Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
220 © British Birds 101 • April 2008 • 220–223
As this graphic image shows,birders in Malta face a level ofthreat unrecognisable to mostbirders in mainland Europe. Threecars, including that of John Borgfrom Heritage Malta, weredestroyed in an arson attack as thewar of words over spring huntingin Malta literally reached a flash-point.
European Court action islooming over the Maltese Govern-ment’s continued flouting of theEU Birds Directive since accessionto the European Union in 2004.And spring hunting of CommonQuail Coturnix coturnix and TurtleDove Streptopelia turtur was a significant issue in the Maltesegeneral election.
Labour had pledged to putspring hunting on hold but it was
the incumbent Nationalist Partythat was returned to power with aone-seat majority. An announce-ment on whether or not the
Nationalist PM Lawrence Gonziwill permit spring hunting in 2008is imminent.
News and commentCompiled by Adrian Pitches
Opinions expressed in this feature are not necessarily those of British Birds
Spring hunting fight turns ugly in Malta
117. The scene bird ringers in Malta returned to in late February…
John
Bor
g
And birders’ car is attacked on North York Moors
Another incident of criminal damage to a birder’s car has been recordedmuch closer to home. It’s far less devastating than the Maltese attack – butunpleasant and troubling nonetheless. Teesmouth Bird Club chairman TedParker takes up the story:
‘At Sleddale on Sunday 10th February, several of our members wereparked in one car on the Commondale to Kildale road looking for raptors.Being a nice day, they left their car to walk up the road towards Common-dale and, on returning a short while later, found a man in a green LandRover interfering with their tyres. When the man saw them, he got into hisvehicle and sped off down the road towards Kildale. It transpired that hehad slashed all four tyres of the car.
‘Other birders who were present gave chase and the Land Rover turnedleft onto the Westerdale road, down to the ford at Hob Hole and up thesteep bank on the other side. Unfortunately, due to icy conditions, thebirders’ car couldn’t negotiate the bank and follow the man any further.The Land Rover was a hand-painted green, with an old-style number plateand a vertical exhaust pipe at the front near the bonnet.
‘I am assured that the birders’ car was parked well off the road and notcausing any problem, so it can only be assumed that this criminal act wasconducted against those who were known to be birders by someone who,for whatever reason, doesn’t like birdwatchers.
‘Incidents such as this against people who merely wish to enjoy thecountryside are totally unacceptable and one can only assume the motivesof the perpetrator and what other criminal acts he is carrying out in ourcountryside. It is to be hoped that the police will find and prosecute thiscriminal.’
Volume 100 of BBinow available
Subscribers to our centenary DVD-ROM British Birds interactive (BBi)will be pleased to learn that theelectronic version of Vol. 100 ofBritish Birds is now available todownload on the BirdGuideswebsite.
When BBi was released inAugust, it contained the entirearchive of British Birds from1907–2006. The 2007 volume isavailable FREE to everyone whopurchased the DVD-ROM. Justvisit www.birdguides.com/bbi/updates to download all 12 issuesfrom our centenary year. Note thatthe Vol. 100 update is approxi-mately 140 Mb; if you don’t have abroadband connection, this updatecan be supplied on disc for anominal cost, to cover duplication,postage and packing, of £10.00.Please contact [email protected] A review of BBi appeared inlast month’s BB (Brit. Birds 101:157–159).
North Yorkshiregamekeepers guiltyof cage trapping
Three gamekeepers working on theSnilesworth Estate, nearNorthallerton, have pleaded guiltyto a range of charges relating to theuse of cage traps containing livepigeons Columba livia to take birdsof prey. The case was heard at Scar-borough Magistrates Court on 8thFebruary. In May 2007, followingallegations of traps being set tocatch raptors, North YorkshirePolice, supported by the RSPB andRSPCA, visited the SnilesworthEstate, owned by Mr MarkOsborne, of Banbury, Oxfordshire.
James Benjamin Shuttlewood,of Hagg House, Snilesworth,Hawnby, is the head keeper of theSnilesworth Estate. A gamekeeperof 20 years’ experience, Shuttle-wood pleaded guilty to fiveoffences, relating to the setting ofillegal traps by his subordinates. Hewas fined £250 for each offence.Charles Lambert Woof, of SparrowHall, Scugdale, Swainby, pleadedguilty to one offence of misusing acage trap. He was fined £100. Eigh-teen-year-old David George Cook,of Ingleby House Farm, Ingleby,Arncliffe, pleaded guilty to twooffences of setting cage traps.Cook, who was 17 at the time theoffences were committed, wasgiven a conditional discharge for12 months.
Additionally, the three con-victed keepers have each beenasked to pay £43 costs. Com-menting on the verdict, Ian West,head of the RSPB’s investigationsteam, said: ‘The conviction ofanother three gamekeepers forattempting to kill birds of preyprovides further evidence of thelack of tolerance some estates havetowards these fantastic birds. Theestate is part of a network ofshooting estates managed byOsborne. Ian West added: ‘As amajor manager of shooting estates,Mr Osborne has a real opportunityto show leadership and signal anend to the Victorian tradition ofintolerance towards birds of prey.’
Winter sport capers scare off CapersExpansion of winter sports in the Highlands could have a major impact onthe vulnerable Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus population. A study of Germanbirds has found that the species is significantly affected by disturbance fromwinter sports tourism. The researchers say a craze for winter snowshoewalking is having a particular impact on the Capercaillie because walkers areable to reach parts of open woodland that off-piste skiers typically don’tvisit. In some areas, the birds have very few undisturbed refuges left.
The Capercaillie is common in Scandinavia and Russia, but clings tosurvival in Scotland. It became extinct in Scotland in the 1770s, but wasreintroduced to Perthshire in 1837.
Researchers studied populations of the giant grouse in the Black Forest,in southern Germany. The team attached radio transmitters to 13 birds sothat they could follow their movements. They also collected droppingsfrom the tracked birds and from more than 50 other individuals. The teamanalysed these for breakdown products of a stress hormone. They foundthat the birds avoid areas most heavily used by winter sports enthusiasts.Furthermore, droppings deposited closest to these areas had higher levelsof stress-hormone breakdown chemicals, indicating that they came fromthe most stressed birds. The team believes that this is an indication of prob-lems for the birds, which may lead to difficulties in breeding. Dr LukasJenni of the Swiss Ornithological Institute in Sempach, who led the study,recommends that tourism development be halted in regions inhabited bythe Capercaillie and more restrictions introduced to prevent tourists fromstraying away from marked trails.
An RSPB spokesman said that the results tied in with its studies atAbernethy in the Cairngorms, the UK’s largest remnant of the ancientCaledonian pine forest and posed ‘questions about how we promote recre-ation and access in sensitive forests where there are Capercaillie.’
More ‘Spoonies’ discoveredSome heartening news for fans of that charismatic wader, the Spoon-billedSandpiper Eurynorhynchus pygmeus: sightings of 84 ‘Spoonies’ at twocoastal wetland sites in Myanmar have cast new light on the winter distri-bution of this Endangered species, and confirmed that these wetlands areof international importance for their biodiversity.
The known global population of Spoon-billed Sandpiper has plungedalarmingly in the last few years to only 200–300 pairs. ‘The number ofbreeding pairs in Chukotka, Siberia, fell by 50% between 2006 and 2007,and no birds have been seen this year at their traditional wintering sites inBangladesh,’ says Evgeny Syroechkovskiy, Vice President of the Russian BirdConservation Union (BirdLife in Russia).
Analysis of satellite images, combined with the experience of previoussurveys in India, Bangladesh and Thailand, and with historical records ofthe species in Myanmar, suggested that potentially suitable habitats existedin the southwestern state of Arakan (Rakhine) in the Bay of Bengal, andMartaban (Mottama) Bay near the Thai border.
Thirty-five Spoon-billed Sandpipers were counted at one high-tideroost in Arakan, which had never been surveyed before, including onejuvenile ringed on the breeding grounds in Chukotka last summer. Theteam at Martaban found a total of 48 Spoon-billed Sandpipers, scatteredover the huge mudflats of the bay, but including a flock of 39 birds.
Norfolk County RecorderGiles Dunmore has stood down as County Recorder for Norfolk after 12 years.All future records should be sent to Dave and Jacquie Bridges, 27 Swann Grove,Hempstead Road, Holt, Norfolk NR25 6DP, e-mail [email protected]
News and comment
221British Birds 101 • April 2008 • 220–223
Beck’s is backAt the time of writing, DavidBeckham’s 100th appearance forEngland is still in the balance butanother Beck’s has reappeared inspectacular fashion. Beck’s PetrelPseudobulweria becki was knownonly from two records from the1920s. Now it’s been rediscoveredin the Pacific after a gap of 79years. Writing in the Bulletin of theBritish Ornithologists’ Club (Bull.BOC 128: 3–16), Hadoram Shirihaihas described how he trackeddown this enigmatic tubenose onan expedition around the islandsnortheast of Papua New Guinea inJuly and August 2007.
On his voyage around NewBritain and New Ireland, Hadorammanaged to photograph more than30 of these elusive seabirds. Someof the petrels were fledged juven-iles, suggesting recent breeding. Afreshly dead young bird salvaged atsea becomes only the third speci-men in existence.
‘This re-finding of Beck’s Petrelis exceptional news and congratu-lations to Hadoram Shirihai for hiseffort and energy in rediscoveringthis “lost” petrel,’ commented DrStuart Butchart, BirdLife’s GlobalSpecies Programme Co-ordinator.Hadoram first visited the area in2003, where he observed ‘possibleBeck’s Petrels’ – inspiring him toreturn four years later. Explainingthis decision, he commented: ‘Iwas eager to know about theseamazing petrels… and to under-stand better how we may conservethem.’
The petrel was first describedby Rollo Beck, an ornithologist andcollector of museum specimens,and was previously known fromjust two specimens he collected in1928 and 1929 during an exped-ition to the region. Hopes wereraised two years ago in Australiawith the sighting of a possibleBeck’s Petrel in the Coral Sea offQueensland, but this record wasnot accepted by the Birds AustraliaRarities Committee.
Confirming the existence ofBeck’s Petrel was difficult becauseit is similar to Tahiti Petrel
222 British Birds 101 • April 2008 • 220–223
News and comment
Stacks of money for Corn BuntingsThe continuing decline of Corn Buntings Emberiza calandra among a suiteof farmland birds is a sadly familiar story now. But there is a ray of sun-shine in the Outer Hebrides, where a simple change in crofting practice hasseen an upturn in fortunes for the ‘fat bird of the barley’.
The Corn Bunting was once common as far north as Shetland, but suf-fered a decline of 86% in the UK between 1967 and 2003. The Scottish
population of thisred-listed speciesnow comprisesjust 800 territorialmales, concen-trated mainly inthe eastern low-lands from Morayto Fife, and withisolated popula-tions in the OuterHebrides andInverness-shire.
All of thesepopulations arestill falling, exceptin the OuterHebrides, wherenumbers increasedby over 20%, from111 to 134 territo-rial males, between2006 and 2007,after many years of
gradual decline. This is thought to be a response to a scheme introduced in2004 (the ‘Uist and Barra Arable Stack Scheme’) which pays crofters tostack a part of their grain crop in the autumn. This provides a valuablewinter food source for Corn Buntings, which is otherwise lost when thecrop is stored in black plastic bales.
Jamie Boyle, RSPB Uist Warden, said: ‘The changes in harvesting tech-niques in the Uists unfortunately removed a major winter food source forCorn Buntings. Farmers now generally harvest crops early, before theycome to seed, and wrap them up in big plastic bags to store as silage overwinter. By offering payments to crofters, we seem to have been able to helpthe Corn Bunting at the same time as preserving a traditional form of agri-culture in the Uists.’
Godparents for GodwitsRare raptors are regular recipients of voluntary nestwatch schemes. But thisspring the RSPB in northwest England is seeking godparents for nestingwaders – Black-tailed Godwits Limosa limosa. Each year one or two pairs ofBlack-tailed Godwits nest on marshland on the Ribble estuary. Onlyaround 60 pairs breed in the whole of the UK, and those on the Ribble arethe only ones in northwest England.
Their rarity makes them a target for egg thieves, however, and if thebirds breed this year the RSPB and Fylde Bird Club will mount a 24-hourguard on the nest. The two organisations have launched an appeal forpeople to become ‘godwit guardians’, by volunteering to help with the nest-watch near Freckleton. For more information, contact Carol Coupe on01995 642251 or e-mail [email protected]
118. Corn Bunting Emberiza calandra.
Robi
n Ch
itten
den
ww
w.h
arle
quin
pict
ures
.com
P. rostrata (which Hadoram sawalongside Beck’s Petrel), and fewpeople have looked for it at sea;indeed, it may be nocturnal at thebreeding grounds. ‘There arenumerous atolls and islands whereit may breed,’ said Dr Butchart.‘However, the remaining popula-tion may be small.’
Like other tubenoses, Beck’sPetrel is potentially threatened byintroduced cats Felis silvestris catusand rats Rattus at its breeding sites,and by logging and forest clearancefor oil-palm plantations. Until thebreeding sites have been identified,the threats remain speculative butBirdLife has designated Beck’sPetrel as Critically Endangered.
CorrectionsThe authors of the paper ‘The use of stable-isotope ratios in ornithology’(Brit. Birds 101: 112–130) wish to point out that when the mass spectrom-eter vapourises the sample and propels the ions into the magnetic field, theforce deflects the ions to a degree that is dependent on the mass-to-chargeratio, so light ions (of course) get deflected more than heavier ones. Weregret an unfortunate mistake in the original, where it is stated in Box 1that ‘light hydrogen with be deflected less by the magnetic field than heavyhydrogen’.
The Atlas of the Birds of Delhi and Haryana, reviewed last month (Brit.Birds 101: 163–164), was incorrectly priced. It is available in the UK onlyfrom the Oriental Bird Club www.orientalbirdclub.org price £12.50,including p&p; £17.50 for airmail anywhere overseas.
Dorset County RecorderJames Lidster is standing down as County Recorder for Dorset. The newRecorder is Kevin Lane, 42 Twin Oaks Close, Broadstone, Dorset BH18 8JF,tel. 07901 614629, e-mail [email protected]
223© British Birds 101 • April 2008 • 223–226
News and comment
Compiled by Barry Nightingale and Eric Dempsey
Recent reports
This summary of unchecked reports coversearly February to early March 2008.
Red-breasted Goose Branta ruficollis Easton,16th–17th February; Skinburness Marsh (bothCumbria), 6th March; Caerlaverock (Dumfries& Galloway), 7th–9th March; West Wittering/Thorney Island (West Sussex)/Hayling Island(Hampshire), long-stayer to 6th March. BlackDuck Anas rubr ipes Ventry (Co. Kerry),21st–26th February; long-stayer at Blanketnook(Co. Donegal), 24th February. FerruginousDuck Aythya nyroca Craigavon Balancing Lakes(Co. Armagh), to 1st March. Lesser ScaupAythya affinis Lough Rea (Co. Galway, 11th–14thFebruary; Lough Ennell (Co. Westmeath), two,17th February to 1st March, one to 2nd;Thompson Water (Norfolk), 19th February;Stourton (Wiltshire), 20th February to 1stMarch; Clea Lakes (Co. Down), 23rd Februaryto 3rd March; Castle Loch 26th–27th February,presumably same Loch Magillie 3rd–4th Marchand Soulseat Loch 10th March (all Dumfries &Galloway); Torr Reservoir (Somerset), 2ndMarch. Long-stayers: Benbecula (OuterHebrides), to 29th February; Sutton Courtenay/Appleford Gravel-pits (Oxfordshire), to 16th
February; Yell, to 19th February, occasionallyvisiting Unst (both Shetland); Lough Arrow(Co. Sligo), to 2nd March; Draycote Water to4th March, presumed same Brandon Marsh(both Warwickshire), 5th March. King EiderSomateria spectabilis Northam Burrows area18th February to 9th March (first for Devon);Murcar (North-east Scotland), 24th February;Uisead Point (Argyll), 5th March; Mousa (Shet-land), long-stayer to 25th February. Barrow’sGoldeneye Bucephala islandica Quoile Pondage(Co. Down), long-stayer to 4th March.
White-billed Diver Gavia adamsii Lewis (OuterHebrides), long-stayer to 2nd March; BluemullSound (Shetland), long-stayer to 19th February;South Nesting Bay (Shetland), long-stayer to2nd March.
Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax Mere SandsWood (Lancashire & N Merseyside), 12th–15thFebruary and 9th–10th March.
Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis Most, if not all, of thefollowing involve long-stayers, with undoubt-edly some relocation taking place. CornwallDrift/Sancreed area, max. 20 in the period, 19 to
