Gourmets eat away at thrush

Press, 4 April 1989, Page 25

Gourmets eat away at thrush

By

SIMON de BRUXELLES

Song thrushes, 10 years ago among Britain’s most common garden residents, are falling victim to the Continental taste for pate made from small birds. A survey just published reveals that Turdus philomelos has fallen to number 16 in the league table of common birds, from seventh a decade ago. The solution to the mystery of the song thrushes’ decline, which puzzled experts from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds analysing the results of the survey, can be found in the "Larousse Gastronomique.” Pages 1078 to 1080 of “the world’s greatest cookery encyclopedia” are devoted to the humble thrush. It records: “There are a dozen species in France which are hunted in autumn and winter for their delicate flesh, the flavour of which depends on their

diet (grapes, juniper berries, peas, etc). The song thrush makes excellent eating.” In autumn and winter many English song thrushes migrate to France, where they end up as pate de grives a la provencale or tourte de grives a la perigourdine. The “Larousse Gastronomique” gives eight recipes for song thrushes, from the relatively simple potted thrush to thrushes with onion puree in sherry vinegar. The entry is illustrated with a picture of a silver platter on which are six bite-sized thrushes en caisse — stuffed with forcemeat, foie gras and a sliver of truffle. It points out, however, that in

England thrushes are protected birds and may not be killed. Although the eating of song thrushes is nothing new, the R.S.P.B. survey is the first indication that numbers in Britain are declining significantly as a result. The annual beak count was carried out by 20,000 members of the Young Ornithologists’ Club in 9000 gardens in January. That the closely related blackbird, which, however, does not migrate to the Continent, has not similarly declined appears to rule out the possibility that the thrushes are being killed by

pesticides or destruction of habitat.

The survey finds that the most common garden birds are starl-

ings and house sparrows, followed some way behind by blue tits and blackbirds. Recent new entries in the top dozen birds are gulls, crows and magpies. Mr Mike Langman, Y.O.C. activities organiser, says: “They are all scavengers. In the past there are far more gamekeepers around who would shoot large numbers of crows and magpies as pests.” A century ago, when the R.S.P.B. was founded, large carrion eaters such as red kites and ravens would have been a common sight in cities and suburbs. The kites are now confined to a small area of central Wales where there are fewer than 40 breeding pairs. Hunting, cleaner streets and therefore less food, and a shortage of mature trees for nesting have driven the ravens into the wild.