be heard along Maxey Road and at Swaddywell. In 1969 the whitethroat population collapsed completely following an extensive drought in its wintering areas south of the Sahara. Numbers have been recovering ever since.
Its relative the Lesser Whitethroat is less common, but also has a distinctive song, a dry rattle emanating from the depths of large hedgerows [click to listen]. This is one of those birds that is more often heard than seen. A male can be heard singing in the summer in the fields behind the Heath Road paddock. Other regular breeding sites are at Steeping Wood, Bainton, Maxey and Swaddywell Pits as well as the Hanglands.