Down But Not Out

Well that's it then. We are in lock down for a month or two with no birding or ringing. Life must go on and luckily I have an archive of pictures and experiences to draw upon. In the garden there are Goldfinches without rings so I can do some ringing in the days ahead when the wind drops. 

For now here’s a post with pictures from way back in 2009. 

It was in November 2009 that Sue and I spent two weeks in Cyprus. Black Redstarts were absolutely everywhere and it proved impossible not to take lots of photographs of these welcome migrants from Europe.  

Black Redstart 

For anyone who isn’t aware, the Black Redstart is a surprisingly scarce UK species and where the breeding population may be about 100 pairs only. Since about 1900 the UK population grew to include urban habitats that resembled their ancestral habitat of mountainous stony ground. Both during and after World War Two this included bombed areas, and then in subsequent years the species also colonised large industrial complexes that have the bare areas and cliff-like buildings it favours; in the UK, most of the small breeding population nowadays nests in industrialised areas. 

Black Redstart 

Black Redstarts appeared very numerous in Cyprus, not entirely surprising as the species is a common winter visitor from October through to February. These birds are mainly of the European race Phoenicurus ochruros gibraltariensis which breeds in the bulk of Europe and east to Ukraine and Crimea. The area of the Mediterranean Sea is the main wintering area with a small number of birds as far south and east as Egypt and the Middle East. 

Black Redstart

During the latter part of November of the dozens of Black Redstarts I saw, all were of similar appearance: upperparts of grey-brown with brown, smoky/dusky washed underparts from the throat that merged gradually into a paler washed belly and a whitish vent area. It was often surprisingly difficult to see the orange-buff of the undertail, but easy to pick the actual birds out from way off due to their characteristic jizz, shimmering tail and sometimes surprisingly loud alarm calls. 

Black Redstart 

Black Redstart

Of course by November juveniles greatly outnumbered adults, and I thought that on most occasions I was watching a bird of the year. Additionally, from about August first year males have an almost identical appearance to the duller female, and the whitish wing panel of this western subspecies does not develop until the second year. In one or two photos there are the visible remains of a nestling’s yellow gape, and in the extended summers of parts of Europe this feature is perhaps to be expected in November. 

Black Redstart 

Black Redstart 

Unfortunately, with one exception, a confiding hotel garden bird seen above, the redstarts weren’t too easy to approach, like almost every other bird species on this over-hunted, infamous island. 

Back home in sunny Stalmine, this morning I went out to the shops for essentials, our local small shopkeepers, not the rip-off Co-op supermarket. Ten minutes from here at Knott End village is a wonderful array of shops; butcher, fishmonger, baker, cheese & delicatessen, fruit & veg. 

As we all cope with the current disruption to everyday life there is one thing that all of us can do that will help - shop local, shop UK, with YouK. 

Our society depends on farms, manufacturers, fishing boats, and UK businesses big and small. Without them there are no jobs, no income, no money for schools and hospitals. 

Home deliveries of household essentials from small companies will help support them, take pressure off supermarkets, and support delivery workers. Breakfast cereal, soap, tea, shampoo, jam, wine, hand cream, meat, cleaning products, face moisturisers, there are UK companies covering all of these everywhere. 

Pubs are closed - so let’s keep the brewing industry going so that things can start up quickly again with home delivery of UK craft beers - over 700 brewing companies across the UK. Most people will have many local options including ourselves with a local brewery, Farm Yard Ales along Gulf Lane, Cockerham - Farm Yard Ales.   

We are powerful together – help UK business, keep our jobs, and let’s get through this.

A Touch Warmer Today

This time last year Sue and I holidayed in Cyprus with the lovely warm, sunny climate of Paphos for company. I wish we could be there now to escape the cold, rain and the constant winds of North West England. In the absence of any birding, ringing or photography on which the blog optimistically promises but often fails to deliver, I decided to cheer myself (and perhaps others) up by posting a few pictures from a Cyprus archive. Just look at those blue skies and then double click the pics for a warming experience.

Collared Dove
Roman Ruins

The Collared Dove just happens to be perching on part of a World Heritage building at the ancient site of Nea Pafos. The main attraction of Nea Pafos is the collection of Roman mosaics that lay undiscovered under the headland until a farmer accidentally found them with his plough back in 1962. Since then archaeologists have been slowly unearthing the most amazingly detailed mosaics, along with the ruins of the magnificent buildings that used to house them.

Crested Larks and Black Redstarts were everywhere. So were multitudes of lizards, not always easy to spot against the rocks where they hid.

Black Redstart
Crested Lark
Cyprus Lizard
Cyprus Lizard

North of Paphos along the coast road is the stunning little port of Ayos Georgios, where a much photographed church stands on the cliff top. We lingered for a coffee at the Greek tavern next door whilst watching Blue Rock Thrushes dart about the crags.

Agios Georgios
Agios Georgios
Blue Rock Thrush

Even the crows look better on sunny days, while the local football team goalpost makes a handy perch for a Kestrel.

Hooded Crow
Kestrel

Here’s a view towards Coral Bay where I had a lifer of Cyprus Warbler close to the tiny vine terrace.

Coral Bay

More Mediterranean

No not the weather, but in the absence of birding or ringing today here are more pictures from the recent Cyprus holiday. Maybe the blue sky in the pictures will cheer us all up. The idea of our holiday was a relaxing, sunny break, a bit of exploration and walking, a chance to inject a dose of warmth into creaking bones before the British winter set in. Alright it cost a few quid, but as the sayings goes, “you can’t take it with you”, and anyway we are fully paid up members of the SKI Club.

I know the island of Cyprus is a good place to bird during spring and autumn situated as it is in the Mediterranean Sea halfway between Europe and Africa. In the winter it appears that bird variety is much more predictable, seemingly dominated by larks, chats and finches, with for instance very small numbers of gulls and waders. I couldn’t find any information on the Internet about winter birding on Cyprus and although birding wasn’t the holiday objective, no birder goes on holiday without bins and camera.

Blue Rock Thrush
Stonechat
Crested Lark

I got a handful of the local specialties, Black Francolin, Cyprus Warbler and Greater Sand Plover, all so distant and unapproachable that pictures were out of the question. Otherwise on the outskirts of towns and away from the tourist areas, it was the common and numerous winterers everywhere, Crested Lark and Skylark, Black Redstart, Linnet, Goldfinch, Chaffinch and Greenfinch, Stonechat and White Wagtail. A couple of coastal Kingfishers brightened up other days, plus Common Sandpiper near the hotel and what may have been a pretty good bird for the island, a Barn Owl that we watched from our balcony whilst taking a sun downer.

White Wagtail
Beach Sign - out of vandals' reach
Yellow-legged Gull
Agios Giorgios
Hooded Crow
Common Sandpiper
Lizard Living On The Edge
Black Redstart
Coral Bay, Cyprus
And I came back to this.

Crab Apple
6th December

A Pile Of Old Stuff

Still no birding for me as I try to acclimatise to zero temperatures whilst clearing 10 days of ice off the car, catching up with children and grandchildren, not to mention 80 e-mails or attacking the mountain of post behind the front door, 50% of which I immediately junked; this despite being on a mailing preference list. Oh well, I suppose it keeps the postman in a job plus the paper recyclers, the leaflet writers, designers, printers and packagers, envelope manufacturers and the local authority waste collection crews.

So as Sue gets on with 2 weeks’ worth of washing I’ll be just as productive and post a few pictures and tales from Cyprus until I hit the local patch tomorrow.

Almost everyone who visits Cyprus tours the glorious Roman remains situated on the Pafos headland. It’s a must. The preserved mosaics alone are stunning, but if piles of old stones don’t turn you on, the birding is pretty interesting even in November but out of the busy migration of spring and autumn. The ruins provide lots of perches for birds, with nooks and crannies where insects abound and where between the sloppy Roman pointing and the fallen stonework, plants take root and sparse vegetation flourishes in the dry climate.

The predominant species here were larks, finches, White Wagtails, Stonechats, equal numbers of Black Redstarts and House Sparrows, plus Hooded Crows with smaller numbers of Sardinian Warblers, Blackcaps and Collared Doves; and of course Blue Rock Thrushes, a species designed just for here.

Blue Rock Thrush
Black Redstart
A Pile Of Old Stones
Collared Dove
Linnet
House Sparrow
Stonechat

I sat at the top of the amphitheatre ruin and wondered whether Birdius Caesar was familiar with the birds I now watched? Bored with watching lions kill Christians every weekend, sick of the running gladiator battles and the endless chariot races, did he slink out of the back row then set off over the headland to watch the Crested Larks and Skylarks or seek out the Blue Rock Thrushes? And did he secretly admire the kites, Kestrels and Hooded Crows that mopped up after the carnage in the arena; and homesick for Italy, did he yearn for the spring migration that would bring Swallows, Hoopoes and even more raptors heading for Europe?

Crested Lark
Skylark
Hooded Crow
Kestrel
Lizards were all around, and I’ll wait for DM to point me in the right direction with names, but they are certainly hard to photograph, scuttling off back into the dark shadows at the hint of a toga, a sandaled foot or a waiting Kestrel.

"I'm Just Hanging Out"
Hey Good Lookin’

After a hard morning’s slog over the red hot tourist trail there’s nothing better than a cold beer, but as every good birder knows, you don’t go anywhere without bins and camera. And taking a few pictures while propped up in the sun isn’t too taxing especially when a Black Red stops by to share your sunbed.

Black Redstart
Pafos, Cyprus
I hope to get out tomorrow but the overnight forecast is snow falling on top of already treacherous ungritted roads so I think I should play that one by ear.

Back To Normal?

Regular readers of Another Bird Blog will have noticed the lack of new posts recently. That’s because Sue and I have been on holiday, in sunny Cyprus; so sunny in fact that for two weeks we didn’t see a single cloud, the daytime temperature climbed to a steady 27 C and I wore a T-shirt and shorts for 14 days – not the same ones every day I hasten to add. Whilst it wasn’t a birding holiday there are bird pictures to post in the next few days and weeks until I get back to normal with local birding and adjusting to the zero or below temperatures we returned to.

In Cyprus we stayed at the XX Hotel as recommended by good friends Alan and Jane, who appreciate a fine hotel when they find one. Knowing of a special hotel is a bit like finding a scarce bird - you don’t mind sharing the details with a few like-minded friends but don’t necessarily wish to post information on the World Wide Web and have every Tom, Dick and Harry come along and spoil it. But for those who really want to know, send me an email and I'll think about it.

So until tomorrow and the next time here are a few pictures to be going on with - birds, blue sky and lizards. And apologies to my blogging friends, I will catch up with you all soon.

Pafos, Cyprus
Crested Lark
Gekko?
White Wagtail
Agama Lizard
Black Redstart
Just When You Thought It Safe To Go In The Water

See You Soon.