A colourful but invasive visitor to these shores
WHICH MAY RIVAL NATIVE SPECIES
A beautiful but invasive bird species has made it to our shores - and could pose a threat to native wildlife.
The red-billed leiothrix, which originates from Asia, is steadily growing in numbers in the UK after a recent cluster was recorded in the south of the country, but now it is thought to have spread further, with at least one (unofficial) sighting in Leicestershire.
The main sightings have been in Wiltshire and Somerset, along with some reports from Kent, south Wales and even Merseyside, to the north west.
While it may look colourful and friendly with an olive green body, bright red beak and yellow throat, it is thought that the leiothrix poses a threat to native UK birds such as the robin.
Also known as Pekin robin, the leiothrix has a similar lifestyle to blackbirds and blackcaps, with it thought to be competing with them in gardens up and down the country.
It also has a mighty singing voice that is similar to robins or blackbirds - but is so loud that it could change the regular dawn chorus millions hear every day.
Recent studies published in the Ibis journal which have looked into the growth of the bird’s population in the UK have taken into account social media searches for both “leiothrix” and “Pekin robin”.
They have shown that there are more leiothrix sightings in the south of the UK - something that is thought to be down to an increase in Britain’s temperatures in the past 20 years, with the birds having previously also colonised in Italy, Spain, Portugal and France.
Their numbers on the continent are thought to have doubled in the past 20 years.
There were 16 records of the birds in southern Britain between 2019 and 2022, according to a report by the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.
Researchers found records by searching social media and Google images
Richard Broughton, lead author of the report, said: “There will be many more which we have not heard about, probably because people haven’t reported them, or they haven’t noticed them. So this is likely to be an underestimate. Picking up this cluster of records just from social media is alarming.”
Comments on TikTok videos highlighting the rise of the red-billed leiothrix have also indicated that the bird has been spotted in Leicestershire, but at present, no official sightings have been confirmed.
“The presence of a recent cluster of red-billed leiothrix sightings in southern England suggests that colonisation could already be underway,” the report continued. “As such, increasing the awareness and recording of (them) in Britain, but also in Europe, would be valuable in monitoring their occurrence and potential establishment.”
Anyone in Leicestershire who does see one can report it via the BirdTrack app, which has been developed by the British Trust for Ornithology.
It is available for free download on all smartphones via the Apple Store or Google Play store.