Amazona lilacina is a threatened species endemic to Ecuador, existing across a patchwork of mangroves, lowland coastal forests, agricultural and community owned land. The species was described in 2014 and listed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List, however, full assessment of the population was lacking. Using a combination of field observations, roost surveys and community questionnaires, conducted over the last 20 years, we provide up-to-date information on the species’ Extent of Occurrence, estimate its global population size, and evaluate its level of threat. Our results suggest the species occurs across an area of 19,890 km2 in three distinct geographically isolated subpopulations. Roost surveys across the range estimate the minimum remaining population at 741–1,090 individuals and we present evidence to suggest a 60% decline over the past 19 years in one part of the species’ range. We conducted community questionnaires with 427 people from 52 communities. The presence of pet parrots was reported in 37 communities, including 17 communities which reported pet A. lilacina. From this we predict that over half of all communities within our study area keep parrots as pets and at least 96 communities keep A. lilacina. Our findings justify an IUCN Red Listing of at least ‘Endangered’ for this species and highlight the need for conservation support. In order to assess population health in more detail, further research is required to assess genetic diversity and roost dynamics, and to identify areas that may be important for feeding and nesting throughout the range. As many of these areas are likely to overlap with community owned land, we suggest that future conservation actions should revolve around, and be led by, these communities.

Archaeological evidence for the Viking Great Army that invaded England in AD 865 is focused particularly on the area around St Wystan's church at Repton in Derbyshire. Large numbers of burials excavated here in the 1980s have been attributed to the overwintering of the Great Army in AD 873–874. Many of the remains were deposited in a charnel, while others were buried in graves with Scandinavian-style grave goods. Although numismatic evidence corroborated the belief that these were the remains of the Great Army, radiocarbon results have tended to disagree. Recent re-dating of the remains, applying the appropriate marine reservoir correction, has clarified the relationship between the interments, and has resolved the previous uncertainty.

In 873 the Viking Great Army took winter quarters at the Anglo-Saxon monastery of Repton in the heart of Mercia. Excavations 1974–88 found their D-shaped earthwork on the river bank, incorporated in the stone church. Burials of Viking type were made at the east end of the church, and an existing building was cut down and converted into the chamber of a burial mound containing at least 249 individuals. Here is a first account of the evidence for the Vikings at Repton in and after the campaigning season of 873-4.

The identification, partial excavation, and covering-up again of the Rose Theatre in London this summer roused public interest unparalleled since the discovery of the Temple of Mithras 35 years ago. How is it that the future of an archaeological site of such importance has still to be resolved under threat in a flurry of direct action, injunctions, and media attention? Martin Biddle was almost the only archaeologist not directly involved who was prepared publicly to explore the issues in the press and on radio and television. Here he sets out his views of the lessons of the Rose.

This bibliography is meant to include all books, articles and significant reviews published in any branch of Anglo–Saxon studies during 1985. It excludes reprints unless they contain new material. It will be continued annually. The year of publication of a book or article is 1985 unless otherwise stated.

The pilgrimage to discriminate the styles of Anglo-Saxon architecture on which Dr Harold Taylor embarked with his late wife Joan some fifty years ago was brought to a majestic conclusion in 1978 by the publication of the third volume of Anglo-Saxon Architecture (hereafter AS Arch), the first two volumes of which appeared in 1965. It is a work in the mainstream of English antiquarianism, reaching back to the days of Camden, Aubrey, Stukeley and Horsley, and is to be compared in our own time only with Pevsner's The Buildings of England.