a million voices for nature

The RSPB North Staffs Local Group

The Ouzel April 2012

‘Chiffchaff! Rather a sad song. Sunny day, some rain. Snow early morning at 5 0’ Clock’.

Richard Jefferies, Sussex, 26 April 1887

Please note that The Ouzel is now available as an attachment to the Group’s website. If you are happy to access it online, please consider whether you really need a paper copy as well, as your action could lead to a reduction in our printing costs.

Hello and welcome to the spring edition of the Ouzel.

A Century On

Going by the current references in all the national media, around about now is the right time for commemorating a number of key historical events, several of which have links to our birding world. Leaving aside the sinking of the Titanic in April 1912, with its connection to North Staffordshire, we all know that the members of the Antarctic party commanded by Robert Falcon Scott met their fate in March that same year. Probably less well known is the fact that an objective of the expedition was the investigation of the penguin colony at Cape Crozier on Ross Island. In Scott’s final letter, written shortly before his death, he also expressed the hope that his son, Peter, would develop an interest in nature as he grew up which may well have sown the seed for the founding of the Wetlands and Wildfowl Trust in 1946.

Even more forgotten about than any of that, though – unless you watched the excellent Birds Britannica series on the BBC - is the

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fact that it is now also a full century since Sir Julian Huxley carried out one of the world’s first detailed behavioural study of a bird species. In the process he helped to lay the foundations for the development of comparative behaviour study or ethology as it is more accurately known. (No, I didn’t either!) The species was, as many of you may be aware, the great crested grebe which played such a major role in the early development of the RSPB. Huxley’s study work around Tring reservoirs in Hertfordshire and the later research it helped to inspire have shown that it isn’t always necessary to go to the ends of the earth to make groundbreaking discoveries about the natural world.

Image – RSPB copyright

Drawing a Line

For some time now our Group has been endeavouring to reinforce the RSPB’s message about the need to Step Up for Nature, with particular emphasis on everyone pledging their support for the Society’s marine campaign. However, as some of the measures set out in the Government’s recent budget have once again demonstrated, a great deal more has to be done if the green and pleasant land we enjoy isn’t going to be sacrificed for short term economic or political gains.

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Without going into a vast amount of detail, it is practically impossible not to be concerned about the granting of tax breaks for those companies undertaking oil and gas exploration around the Shetland Islands given the island’s importance for wildlife and the apparent overriding of any green agenda. Whilst the marine campaign itself may be drawing to a close – although there is still time for you and everyone else you know to make your pledges by completing and returning the forms available from the Group if you haven’t already done so – there are other ways in which you can help to make a difference. These include volunteering to help on RSPB reserves and making your voice heard in relation to wildlife and environmental issues but please go to www.rspb.org.uk for more information.

Incidentally, if you have already Stepped Up for Nature in any way please let me know about your experiences.

The hills are alive

Following all the news about the RSPB’s introduction of bird identification apps for smart phones just before Christmas last year, it appears that it is now the turn for MP3 players to play their part in birding circles. Apparently scientists will be using the players over the coming months to broadcast the song of the ring ouzel as part of a nationwide survey aimed at establishing the whereabouts of this fast declining and currently red-listed bird. During the last survey in 1999, the scientists involved had no choice but to rely on bulky cassette recorders and speakers when carrying out their research in the upland stretches of the UK.

The Elusive Crested Tit

In this highly technological age, with pagers, high quality optical equipment and on-line websites exclusively devoted to our hobby, many of the problems that arose in the pioneering days of birdwatching have largely been eradicated. There can be no

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argument, however, that luck has always played and will always continue to play a significant part in things when you are trying to track down some of our less common birds. That is despite everything it says in the literature or small print, as Roger Birch kindly relates:

Back in April 2009 my wife and I took a three day break at the Grant Arms Hotel in Grantown-on-Spey, headquarters of the Birdwatching and Wildlife Club. The glossy brochure promised osprey, capercaillie, black grouse, divers galore and crested tit. Before breakfast on the first day, a visit to the RSPB Loch Garten reserve allowed me to knock off the first three in the first hour. Brilliant I thought, back to the hotel for porridge and a fry up, then off to the section of Abernethy Forest advised by the warden to be the best bet for crossbills and crested tits. Three hours later I had seen a lot of conifers and innumerable chaffinches, but had not heard a tweet from or caught a glimpse of a single crossbill or crested tit.

Next day, RSPB Loch Ruthven yielded slavonian grebes while Lochindorb gave perfect views of black-throated diver, but even after an evening visit to Anagach Wood (just behind Grantown-on-Spey), I was still crested tit-less.

So, the final morning before heading south for RSPB Vane Farm, desperate consultations with the helpful Birdwatching and Wildlife Club staff suggested that Anagach Wood was still my best bet. Frantic pishing brought a tree pipit down from the canopy, but still no crested tit. Then on the banks of the Spey, looking up into the tree tops, what was that small tit that had just landed? As I found it and started to focus my binoculars, away it flew!!…..

So, now for the hard part, persuading my wife that she would like another Spring break in sunny Grantown-on-Spey!

Editor’s Note: At present Roger still has to catch a sighting of his elusive crested tit. Geoff Sales has apparently recently

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enjoyed a holiday in the same area as Roger but in the interests of peace and harmony we will draw a veil over the extent to which he managed to see any crested tits during his visit.

The Dangers of Twitching

Although there are bound to be times when you fail to see something you are looking for when out birdwatching bird trips in themselves are very rarely dangerous. They can, however, still have their moments as Sandy McLauchlan unselfishly admits:

The Twitch

“I don’t know what came over me”,

Said the birdwatcher to the judge,

“He put his scope in front of me

And I just had to give a nudge.

One tripod hit another one

Smashing the police car bonnet,

So when the laughing gull flew in

Not a single lens was on it.

The gull soared off, the crowd went wild –

The policeman needed stitches.

That’s why I promise the jury

Not to go on future twitches”.

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Once Seen

Of course, on the subject of luck you don’t have to go too far to experience difficulties in finding what you are looking for and travelling that little bit further may actually increase your problems as Rob Gilbert kindly recalls:

My jinx or bogey bird used to be the lesser spotted woodpecker, which I spent a lot of time looking for across the UK, despite having set myself the goal of seeing one in Staffordshire. I spent hours and sometimes days searching for that elusive sighting in the local areas where the bird was known to be including Cannock Chase and Coombes / Consall Valley. Further afield, visits to Potteric Carr (South Yorkshire), Blean Woods, Hamstreet Wood (Kent) and Clumber Park (Nottinghamshire) all provided the same basic result. No lesser spotted woodpecker!

In 2011, I began the process all over again at Trentham Gardens after hearing a report that one had been seen there. On my fourth visit to the gardens during February/March - this being the best time of year to see the bird - I saw my first male calling from the top of a tree. For ten minutes on 8th March I had good views of it until it eventually flew away into the gardens. It had taken me four years to get my tick but at last I had it and, just as importantly, the sighting was in Staffordshire.

This year, on New Year’s Day, whilst out walking, I caught sight of my second lesser spotted woodpecker when I saw a female climbing a tree just above the brook in Lyme Valley. Perhaps they’re not that dissimilar to buses where once you see one you will always see another one not long afterwards.

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What the Winds Blew in (Wading birds on the Isles of Scilly, 24 September to 15 October 2011)

The last item from Rob was a reminder that bad luck can often change for the better if you stick at something long enough. Sometimes, however, an upturn in fortune can just be a case of being in the right place at the right time as John and Ruth Sutton discovered when they went to the Isles of Scilly Islands in September /October last year. A series of major storms had left a trail of damage and destruction across the eastern USA but on this side of the Atlantic that weather was producing a number of rare bird sightings as John kindly recalls:

The gales in the United States during September resulted in an influx of American waders to the Islands. The first ones we ticked off were buff breasted sandpipers on St. Mary’s airfield followed by three pectoral sandpipers on Lower Moors. A solitary sandpiper in the same vicinity came not long afterwards. The following day, the Sunday, a lesser yellowlegs was found making the most of a puddle in the road until it was disturbed by a passing car. Next up on our list was an American golden plover on 30 September along with a small group of European golden plover. A least sandpiper originally identified as a little stint was on Tresco on 4 October and on 6 October, after a lengthy discussion, we finally identified a Wilson’s snipe. The last American wader seen during our visit was an upland sandpiper on 8 October. The final tally as regards waders was 22, including a lapwing, an uncommon visitor to the islands.

Other birds seen during our visit included northern water thrush (a first for me), ortolan bunting, crossbill, red-backed shrike, black kite, little bunting, short-toed lark, honey buzzard, bluethroat and subalpine warbler, providing a final total of 102 birds in three weeks. Although that’s not the highest number of bird sightings for a trip the visit has definitely got to go down as one of our best.

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Hooked

Of course, some people just have rare bird sightings without even trying, although the experience can be life-changing. Pete and Joan Hudson have kindly provided us with the following article outlining how they first became involved with birds and the RSPB a few decades ago or, in other words, how they got hooked like the rest of us:

So we were out walking one Sunday as usual, you know - lunch out in the country meaning a sandwich sitting on a log somewhere, usually in the rain and enjoying the remoteness from our weekly life.

We had chosen to walk in the Chiltern woods not far from where we lived at the time. Well - manicured hedges, new fencing, stiles with sliding top bars for those wearing Barbours and with a special small gate for the dog – you know the place, just right for a Sunday walk after a big lunch. We climbed into

a wood and noticed some strange people lying in the edges of the tree line, calling us over with fingers to their lips. We crept forward and peered into fields outside, looking down a steep bank into the valley below. Suddenly before us was this enormous bird riding the air currents with its magnificent grey head and red plumage - below us over the valley one minute and above us, searching the ground, the next.

Brought here from Spain you know, they whispered, not very well known yet. We had seen our first red kite and we were hooked. Our eyes had been opened to the wildlife around us and our Sunday walks were always accompanied with binoculars after

Photo – Ian Worden

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that - small pocket types soon superseded with birthday and Christmas presents bought at the RSPB headquarters at Sandy.

So you could say our RSPB membership started with that first glimpse of a red kite – and you’d be right!

Editor’s Note

As Pete and Joan seem determined not to do any name dropping, it’s down to us to record that the above walk took place on Wormsley Estate near Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire, a rural retreat of a certain Mr. J.P. Getty. According to Pete, the red kites were first released there by the RSPB and the Nature Conservancy Council, as part of the reintroduction programme, in 1989. As most of you are probably much too young to remember that far back, I should point out that this was long before the kites started reclaiming the rest of the country and dropping in for coffee at Oxford Services on the M40, etc.

An Average Birder’s Memories

Under pressure, when finalising February’s edition of the Ouzel, I think I may have inadvertently said something about having had problems with kingfishers and red kites in the past. Although that was obviously an aberration on my part and I’m definitely not going to go into any too many details two particular memories do stick out.

Camping by the side of a South Shropshire stream many years ago, after an eternity of being in all the wrong places to tick the species, a kingfisher flew downstream immediately in front of me whilst a companion was inside the tent unpacking. This doesn’t sound all that unusual in itself but it came at a low point in my birdwatching life when those of my friends who knew anything about my inability to get on closer acquaintance with Alcedo atthis had very kindly begun sending me Christmas and birthday cards with the same blue and orange plumage on the front.

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Having poured scorn on my description of the event on finally emerging from the tent the said companion was then back under the canvas a few minutes later when the same bird decided to fly back upstream. I am still almost 100% sure it looked directly at me as it went past as though daring me to add any embellishments to my story.

The red kite experience was even stranger though, and still makes me think there are some things going on in nature no one has quite got to grips with. Arriving at an RSPB reserve in south Wales, even further back in the mists of time, I was sufficiently nicely positioned to hear a family of four bemoaning their lack of bird sightings before climbing into their estate car. As they drove away, burning rubber in the process, what had appeared to be an infinitesimally small speck of dust in the sky over the far edge of the car park slowly grew larger and actually started to hover in all its reddish-grey, fork-tailed brilliance over the place where their car had been just a minute earlier. You really had to feel for the family!

The clarity of those recollections keeps on reminding me that there has to be a wealth of birding experience, knowledge and humour within the RSPB North Staffs Group and I’d love it if you could share your memories with the rest of us. You can get contributions to me via the website, my email address - pandacartwright@madasafish.com, or pass them on in person given that I can usually be found hovering somewhere at the Group’s indoor meetings.

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Bird Trips

As you may be aware, as a result of either Ian Worden’s announcement at the March indoor meeting or reference to the Group’s website, the Group has unfortunately had to cancel its boat trip on the Boston Belle this summer. That decision was more or less a fait accompli after we had learnt about the number of pre-existing bookings for the boat and its sailing times for this summer, none of which fitted in too well with our journey times from North Staffordshire. Ian is, however, determined to arrange a trip for next summer, early in the New Year and will no doubt be providing more information in the not too distant future.

In the meantime, however, there are plenty of bird trips planned for the next few months with coach trips to Whisby Nature Park on Sunday, 22 April, Walney Island on 20 May and, a regular favourite, Rutland Water on 10 June. Sandwiched in with these are three more local ‘Bins and Boots’ walks and a car sharing trip to Croxall Lakes, Whitemoor Haye and the National Arboretum on 2 May. We have had good, if not spectacular, tallies of birds on our recent trips but let’s see if we can beat them.

A Change for the Better?

It was hard to resist this story when it appeared in the national press not all that long ago. Although some academics are still waiting to be convinced, it appears that the Mayor of Lancaster in California is convinced that the playing of English bird song from seventy speakers along a half-mile of highway has led to a 15% cut in local crime rates. Although the debate has probably got some way to go the Mayor does have a lot of local support for his view that ‘chirping discourages criminality’ although no doubt all of us could have told him about the life-enhancing benefits of engaging with nature.

a million voices for nature

The RSPB speaks out for birds and wildlife tackling the problems that threaten our environment. Nature is amazing - help us keep it that way.

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Final Word

My many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this edition of The Ouzel and an apology to those of you who have submitted material that still has to appear. I’ve already given you my email address so the only thing left to do is say that we really do want to make the contents of The Ouzel more local to the RSPB North Staffs Group but we need your help for that. If you can, please get writing today. Enjoy your birding

Alan Cartwright