More than 50 years ago, in the spring of 1969, Britain’s birders noticed that something was amiss. Whitethroats – which until then had been one of the commonest migrant visitors to the country – were missing from their usual hedgerow haunts.
The reason for their absence turned out to be a severe drought. This took place during the autumn and winter of 1968, in Africa’s Sahel zone, a narrow strip of land south of the Sahara where many British whitethroats spend the winter.
