Early Pipit Late Owl

A 6 am start beckoned and I met Andy at Oakenclough in near perfect conditions - a light southerly, and compared to recent weeks, a temperature that felt quite agreeable. 

Once again newly in birds were rather limited so we struggled to reach double figures with just 10 birds ringed but the emphasis on quality rather than quantity: 5 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Goldfinch and 1 Tree Pipit. 

In most years April 1st is around the normal date for the arrival of the first Willow Warblers so the two males caught today are approximately ten days “late”. Maybe they picked a good time to arrive with predicted temperatures of up to 64°F and fine days for next week. In so many recent years Willow Warblers have arrived into cool and wet weather that continued throughout May and had a detrimental effect upon their breeding success. 

Willow Warbler 

Lesser Redpoll 

Today’s Tree Pipit, our first of the year, was aged as a second year bird (born in 2017). April 14th is bang on the expected date of the first Tree Pipits arriving from Africa. 

Tree Pipit 

A Tree Pipit resembles the slightly smaller Meadow Pipit. Both are at first glance unexceptional looking LBJs, streaked brown above and with black markings on a white belly and buff breast below. 

The Tree Pipit is distinguished from the slightly smaller Meadow Pipit by its heavier bill, stronger more yellowish, heavier streaking and greater contrast with the white belly. The former also has pink legs rather than the flesh-coloured legs of Meadow Pipit. As the name suggests, Tree Pipits spend more time in trees than ground dwelling Meadow Pipits.  Tree Pipits breed across most of Europe and temperate western and central Asia. It is a long-distance migrant and spends our winter in Africa and southern Asia. 

The song flight is unmistakable. The bird rises a short distance up from a tree, and then parachutes down on stiff wings, the loud song becoming more drawn out towards the end.  It is many years since I heard the song here at Oakenclough where it used to breed in the open woodland and scrub of the late 70’s and early 80’s.  The habitat is still suitable now but unless the Tree Pipit regains its former population level it is unlikely to return. 

The Tree Pipit's flight and contact call is a buzzing "dzzz" sound, heard mostly during migration. It’s a high-frequency call that becomes harder to hear for us older generation birders. Luckily we can catch them, take a closer look and confirm that the label of “Little Brown Job” is far from the truth. 

The morning proved quiet in the way of birding except for the usual five or six Buzzards in the air as the morning warmed. Two Red-breasted Mergansers “over” and a smattering of redpolls proved to be as good as it got with little sign of visible migration. "Otherwise" local birds included a handful of Chaffinches, 1 Jay and 2 Mistle Thrush. 

The journey home was quite interesting by way of a Barn Owl hunting across farmland at 11.20am. Many Barn Owls are sat on eggs by now, a scenario that requires the non-sitting bird to spend extra hours in search of food. 

Barn Owl

Nearby I noted a single Kestrel and also a pair of Buzzards at a nest. The female was clearly visible in the huge pile of sticks close to the top of a tall, uncropped hawthorn hedgerow. Let's hope the conspicuous nest will not become a target for vandals and/or those who would harm the mostly harmless Buzzard.

Buzzards 

Log in soon for more birds from Another Bird Blog. In the meantime, linking to World Bird Wednesday and Anni's Birding.

A Photo Or Two

I didn’t get many photos this morning. As each week passes the adult birds and those born last year get older and wiser about birders and keep out of the way of cameras and bins. 

An early morning Barn Owl is pretty much guaranteed at the moment when food is scarce and the owls spend longer on the hunt. So it was this morning as the owl stayed alongside the moss road but hidden by distance and the straggly hedge at eye level. I made do with a Kestrel and then a Buzzard just sat in the opposite field but keeping a wary eye on passing cars. It looked like last year’s bird. 

Buzzard

Along Lancaster Road a farmer was out early taking the tops off and shaping the hedgerow. It rather stopped my looking for finches and much else but the flood at Rawcliffe/Pilling held 4 Fieldfare, 1 Kestrel, 180 Lapwing, 10 Pied Wagtail and 8 Meadow Pipit. At Gulf Lane the Linnet flock is down to about 40 birds, the lowest count of the winter but not surprising given the battering of rain, wind, snow and ice that both birds and vegetation have taken since August. 

Around the moss road produced a couple of calling Buzzards on territory as 5/6 Meadow Pipits scattered ahead of the car. 

Buzzard

 

I called at Conder Green out of habit more than optimism and the chance the Avocets may appear any day. They are already in Lancashire after their winter away. No up-turned bills just the usual 3 pairs of Oystercatcher, 15 Curlew, 12 Redshank and a gang of 10 noisy Shelduck. Spring is definitely in the air with Robins and Skylarks in song although next week we’re back to cold and frosty air. 

Robin

A trip around Jeremy Lane and up to Cockersands produced a healthy if unspectacular mix of species. Best was a mixed flock of Starlings, Fieldfares and Redwings numbering 200/200/6. Redwings are much scarcer than Fieldfares in early spring as if the Fieldfares make a leisurely journey north while the Redwings dash through mostly unseen. 

Near Cockersands was the usual Kestrel, a female Stonechat and some pretty huge flocks of Lapwings and Golden Plovers which numbered in the few thousands of each. Also, 30+ Skylarks, 30+ Redshank, 18 Twite, 13 Pied Wagtail, 8 Meadow Pipit and 6 Tree Sparrow. 

Kestrel

 

Golden Plovers

I saw a three or four Brown Hares this morning. One stopped in a gateway to clean its feet after it ran through a muddy patch of ground. I’ve seen them do that before. 

Brown Hare

 

There’s ringing tomorrow, something of a novelty this winter. But the forecast is half-decent with just a 10mph wind at a partly sheltered site. I’m meeting Andy at 0700. Log in later to see how we did.  

A Saturday link toWild Bird Wednesday,  Anni's Blog and Eileen's blog.

Agony Birding. A Christmas Story.

Barbara is heading our way for the weekend.  Looks like the only bird to see for a day or two will be the Christmas Turkey.

Storm Barbara

Meanwhile, I thought Agony Aunts were for the red tops and glossy magazines, not the birding press? Seems I’m mistaken as I found a snippet in this month’s copy of Birding Monthly under the column heading 'Ask Dorothy - Birding problems – Advice about ID, Photography, Birding Gear and Personal'. 

Suitably intrigued, I read more. It's an unhappy tale but a cheerful ending could be in sight.

“HELP! My partner’s lost his birding mojo.” 

"DEAR DOROTHY: I first met my partner 3 years ago on a cross country trip to Spurn to twitch a Red-flanked Bluetail. Frank was stood in a line-up of birders scanning for the bluetail. As people moved around chatting I found myself next to this good-looking guy who carried all the latest birding gear. He didn’t seem to notice little me even though I asked him lots of questions about birds, Spurn and Yorkshire in general. I quizzed him about his brand new top-of-the-range-optics and his life list, but at best I received a mumble or two in grudging recognition of my presence. I was impressed though when after a minute or two Frank latched onto the target bird as all the other dudes around just gossiped away. Eventually we grilled the bluetail together as he slowly loosened up enough to chat for a while. After what seemed an eternity he let me raise his monopod and then to test his Optigrand Super Zoom. That was a very impressive piece of kit, I can tell you. 

Well to cut a long story short Frank and I became best buddies, and pretty soon a pair of inseparable lovebirds. But now three years later and after many a shared tick and twitch all over the UK, Frank has mutated into a birder I don’t recognise. He no longer gazes at Birdforum, has cancelled his subscriptions to Rare Bird Alert and Birdwatch magazine, is reluctant to hit the road for new birds, and has even joined the RSPB.  Just last week I had a plane chartered to fly to Shetland for a First for Britain, a Greener-green Warbler (Phylloscopus borinus), but he said “No thanks chuck, I have a survey to complete, and then I need to enter my Birdtrack records on the PC”. The final straw came yesterday when he 'came out' as being a closet member of the BTO. 

What has happened to my Frank? Have I lost my birding soulmate? Is there life after twitching? 

Betty. Bootle, Merseyside". 

Lovebirds

"DEAR BETTY: My heart goes out to you. Many of us steadfast twitchers are mortified when a valuable member of the birding community is lost to the questionable pursuits you describe. It sounds like your Frank is in danger of becoming something we call an “ornithologist”. It’s a nasty illness that affects the weak-willed and the delusional. Very often such people are loners and less well-adjusted to the social and communal aspects of birding.

Try dialogue and compassion. Be tolerant and persuade him of the errors of his ways through displaying how much you still care for him. Try showing him pictures and videos of all the good birds he’s missed lately: that should bring him to his senses. 

If all of that fails, and as a last resort, I recommend Surveygone™, available from your local chemist. It’s guaranteed to erase all anti-twitching thoughts and to end the compulsion for taking part in bird surveys. It's guaranteed to be successful 99.9 per cent of the time. Just put a few drops in his morning coffee for a week or so. He’ll be right as rain in no time and back to normal by Christmas. 

"Surveygone"

Best wishes and Good Luck. DOROTHY"

Betty and Frank, Birders 

So Dear Friends, you may think that birding is a fun, harmless pursuit, but there are hidden dangers. Birding can result in real tears, broken relationships, and having to seek professional advice from complete strangers. 

A Happy Christmas to all my readers but do take care out there in The World of Birds. It’s a dangerous place. 

Linking today to Anni's Birding.

Listless Birding

I’m a little demotivated today. I hate birding on a Sunday morning when Uncle Tom Cobley and all head away from their TV screens to discover life in the big wide world and take their bikes, noisy dogs, scruffy kids and bored old aunties to normally quiet birding spots. Not to worry. I went to feed the Linnets and then found a birdy story on the Internet that might interest readers. 

The Daily Mail 30th October 2016 by Environmental Correspondent - Chloris Cliff 

“The normally sedate world of bird watching was thrown into turmoil and controversy this week over accusations about bird watchers, or ‘birders’ as they are known in the trade, cheating on their bird lists. 

Serious birders compile lists of birds. Being serious implies knowing about look-alike species and subspecies, the various plumages, and having a systematic-enough mind to not be slapdash when assembling the lists. Bird lists are not meant to be fun. Each entry evokes memories of sometimes expensive, lengthy and difficult journeys to exotic or sometimes dull and dreary places to see a bird. The bird becomes a "trophy" testifying to bird-spotting prowess and a willingness to invest time and boundless competitive energy to see more species than the next birder. 

Any hint that a serious birder might deliberately deceive fellow birders by inflating or inventing part of a list is viewed as a serious matter whereby the culprit is a scallywag at best or in the worst case, someone to be pitied. 

But now one birder at least has been found out, “spotted” as it were, in different locations when he claimed to be in the queue of several thousand dedicated birders waiting patiently to view a Siberian Accentor through a chain-link fence. The rare sparrow lookalike unexpectedly appeared at Easington in East Yorkshire in late October many thousands of miles from its home. The birder concerned later confessed to a birding acquaintance that on that very day he was actually near his home conducting a bird survey on behalf of his local bird watching club and then took a stroll around his local birding patch. He finished his day by ticking the Siberian Accentor via the Internet and a high quality video of the actual bird which had already been posted on You Tube.

Needless to say this particular trusting birder’s confidence was betrayed, and within a day or so he was publicly outed as a fraud and his previously admired list of bird ticks labelled as a work of fiction. 

I tracked “Robin” down but he asked me not to identify him by his real name or birding “handle”, the latter the nickname used by his regular circle of birding friends. If I disclosed his identity he would be subject to an even greater amount of disdain and ridicule than that recently suffered. 

Robin told me; 'I twitched rare birds all the time until recently. I’ve spent years and large amounts of cash travelling the UK to see the latest rarity to appear on my pager, often skipping work and sleep to be amongst the first to arrive at the location. I’m in the Top Ten of birders in the Britain Year List for 2016 and over the 500 mark in the Britain Life List. Recently my marriage broke up when my wife left me for a nine-to-five office worker who is a part time body-builder. And then I lost my job in the PPI call centre because of my poor time keeping and attendance record. I’m trying to pull my life together and get back to normal.'

'And then one at home one day I was idly looking at bird videos on You Tube and the latest rarity pictures on Bird Forum, and I realised that digital and virtual reality, was the way to go. You see, in recent years there are some seriously good photographs and videos of all the latest rarities on the Internet. All you have to do is a Google search and you can be there in good quality video or see whole pages and pages of pictures of most rarities that turn up. It’s as good as the real thing without the financial cost and the mental trauma and anxiety involved in travelling hundreds of miles. And it allows me to get in some real birding in my local area, something I neglected in recent years. It’s Carbon Friendly and my lists are as good and lengthy as ever, up there with the best UK birders. I’m not bothered by what others think. These birds are on my various lists and staying there. Lots of people I know are doing their birding this way now.'

I asked Robin if I could see his bird lists; he told me they are: 

1. Garden list - all the birds seen on his property 

2. Year list 

3. County list 

4. Life list - all the birds since he started bird watching some 35 years ago 

5. Big day list – the maximum number of species he’s seen in 24 hours 

6. The Big Sit - a list of species seen from within a 12 foot radius circle in a 24 hour period 

7. Photo list – the number of bird species he has photographed 

8. Zoo list - all the birds seen in zoos 

9. Television and cinema list - all the bird species seen or heard on TV or cinema
“ Check out Sky Sports – it’s good for Australian gulls” he advised. 

10. Street names that are bird names. Quite by coincidence, Robin lives in Lapwing Close, Warrington.

I contacted the Bird Listing Organisation for Birders (BLOB) for their thoughts on this latest trend in seeing and listing birds. 

A spokesman who did not wish to be named told me 'We do not condone ticking birds seen via the Internet, TV, cinema, books or other publications. Birding is a serious pastime and should always be undertaken in that spirit.'"

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Birder Worship Syndrome (BWS)

Sorry folks, there are no pictures of birds today, just pictures of birders as I bring you serious information and advice about a condition which can afflict birders of all ages and backgrounds. I have met birders who suffer from this illness and I can assure you that it is no laughing matter. 

Birder

Until now this disorder has been little discussed or researched but I found the following information via Wiki and reproduce it here for our mutual interest. 

“Birder Worship Syndrome (BWS) is an obsessive addictive disorder in which a person becomes overly involved with the details of an elite birder’s life, the same person’s tick list and their ability to react quickly to pager and Internet messages and to then chase, and re-identify rare and uncommon birds. Psychologists have indicated that though many people obsess over film, television, sport and pop stars, the only common factor between them is that they are all figures in the public eye. In the cases of birder worshippers and the elite bird watchers they esteem, none are in any public eye other than that of the tiny percentage of an overall population who are simply birders. Following recent cases in the birding and national press (Bird Watching magazine, Daily Mail etc, 2005, 2008, 2013, 2015 ) it is thought that a simple case of birder worship can quickly develop into more severe cases of stalking. 

The term "birder worship syndrome" first appeared in an article 'Do you worship other birders?' by Robin A Ticker and Sylvia B Schuer (Bird Watch magazine, 2003). Ticker based his article on the journal paper by Finch et al. (Nature & Birds, 2002) which discussed the term Birder Worship Scale, first used in an academic article by Wren (British Birds 1999). 

Nonetheless Ticker and Schuer may be generally correct. A syndrome refers to a set of abnormal or unusual set of symptoms indicating the existence of an undesirable condition or quality. Indeed, many attitudes and behaviours of birders covered in this research indicate such states. 

Bird Watchers

Psychologists in the United Kingdom created a birder worship scale to rate the problems. In 2004, psychologists Marila Crowe, Arthur Nightingale and Frederik Swallow introduced the Birding Attitude Scale, a 34 item scale administered to 262 persons living in Lancashire, Norfolk and Yorkshire, perceived hot spots of the condition. 

Early research by Crowe et al. suggested that birder worship comprised one dimension in which lower scores on the scale involved individualistic behaviour such as following, watching, listening to, reading and learning about superstar birders. They further suggested that higher levels of infatuation are characterized by empathy, over-identification, and obsession with the star birder.  However, later research in recent years with larger samples suggested there are 3 different aspects to celeb birder worship. 

John Ruppell (University of Liverpool), and the aforementioned psychologists examined the Celebrity Birder Attitude Scale (Psychology Today, 2005) among 1723 UK respondents, (942 males, 781 females) aged between 16 and 70 years and found 3 dimensions to celebrity birder worship: entertainment-social, intense-personal, and borderline-pathological. 

More Birders

Pavel Cretzschmar PhD, author of Confusing Birding with Birder Obsession and creator of the Obsessive Birder Love Wheel suggests in a 2014 online article the existence of three other primary types of luminary birder obsessives: Simple Obsessional, Love Obsessional and Erotomanic, as follows. 

Simple obsessional:

Simple obsessional stalking and aggravation constitutes a majority of all cases, anywhere from 70%-80%, and is dominated by males. This form of stalking is generally associated with individuals who have shared previous birding trips or experienced casual birding encounters with their victims. A particular characteristic of the illness is “name-dropping” in conversations with lesser birders or mentioning their victims frequently in online forums, social media or blogs etc. 

Individuals who meet the criteria of being labelled as a “simple obsessional” tend to share a set of characteristics including an inability to have successful relationships in their own personal and birding lives, social awkwardness in birding situations, feelings of powerlessness in finding rare birds, or a sense of insecurity and very low self-esteem when faced with IDing a bird. Of these characteristics, low self-esteem plays a large role in the obsession that these individuals develop with their victim, the principal birder. If the individual is unable to have any sort of connection to the foremost birder with whom they are obsessed, their own sense of self-worth may decline. 

Love obsessional: 

As the name suggests, individuals who demonstrate this type of behaviour develop an intense love obsession with the birder with whom they rarely have any personal relationship. Love obsessional accounts for roughly 20%-25% of all birder stalking cases. Bird watchers who demonstrate this form of obsessional behaviour are likely to suffer from a mental disorder, commonly paranoia. 

Individuals that are love obsessional often convince themselves that they are in fact in a relationship with the subject of their obsession. For example, a woman who stalked a well-known UK birder Lee Evans for a total of five years claimed to be his partner in life when she had no personal connection to him and lived hundreds of miles away. 

Erotomanic: 

Erotomanic, originating from the word Erotomania, refers to stalkers who genuinely believe that their victims are in love with them. The victims in this case are almost always well known within the close local birding community. Erotomanic stalkers are the least common with by far the majority being men. Similar to love-obsessional stalkers, the behavioural Birder Worship Syndrome (BWS) of Erotomanics may be a result of an underlying psychological disorder. 

Individuals who suffer from Erotomania tend to believe that the birding figure with whom they are obsessed is utilising media as a way to communicate with them by sending special messages or signals via a pager or similar device and will spend many hours listening for bleeps from their machines. 

Although these obsessives have unrealistic beliefs, they are less likely to seek any form of face-to-face meetings with their victims and so mainly use their victim’s name in the hope of impressing others. In extreme situations where the obsessive is rejected by their target, an unforeseen and sometimes tragic outcome might ensue. In a recent case (Birdwatch magazine, September 2015), a birder expected that their target might sit next to them during a sea watch on the Yorkshire coast. When the object of their attention refused to do so and sat alongside another birder instead, the obsessive threw himself from the cliffs at Flamborough Head and was taken by the currents out into the North Sea, never to be seen again.“ 

So, dear readers, and in conclusion, you may recognise this affliction in a particular birder you know or meet occasionally in the course of your bird watching. Always treat them with care, consideration and respect as they are unwell. If possible, take the person aside and explain gently that they may be suffering from BWS and that they should seek professional advice as soon as possible. 

Bird Photographer

 

It’s back to the mundane stuff tomorrow when if the wind holds off across the farm fields I’m due to meet Andy for another crack at those Linnets. 

Log in later to see how we do. 

Grey Or Yellow?

A couple of days of wet and windy weather have restricted my birding for a while. So for today I hope to answer the question “When is a grey wagtail not a Grey Wagtail but a Yellow Wagtail”?

It’s a subject that cropped up on my last post at Another Bird Blog when a reader suggested via a comment that my image of a Yellow Wagtail was in fact a Grey Wagtail.  The photograph is the one below. 

Yellow Wagtail

The species under discussion are two closely related ones, Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava and Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea. 

The images below are pages from the The Crossley Guide that show not only the plumage differences between the two wagtails but also the different habitats and situations in which each is usually found. I’m sure that at most times of the year almost everyone can identify the adults of both species as they are really quite different in appearance.

Grey Wagtail - Richard Crossley (The Crossley ID Guide Britain and Ireland) [CC BY-SA 3.0 a/3.0)] via Wikimedia Commons 

 Yellow Wagtail Yellow Wagtail - Richard Crossley (The Crossley ID Guide Britain and Ireland) [CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The Yellow Wagtail, male or female, is an overall shade of yellow, whereas the Grey Wagtail while having parts of striking yellow plumage in both male and female, is an overall grey colour above.  No problem there then. 

 Yellow Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

Less practiced bird watchers may experience confusion and misperception when dealing with autumnal “grey” Yellow Wagtails such as the one in my picture at the top of this post, a very pale and quite fresh Yellow Wagtail in its first autumn plumage during September. At this time of year juvenile Yellow Wagtails are greyish/brown/olive above and buff whitish below, with a partly yellow belly and yellow under tail. Rather than the bright yellow and immaculate males of some field guides, autumn encounters of both species usually involve less bright and slightly worn plumaged adults of either sex, or duller juveniles. 

My pictures below show the typical dark, almost black legs of a Yellow Wagtail and not the flesh coloured legs of a Grey Wagtail. The Yellow Wagtail has clearly defined wing bars as formed by the pale covert feathers. By comparison a Grey Wagtail of any age always displays slate grey wing feathers together with narrowly edged greyish coverts rather than the much whiter ones in the wing of a Yellow Wagtail.

Grey Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

 

Grey Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

A feature that is less obvious unless the two species are side by side is that the Grey Wagtail has a very long white edged tail whereas a Yellow Wagtail has a shorter tail. This is a useful separation tool in the field when the long tail of a Grey Wagtail “bobs” and “pumps” almost incessantly as opposed to the less mobile and much shorter tail of the Yellow Wagtail. A Yellow Wagtail has a demeanour rather like a pipit, often standing taller than the similarly sized Grey Wagtail that can appear quite "crouching". 

Another separation in the field is the differing calls of the two species. The Yellow Wagtail has a sweet “tsee” or “schlee” or a louder “suree”. The call of Grey Wagtail is totally different with an explosive, metallic “zi-zi” or “tsvit”

Below is a great video from the BTO which not only sets out the difference between Yellow and Grey Wagtails, but for good measure also includes the Pied Wagtail Motacilla alba, yet another “grey” wagtail.

I hope this post has been helpful to anyone unsure about separating Yellow Wagtails and Grey Wagtails, or even grey wagtails.

And for anyone looking for a top quality field guide to the birds of Great Britain and Ireland I recommend the following three books:

• The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland   
• Britain's Birds  
• The Collins Guide 

That's all for now. Back soon with Another Bird Blog. In the meantime I'm linking this post to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday

Two Cautionary Tales

The Yellowhammer Eberiza citrinella is one of my favourite birds; I have many. Very often my favourite birds boil down to those I have grown to admire and respect after witnessing their decline over many years of birdwatching. Readers of this blog will be familiar with other species I mention frequently here - Lapwing and Corn Bunting to name but two. These three, plus a number of others are British species which dangle by a population thread thanks to the horrors of modern farming,  increased disturbance from an expanding human population and uncontrolled predators. Our once green and pleasant land is being trashed like never before in the name of the of  “economic progress”.

I recently watched a Yellowhammer on top of a fence post singing its melancholic “little bit of bread and no cheese”. It carried on singing until fatherly duties drew it back to the rough field where the female would be sat tight on her second lot of eggs. Yellowhammers nest low down in a bush, but sometimes on the ground. Yellowhammers are known to sing quite late in the year, sometimes into September. Also the male sings more frequently when the female is actually incubating. 

Yellowhammer

 

The sight and sound was a “blast from the past”, welcome for sure as I don’t see or hear the Yellowhammer much these days after a more than 30% decline in 25 years. Those aren’t my figures but highly optimistic and nationally calculated ones. The decline in our local farmland is more like 80%, and still plunging downwards, observations based on many years of field work, bird ringing and generally being an inquisitive but sceptical bugger about statistics offered up by experts. This is  especially so where localised factors come into play that are not picked up by overall trends.

Yellowhammer

The Yellowhammer population was pretty stable until the late 1980’s when the present decline began until it is now “red listed” as an endangered species within the UK. The reasons for the decline are many faceted with the major culprit being agricultural intensification: 

• the mismanagement/destruction of hedgerows and associated field margins 
• a decrease in late summer cereal crops/substitution with grass/silage crops and subsequent loss of winter stubble 
• more efficient grain collection with less “spillage” and less grain left on the ground for seed eating birds 
• increased use of pesticides to remove weeds and insects 
• woodland planting along fringe habitats and the resulting decrease in suitable breeding sites for an open-area species 
• increased predation from corvids  and others
• urbanisation/fragmentation of habitat

It's an all too familiar story I'm afraid. 

And here’s tale number two, also concering the Yellowhammer.

The Yellowhammer, a bird native to the British Isles was many years ago introduced to a set of islands on the other side of the world - New Zealand. As so often happens there follows a familiar tale of man interfering with the laws of nature established during millions of years of evolution of species. 

The population of New Zealand settlers in the middle 19th century grew fast. The same was true for insect crop pests, particularly caterpillars and black field crickets. Normally, pests like these would be kept under control by insectivorous birds. However, New Zealand had none available for the job. 

 Yellowhammer

The settlers cleared away New Zealand's forests and native birds disappeared with them. In the circumstances introducing insectivorous birds from England seemed to make sense. Yet, the bird species chosen by the Acclimatisation Societies (organisations founded specifically to introduce new animals and plants to New Zealand) for the task included some surprises, with the Yellowhammer one of the biggest. It is well known to us today that this heavy-billed bunting is primarily a consumer of seeds rather than insects, but it seems it was not so evident back then. 

Yellowhammer

During the 1860's and 1870's, 25 ships set out from London to various ports around New Zealand with these birds on board. Some were ordered by Acclimatisation Societies, some were sent for privately. A quarter of these shipments were organised by one family, Bills & sons from Brighton, and many of the Yellowhammers came from the area around this English coastal town. 

A scientific journal (NeoBiota) used newspapers and documents from the 19th century to reconstruct the history of how the Yellowhammer went from hero to villain in New Zealand in just 15 years. The detective work by the scientists not only identified where the Yellowhammers came from, but also where they ended up. They were able to pinpoint localities of release, and sometimes even how many birds were liberated there. 

Yellowhammers were initially warmly welcomed by the Kiwis but soon local farmers started to complain about the Yellowhammers’ taste for their cereal crops. The complaints fell on deaf ears as the Acclimatisation Societies with Government support continued to promote the introduction of Yellowhammers. In 1880 the last shipment of Yellowhammers arrived but these birds were never set free. Public pressure forced the Acclimatisation Society to get rid of them, and they were sent to Australia. 

From then on, Yellowhammers became the target of shooting, egg-collection, and poisoning. All means were allowed to rid the countryside of this now unwelcome guest. By then it was too late: Yellowhammers were well and truly Kiwis, and they remain common and widespread in New Zealand to this day. 

Yellowhammer

Who knows, pretty soon we may be asking our Kiwi cousins to return some of our Yellowhammers? If we as a nation continue down the route of destroying our wildlife heritage we sure as hell won’t have any of our own Yellowhammers left to sing of their "little bit of bread and no cheese".

Linking today to World Bird Wednesday.

Sad For Swallows

Does anyone else consider that our precious Swallows are down in numbers again this year? 

The BTO tell us the UK Swallow population is stable but I’m not wholly convinced. I can see that our local population is well down on the levels of ten, even twenty years, and certainly thirty years ago with birds absent from regular and familiar spots. I’m just not seeing any Swallows around buildings and farms that I pass on an almost daily basis, places where I normally expect to see more than one or two Swallows on the wing. 

I live in a part of coastal Lancashire where traditional methods of farming have declined and where agricultural intensification has taken hold with a corresponding decline in the wildlife associated with a farmed environment. Hedge laying, rotational and diverse cropping, seasonal grazing, and leaving winter stubble and field margins are just some of the farming methods that have become less common in recent years, despite having many benefits for wildlife, the environment and food production. Many barns have been converted into dwellings or “horsey” environments where entrances have been blocked and where Swallows are no longer able to make their homes. If the Swallows do find a way in they are often made unwelcome and so fail to return in subsequent years. I believe that many horse owners dislike Swallows as the birds’ constant to-and-fro “spook” the horses, or their owners dislike the temporary untidiness that nesting Swallows inevitably bring.

In addition to localised problems there is a pattern in recent years of poor weather during the Swallows’ migration through North Africa and Southern Europe. At the same time there has been a succession of cool, even cold and wet springs in the UK at the exact time that Swallows need to establish territories, build nests and produce their early broods. Over a succession of such years the Swallow as a species struggles to recruit youngsters to sustain the necessary population levels to survive.

Swallow nestlings

I found an interesting site on the Internet where the trials and tribulation of just some of our Swallows have been documented during the early part of 2016. It makes for interesting and thought provoking reading. Here are some extracts from intuitive people who clearly take a great interest and pride in their Swallows. 

15th April 2016 – Brittany, France – 11th April I woke up to a frost, it was 2c. My single male Swallow was not on his perch (light cable in the old stable) I have not seen him for 3 days. The weather has been really mixed. Many cold nights, often no insects. I wonder what temperatures they can tolerate? Today rain and miserable. Have not seen a Swallow all day. Even my main pair, recently arrived moved into the eaves in the boiler room at night for extra warmth, they are not around. This weekend the forecast is 2c both nights, I wonder if they have gone down to the south or the coast. 

Swallow

29th April 2016 – UK – To echo other contributions, we had a very poor April for weather and this week has been particularly cold. There has been frost several nights this week and even some snow, it is actually colder than it was during some of the Winter. I have been concerned for the early arriving Swallows, Martins and Swifts and our single male Swallow who has been around for nearly a month has only made fleeting visits to the nest site so far. There seem to be more arrivals on a daily basis but insects must be in short supply and I am sure this weather has delayed the start of nesting. It looks as if it will return to at least near to average temperatures next week and I hope that will allow our birds to start pairing up to breed. 

April 2016 – France – Just to let you know how the Swallows are doing in Brittany. It has been a difficult month for them as it is so cold. They arrived and have left again several times for up to a week each time. They came back on the promise of a sunny day only to be plunged into freezing cold nights. Most nights have been 3c, slight frosts. Not much food around. Mornings staying very cold so they left yet again. Yesterday cold northerly winds arrived, freezing nights all week ahead. All due to change on 1st May when jet stream moves, so I expect to see them back then. Only my main pair stayed this last time as they live in the boiler room and it’s quite warm in there. 

Swallow

 

30th April 2016 – Yorkshire, UK – To update you on some rather unseasonable weather. This is what greeted us this morning on the 29th April, with just over 6 weeks to midsummer. 

Spring in Yorkshire

Swallows in barn have not been seen all day. I imagine the conversation is going something like this from son to father. “Dad tell me again why we left Durban 30c to fly 8800 miles to sit in a Barn at 1c on our own in Yorkshire?” Weather is to stay cold, but no more snow, until early next week, then rain and westerly winds forecast, so hopefully weather will improve. 

11th May 2016 – Latest news from Brittany, France. After leaving 3 times in April due to freezing nights and no insects, the Swallows finally came back 3rd May the very day the weather changed for the better, very warm easterly winds. Not just my Swallows but all around the area. My pair by the way just laid their eggs on 10th May, 10 days earlier than last year, probably because they decided to use last year’s nest, saving them precious time. Just as I think all is wonderful the farmer comes along and starts to spray the fields with pesticides…grim reality. 

Swallow

23rd May 2016 – Yorkshire – UK – Just a quick update on our, and our neighbours returnees. We had 4 returns in April and our closer neighbour had one. The lone Swallow sat on the wires singing day in day out, and we were all getting concerned that his family group had perished on their Trek back, however his patience was rewarded this weekend when 5 Swallows arrived, and we have had a further two. 

I was talking to a colleague on route to Hong Kong last week who had been to Africa recently. She said that they had some strong easterly winds in the Sahara on route south, and that these had extended down close to ground level and had subsequently heard there had been something in the press about this taking a toll on northbound migrants. I have not seen or heard of this, but it is not unusual to get these types of winds at this time of year as the desert heats up, and I am sure they take a steady toll on migrants. 

Swallows

27 May 2016 – France – Oh my poor Swallows….Monday 23rd the first egg hatched, the next day the other 2 hatched. I could see the shells on the floor. Tuesday night we had a very cold night of 3c, for the end of May that is very unusual. She has been sitting on them for a couple of days, but I thought something was wrong because they were not flying in and out feeding them. Today the nest was empty for quite some time so I went in and looked in the nest. It was empty. Due to the location of the nest I do not think it was predators. They started their eggs earlier than normal this year and obviously it did not pay off. 

29th May 2016 – UK – I just wanted to bring you the latest Swallow news from Wherwell. After the cold weather in April, our male Swallow was around for a few days and then disappeared before returning again. This pattern repeated throughout May and I was getting worried that he had perhaps moved territory (there are a number of farms in the vicinity with sizeable Swallow colonies and we only ever have one or two pairs with us) and we were going to be without breeding Swallows this year. Happily last Thursday the male reappeared again with female in tow. 

Swallow

13th June 2016 – France – Swallows arrived slowly at the beginning of April on a sunny day. Unfortunately most of April was freezing cold with over 10 nights at near freezing point. Most mornings were so cold and the insects did not come out until the afternoons at about 3pm. During these cold periods most of the Swallows left the area. They came back when the weather was better only to be hit by further cold spells. Even in the month of May, we had 2 evenings at 3c and nearly every morning was heavy wet mist which did not clear until after lunch. Again no insects. There are not many wild flowers this year, no butterflies. Now there are hardly any Swallows. 

My main pair bred and have 3 young almost ready to leave the nest but I normally have about 20 adults roosting on the electric line every lunchtime, this year there is just 1 Swallow. I have been asking everyone in the area what there Swallow situation is and they say the same thing. There are no Swallows. The skies are empty in the evenings, the telephone lines are empty. The month of June has improved greatly for the weather but there are still no Swallows around. I hope other areas/countries have done better. 

10th June 2016 – Ireland – Barn Swallow numbers are well below normal, first chicks hatched out on 5th June and one nest in the barn this year where we had four last year. 

Swallow

 

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Good Stuff Birding

After being delayed by early morning rain I drove across Stalmine Moss towards Pilling and really didn’t expect to see a Barn Owl, especially not at 0920. Things have quietened down on the Barn Owl front just lately. After many reports of daylight owls through January, February and March lesser numbers are now being reported on local blogs and web pages. Maybe the local voles have produced early season young from one of the several litters they have each year and after a lean winter provide much needed raptor food? 

The owl gave a good start to the morning’s birding but I was keen to get moving and see what else was about. 

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

Weeks have passed since I stopped at Wrampool and as expected the local Linnet flock has dispersed to leave just 10 individuals. Lapwings were displaying in the next field with singing Skylarks above and a Reed Bunting alongside the overgrown ditch. 

Linnet

Linnet

More Lapwings displayed at Braides Farm where a flock of about 800 Golden Plovers were very vocal as well as colourful, the majority in at least partial summer plumage. When I returned this way a couple of hours later the plovers were down to less than a hundred and I suspect than many had already set off to continue their journey north. 

At Conder Green Sand Martins were on the move with 20+ heading noticeably north plus a single Swallow stopping off to feed briefly over the pool. There appeared to be at least 6 pairs of Oystercatchers on scattered territories around the pool but apparently no Lapwings. A single Canada Goose, 4 Tufted Duck, 15 Teal, 30 Curlew,  2 Shelduck, 1 Wigeon, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Little Egret and 1 Grey Heron completed the pool count. 

More Teal were in the creeks together with 10 Redshank and singles of Snipe and Spotted Redshank, the latter now beginning to acquire a hint of its summer plumage. A Chiffchaff sang from the hedgerow and a Meadow Pipit from the marsh. 

Meadow Pipit

I’d promised to call and see farmer Chris and count his returning Sand Martins. A Buzzard soared over the quarry while on the ground two pairs of Oystercatchers displayed. A count of 50+ Sand Martins followed with some of them already visiting last year’s nest holes. Not all will stay as Sand Martins are drawn to visit known colonies during their migrations.

Chris had forewarned me that the soggy winter had taken its toll by producing a couple or more landslides down the quarry face. He was right. Many of last year’s nest tunnels had gone. The martins need to get busy with major excavations soon if they want to produce youngsters. 

Sand Martin

Chris is keen to have nest boxes for both Barn Owl and Kestrel as well to expand his Tree Sparrow colony. Looks like more work for Andy when he’s back from ringing in Gibraltar. 

Tree Sparrows were active at Fluke Hall with much chattering and heads poking from nest boxes. 

Tree Sparrow

There was a Chiffchaff in song and as I stopped to search I heard Siskins then saw three or more in the tree tops. I then watched a Great-spotted Woodpecker drumming out a beat on a dead branch. Fifteen Shelduck in the wet field with 6+ Blackbirds, 2 Pied Wagtails, 2 Stock Dove, following which my morning was done. Good stuff. 

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Linking today to Run-a-Round Ranch and World Bird Wednesday.