Next trips: Something old, something new

Inspire

RSPB Oxford Local Group Newsletter Volume 11, Issue 3

September 2017

W elcome back to another season

– a very special one for the

group as it takes in our 40th

anniversary. I am sure that

some readers will have been coming along for much of

that time and I feel that we still offer a great programme

of talks and trips. We must be getting something right as

you keep coming back!

It would be good to hear from you – whether it’s your

early recollections of the group or other birding

experiences – between us we have so many memories

to share.

Our calendar, a first for us, is part of our celebrations.

See page four for the results of our photographic

competition – it shows that we have some excellent

photographers in the group. It is a great set of pictures

and I hope that you will all like it.

Please also see the tribute to Keith Neale on page two

who will be sadly missed. Thanks to those of you who

were able to attend Keith’s funeral in May, your

attendance was much appreciated.

In the last edition I mentioned my nest box. If anyone

would like to know what happened next, please read on.

Our box with eight blue tit chicks sadly failed at about a

week to 10 days old; they all died the first time the female

left them alone overnight. We were devastated, as we

had been watching them all develop. It shows that

everything you see on camera is not pleasant to witness

– you get far too attached. The good news though was

that very quickly two great tits moved in and reared four

babies from their eight eggs. We ended up with four

young great tits, and we were able to watch them fledge!

Best wishes

Roy (RSPB Oxford Local Group Leader)

RSPB Middleton Lakes (17 September, 8.00) is

nestled in the Tame valley, just south of Tamworth.

Lakes, reedbeds, meadows and woodlands make it

one of the best birdwatching sites in the area. It’s a

first group visit to this 10-year-old reserve so it will be

interesting to see how it is developing.

In autumn, resident species include

herons and kingfishers. Winter

wildfowl return to the lakes and

migrant waders drop in to rest and

feed, before continuing to wintering

grounds. Young woodpeckers

frequent the woodland and small

birds begin to form large flocks

moving through the alders by the canal. (Toilets,

drinks and snacks are available at Middleton Hall

Courtyard about 250 m from reserve car park.)

Sandpipers were already stopping over at RSPB

Pulborough Brooks (15 October, 7.00) in August but

hopefully there will still be enough passage migrants

around to add to the winter wildfowl on the water.

Redwings and fieldfares should be heading in for the

winter, too. (The visitor centre here has a café and

toilets.)

Our last coach trip of 2017 takes us to Rutland Water

Nature Reserve (19 November,

7.45). As the weather becomes

less reliable, it’s good to head off to

this old favourite location. At this

time of year the nature reserve is a

haven for thousands of wintering

ducks. As well as the surface

feeders that we see in good

numbers locally, diving ducks such as goldeneye,

smew and goosander frequent the deeper waters.

With several hides and a visitor centre, it’s easy to

dodge anything unpleasant that November has in

store weather-wise.

The RSPB is a registered charity in England & Wales 207076, in Scotland SC037654

Green sandpiper - Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)

A tribute to Keith Neale by Roy Jackson

Keith joined the RSPB Oxford Local Group long before

I did; certainly before 2003 when there are records of

Keith and Angela venturing out on at least one of the

monthly “Sunday Birding Excursions.” I first met Keith

somewhere around 2006 when I joined

the group.

During the early autumn to late spring

period each year we would hold birding

trips to a wide variety of sites, often on

the coast or some marshy area, usually

two or three hours drive away and

generally by coach.

This always gave a good opportunity to

chat on the outward journey, sharing

stories of life and birding in the past. It

soon became obvious that Keith’s bird

knowledge was extensive and very

different from mine. Return journeys

were often much quieter in the coach

(we were usually shattered) but did give

chance to compare notes on what we

had seen. It soon became very obvious

that, going round in a small group, we could all learn

from each other and we “shorties” could benefit from

Keith’s extra altitude.

I remember with great affection the many trips I shared

with Keith both in this country and abroad; he was

always quietly confident in his identifications and was

exceptionally good at identifying birds from their songs

and calls.

He joined the local group committee in

2011 as Membership Secretary and

when I joined as Treasurer about three

years later we always got on so well

together, Keith receiving membership

subscriptions and me the visitor

payments at the door as folk came in.

He was a volunteer warden at the RSPB

reserve at Otmoor for a number of years

although he found it more and more

difficult to get there latterly owing to his

worsening health.

I have missed him greatly, as have many

of our group. He was always such a

gentle man, kind and a pleasure to be

with. My wife, Anne, and I saw him last at

his home in Brackley just before Easter and even then

he, with Angela were good company.

The local birding world will miss him greatly, as do I.

Keith

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Compared with other parts of the world, there aren’t

that many vividly coloured birds on the British bird list.

Its striking plumage may be one of the reasons that

people are always so pleased to see a kingfisher.

Another factor may be that it’s such an intense blue

and blue is one of people’s favourite colours. It may

surprise you, then, to find out that there is no blue

pigment in a kingfisher’s feathers (in fact most

vertebrates can’t produce blue pigment).

The breast feathers really are orange

– they contain tiny pigment granules

in their barbs which we perceive as

orange. But the wing and back

feathers don’t contain pigment;

they contain minute spongy

structures which reflect light.

These intricate, microscopic

structures in the barbs of the cyan

and blue feathers vary in thickness

and reflect the light differently,

producing the subtle variation in blue

colour which we find so attractive.

The layers of material are not quite perfectly aligned,

hence the relatively small span of colours, known as

semi-iridescence. (Perfect alignment gives rise to true

iridescence: a much wider range of colours with a

shimmering effect such as those you see in a pigeon’s

throat feathers.)

Male and female kingfishers have similar

plumage. One obvious difference

between them is the beak – the female

has a red lower mandible whereas in

the male, both mandibles are black

(as in this picture).

Due to the lack of food during

harsh winters, kingfishers can

suffer severe mortality and

population crashes. However,

they can recover quickly as they

have up to three broods per

season and up to six chicks per

brood.

Focus on Kingfishers

Swifts in the city As in many old cities, swifts have been a presence in

Oxford for centuries. To swifts, its ancient stonework, with

its many crevices and ledges, must have looked much

like the crags or hollow trees that they favour in wilder

habitats.

Swifts feed almost exclusively on the aerial plankton of

flying insects and airborne spiders. They are opportunistic

feeders, and exploit swarms and hatchlings wherever

possible. Use of pesticides and loss of insect habitat has

had an adverse effect on availability of swifts’ prey over

time. Fluctuations in weather also have a big impact on

insect numbers and therefore the success of the swifts’

breeding season, year-to-year.

One Oxford building has provided a home to hundreds of

swifts for many decades. Swifts have been nesting in

ventilation flues in the tower of the Oxford University

Museum of Natural History (OUMNH) for many years and

the colony has been studied since May 1948.

As the chart shows, after several years when the tower

swifts fledged around 100 young annually, in 2012 their

numbers plummeted to a disastrous 14 young. Since

then, the numbers have climbed again, and this year

around 60 young have been raised, at about two young

per nest. There were still three birds in a nest, close to

fledging, at the end of August and three more not

expected to fledge until September.

We are also hoping to find more about how swifts fared

throughout the city. This summer, the RSPB and a

team of dedicated volunteers have been undertaking a

survey of swifts across the whole city, with the aim of

identifying nest sites so that they can be protected and

improved. The results should be available soon – we

will share them with you on our website when we know

them ourselves.

Over the years we have had insights into

what got local group members interested

in watching wildlife or stand-out moments.

Here are a few short extracts:

Charles Merry – remembering his childhood in Stanton

St John in the 1930s and 40s: Among summer visitors

turtle doves were common and cuckoos called

continuously from the trees

around Stanton House – twice

I found cuckoos’ eggs in

hedge sparrows’ nests.

Grasshopper warblers could

be heard, but rarely seen, in

the tussocks of rough grass.

Occasionally we would hear

corn crakes, mainly at the

south end of the village.

Nightingales were plentiful

and, if you walked the length

of Holly Wood on an early

summer’s evening, you could expect to hear three or

four in full song.

Chris Bignal – reminiscing about birding in Reading: I

grew up in Reading and cycled daily to school past

Whiteknights Lake, where in early 1950 a black-

throated diver stayed for two months. Robert Gillmor

used this bird for his cover design for the Reading

Ornithological Club (ROC) 1950 report. Robert is a

highly talented artist and printmaker; he has illustrated

more than a hundred books, and designed covers for

the RSPB magazine, “Birds”. I joined the ROC as a

Junior Member in 1951, and I still have all the reports

for the next 20 years.

Jean Trotman – sharing

recollections of the early days

of the local group: Not long

after our move from London

to Aston Rowant in 1970, I

read in an “Oxford Times”

article by naturalist, Bruce

Campbell, that the RSPB was

starting a group for members

in Oxford, which I thought

sounded interesting. Meetings

were good and trips out were

better; best of all were

occasional weekend excursions. I particularly

remember one to the Isles of Scilly because I had two

“lifers” a firecrest and a scarlet rose finch!

As we approach our 40th year we would love to have

more members’ memories of what started their interest

in wildlife or significant encounters with nature.

Memory

Lane re-

visited

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Swifts fledged from OUMNH

Turtle dove © Lyn Ebbs

RSPB Oxford

Local Group

Committee

Group Leader

Roy Grant

Treasurer

Roy Jackson

Secretary

Anne Clark

Other committee

members and

volunteers

Petula Banyard

Reg Cox

Lyn Ebbs

Paddy Gallagher

Charles Merry

Cecelia Merry

Linda Neal

David Rolfe

Alan Sherman

Please visit our

Group Website

www.rspb.org.uk/

groups/oxford/

You can also find

us on Facebook

www.facebook.com/

oxfordrspb

If you have comments

about Inspire or would

like to contribute,

please contact the

Editor, Lyn Ebbs Email:

lynebbs@btinternet.com

Front page pictures:

Blenheim birches © Lyn Ebbs

Seedhead © Linda Neal

OUMNH © Lyn Ebbs

Kingfisher (p2) © Lyn Ebbs

The RSPB is the country’s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home.

www.rspb.org.uk

Fox on ice, Otmoor - Richard Ebbs Kestrel, Covehithe - Lyn Ebbs Robin, Oxford - Reg Cox

Frost flowers, Stanton St John - Lyn Ebbs Ladybirds, Wytham Woods - Lyn Ebbs Shag, Farne Islands - Paddy Gallagher

Dragonfly, Spain - Paddy Gallagher Grasshopper warbler, Otmoor - Richard Ebbs Red kite, Pyrton - Di Stone

House martins, Stanton St John - Lyn Ebbs Grey seal, Farne Islands - Paddy Gallagher Waxwing, Oxford - Reg Cox

Puffin, Farne Islands - Paddy Gallagher

Calendar competition - results

Many thanks to everyone

who took part in the

competition to choose

photographs for a

calendar to mark 40

years of Oxford Local

Group.

We received a great

selection of pictures and,

wisely, decided to

delegate the task of

choosing the winning

12 entries to two

independent judges:

Colin Wilkinson of

Midlands RSPB and

Peter Barker, Otmoor

Volunteer. Both are

you look through the

winning photos above,

you will find one trip,

three holidays and five

local sites represented.

The judges finally chose

13 images, giving us a

separate front cover, and

saving themselves the

problem of which picture

to drop if they chose the

puffin! Nature as a whole

was well-represented:

two each of insects,

mammals, birds of prey

and seabirds, four

songbirds and one plant.

talented photographers

and artists so we knew

we could rely on their

choice.

As well as good pictures,

we wanted the calendar

to showcase our group’s

activities so the rules

stipulated that entries

had to have been taken

in Oxfordshire or on one

of our trips or holidays. If