Birds in a Cage Four British Birdwatchers, the Unlikely Beginnings of Modern Wildlife Conservation

John Barrett, John Buxton, Peter Conder and George Waterston were four of the most significant British ornithologists to be born in the 1910s. All wrote papers for birding journals at various times and each made his mark on bird study in a different way. By chance they each joined a different regiment in the Second World War, and by tragic coincidence, all found themselves imprisoned at different places during that war, having been captured in Germany, Norway, France, and Greece respectively.

The War brought together so many people from different backgrounds, and often in very challenging situations. Friendships were forged in the toughest of circumstances – not least in Prisoner of War camps across Germany. These four ornithologists were all moved between different prison camps in varying locations but all were held at the same place between October 1941 and September 1942. That place was the Oflag VI-B camp for officers at Warburg in Germany – roughly halfway between Hanover and Cologne.

This book tells the story of their wartime service, but particularly the time they spent together. If anything, their interest in birds was strengthened by their enforced imprisonment. There were relatively few things that inmates could do, but each of them had noticed birds around the camp, and – despite the absence of binoculars – they had started to record what they saw. In particular, they noticed the spring migration of 1942 with a daily log being kept of every bird seen over a period of almost two months. In addition, Buxton focused his attention on the Common Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus. Their interest in birds attracted the attention of security guards who suspected them of plotting an escape plan. Not surprisingly some of the inmates thought that they were an odd group – not least when they started to correspond with a German ornithologist. All but Barrett were later moved south to another camp in a wooded valley at Eichstätt where Conder studied the Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis and Waterson focused on the Wryneck Jynx torquilla; the latter study totalling an astonishing 1200 hours of observation for him and his “assistants”. Eventually, the men were split up before the War ended in 1945 and all returned home safely.

In their own ways, each of the four men went on to make their own impressions on the world of ornithology and bird conservation. John Buxton became a teacher and academic and wrote up his studies of the Common Redstart in a New Naturalist monograph (The Redstart, Collins, 1950); John Barrett became the warden of Dale Fort Field Centre in Pembrokeshire and wrote highly-popular guides to seashore wildlife; Peter Conder became the warden at nearby Skokholm, eventually joining the RSPB staff in 1954 and becoming its Director General; and George Waterston also ended up on the RSPB staff and is widely accepted as the man who made sure that the Osprey Pandion haliaetus successfully reintroduced itself to Scotland in the 1950s.

The great value of this book is that it brings together the story of what these men experienced. These are stories that have rarely been told, as each of them remained relatively tight-lipped about their experiences – even to close family. Peter Conder did write up some of his thoughts but these were never completed, and John Buxton even wrote a book on the subject which was rejected for publication. The strength of this book comes from the fact that you are drawn into their lives and it feels as if the men are in a room talking about what had happened. All four died a long time before Derek Niemann had the idea for this book, but despite having never met any of them he has brought to life their different attitudes and experiences with great ease.