newsletterRSPB Wokingham and Bracknell Local Group Spring

February 2019

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a registered charity: England and Wales No: 207076, Scotland No: SC037654

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

PART 2: On the continuing conflict concerning grouse driven moors

It’s not a place I would normally wish to go to, but my father had been in the Malta convoys with the Royal Navy in WW2 and was also stationed there in 1959-61, and my brother and I spent a summer holiday there in 1960(!), so I was keen to see how Malta had changed and to learn more about its history first hand. This was not a birdwatching holiday, but I had done some research and had noticed that the Ghadira Bird Reserve, one of only three in Malta, was only a couple of kilometres from our hotel in Mellieha, at the north-western end of the island. So we decided to walk down there and have a look.When we got there, we were met with large metal gates locked with a heavy chain and padlock. Luckily, we could see a couple of people inside and shouted to them, and they let us in. One of them turned out to be Ray Vella, one of the leading lights of Birdlife Malta. Over the next hour he very kindly showed us around the reserve and several hides and told us about it. It has a shallow lake fed by a stream, with small islands, which was designed by Bert Axell of Minsmere fame, and is surrounded by tamarisk bushes, within a heavy-duty fence. While we were there, we saw a spoonbill, grey heron, water rail, kingfisher, moorhen, stonechat, black-necked grebe, chiffchaff, zitting cisticola and two house martins amongst others. Malta is notorious for indiscriminate shooting and trapping of birds, and Ray told us how a hunter had broken into the reserve in December 2018 and shot a

flamingo. Indeed, a search of the internet revealed that Ray himself had been shot twice some years back. In the last couple of years the BBC presenter Chris Packham has been in the news for demonstrating in Malta against shooting and trapping of birds which still goes on despite significant restrictions. All this is tragic, as Malta has such potential for birdwatching, especially as a migration hotspot. They get good numbers of a very wide range of birds such as honey buzzard, bee-eater, hoopoe, glossy ibis, and ferruginous duck.However, things are changing. In 2015 there was a referendum about spring hunting for quail and turtle dove, and was won by the hunting lobby by the narrowest of margins, 50.4% to 49.56%. The hunting season started on 14th April, but the prime minister shut it down on 27th April when a kestrel was illegally shot, which does show determination by the government to enforce the letter of the law. When I asked whether birdwatchers should go to Malta or stay away in protest, Ray Vella emphatically said go, and show support for Birdlife Malta and the potential for wildlife tourism.

2018 UK photographic competition winnerMy wife Jenny & I had arranged to meet a couple of friends at the Pelican Inn in Serrington, Wiltshire, prior to a bird watching walk around the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust lakes at Steeple Langford. We were waiting in the pub garden which is adjacent to the River Wylye and saw this water vole feeding on the surface of the vegetation.The photo was taken with the Olympus OMD EM1 Mk 1 camera using a 300mm lens.Mike Hillman

C H A I R M A N ’ S R E P O R T O N S H O O T I N G & T R A P P I N G I N M A L T A

Mike’s winning image of the water vole

How lucky are we to live in the UK, where the RSPB has over 170 reserves and over one million members, and where we really value our birds. So even in the dull days of winter, do make the best of it and get out and enjoy our birds as often as possible!

Birdwatching in Malta?A few months ago, an email appeared offering a bargain price for a week’s holiday in Malta, providing my wife and I left on New Year’s Day! So hoping for some sun and blue sky, though not expecting it to be very warm, we signed up and set off on 1st January, writes Patrick Crowley.

Group’s own WhatsAppsThe group is going to create it’s own exclusive WhatsApp group for members so you’ll instantly know the whereabouts of any bird that has appeared in Berkshire and seen by a group member. You can also share images, and provide up-to-date site information, car sharing request etc.In addition to basic messaging WhatsApp users can send each other unlimited images, video and audio media messages.

Further information on how to join the group’s WhatsApp

will be sent to every member via email.

Mr R and I both started our birding away from home. I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I only joined the Aberdeen University Bird Club as a cheap way of getting to see more of Scotland, albeit in the company of some thoroughly nice people. Their passion and enthusiasm rubbed off on me though, and so I started on my birding journey. Mr R was half-heartedly dragged along to a dawn chorus walk at Dinton a few years ago. There he watched a nightingale singing its heart out, and that was it, he was hooked. Both of us were captured by the quiet joy of the people we were with. It happened approximately 15 years and 500+ miles apart, but the feeling was the same. We were now going to be birders for life! So, having caught the birding bug, watching our feathered friends from the windows at home becomes the next obvious step. It’s a great way to practise identification skills, especially looking for key field marks and behaviours, but it’s also an absolute delight to just spend hours watching their interactions and the social hierarchies over the feeders: quite literally, observing the pecking order! Undeniably, birding from home brings pleasure to so many people, especially those who are, for one reason or another, unable to get out. I’ve known many people with extreme mobility problems and could tell you many stories, but this is the best:A lady I once knew lived on the third floor of a housing block in Spencer’s Wood. Her carers put her into her armchair in the morning, and she was there all day – apart from when they came to take her to the bathroom at lunchtime, or put her back to bed at night. Her window was too high to see anybody passing by, or anything at all apart from the top of the trees. The carers would put the TV on for her, leave a flask of hot water and a couple of tea bags and that was all – until somebody got her a bird feeder that could stick to the window! She now has a bird guide beside her chair and the carers clean and top up the feeder every morning. I remember sitting with her one afternoon and we counted 16 visits from blue tits, several great tits and, so exciting, a nuthatch! Her days are now much more interesting; she looks forward to a different view every day! Mr R and I are lucky enough to be able to get out and about, birding across Britain, but, it has to be said, our greatest joy is birding from home. By spending time looking out of the windows, we are learning so much more about behaviours; seeing the little characteristics that help with identification. The nuthatch flies in like a streamlined dart, straight in and straight out. The goldfinches sit for ages, quite happy together on the nyjer feeders. When something spooks the other birds, causing them to fly off rapidly in all directions, the goldfinches continue to sit, sometimes looking about, nonchalantly carrying on with the business of food. We’ve been able to see, at close quarters, the difference between a juvenile, a male and a female great spotted woodpecker. We also think we have male and female nuthatches: one has a much deeper orangey-peach colour to its sides and

Mrs R’s A to Z of Birding in Britain

‘H’ is for homeFor many of us, it’s probably true to say that birdwatching first started at home. Maybe you were inspired by somebody in the family, perhaps given a bird guide and borrowed a pair of binoculars, or just noticed the different birds in the garden and wondered what they were, writes Rebecca Reynolds.

underparts, the other having a more delicate peach flush. We’re not entirely sure if they are male and female, but they do often appear fairly close to one another. They rarely squabble, but the darker-coloured bird definitely has priority at the nuts and seeds. It’s fascinating to watch. Pure joy! Equally entertaining is watching the starlings, house sparrows and collared doves splash about in the birdbath. We had nine house sparrows sharing a bath one morning! What a noise, what a mess, but what an absolutely delightful few minutes! We have feeders outside the kitchen window and also at the back, outside the lounge windows. Whatever the weather, however tired we are, or grumpy, or bored, we only need to look out of the windows and ‘our’ birds are there. Which is why I think that for every birder, whether you live in a flat or a house, or any other kind of abode, ‘H’ should be for ‘Home’. Centre gives positive choices.

Juvenile house sparrow being fed by the female.

Centre to give positive choicesOur local group has the opportunity to help a local charity, JAC (Just Around the Corner) to increase the opportunities for many forms of wildlife. JAC works with a lot of young (disadvantaged and vulnerable) people at a centre in Wokingham. The centre uses horses and small animals to work with the young people to help them make positive choices in life, (jacoutreach.org). The centre has been open for about 6 years. At the moment

‘unfriendly’ railed fences bound the grazing and exercise fields. JAC has applied for, with our encouragement, trees and bush saplings from the Woodland Trust. The Trust has given over 400 trees/bushes. Our group now has the opportunity to help JAC (and our local wildlife) to plant out these plants to create wildlife-friendly feeding corridors along the lines of the current fences. The plants we have the opportunity to ‘dig-in’ are dog rose, maple, hawthorn, elder, blackthorn, goat willow and holly.Six members of the W & B RSPB group gathered on Saturday 19th January to plant a range of sapling trees/bushes.

Adrian Roberts Bare root plants ready for planting.

No stamps pleaseRSPB are continuing to raise funds to save the albatross – but as you may have read in the press they have been informed by the Charity Commission that along with all other charities, RSPB cannot collect used postage stamps any more. But If you have any first day covers, stamp albums, coins and medals they will continue to collect these. They can be taken to any RSPB office or RSPB reserve with a visitor centre. If you can’t get to a reserve bring them to an indoor meeting and we will take them for you next time we go.Lynn Mann

Facebook advert appeals to womenThe group’s recent Facebook Dinton Pasture advertisement has been very successful. Over 1000 people saw the advert, 45 have clicked the “interested” button, and three have clicked the “going” button. The Facebook demographic information analysis showed that the advertisement reached an estimated 86% female audience, 46% from Reading 8% or 9% each from Wokingham and Bracknell. Biggest age group was 35-44 age group (36%). www.facebook.com/WokinghamandBracknellLocalGroupLynn Mann

Credit: Alastair Wilson (rspb-images.com)

Wandering albatross Diomedea exulans, displaying, South Georgia, South Atlantic, December.

Christmas social 2018 and the inaugural calendarFor our UK Wildlife Photographic Competition at the Christmas Social in December the event had an unprecedented 42 photographic entries, and many thanks to all those who participated in providing images for selection. The overall standard of the competition was extremely high and the winning percentage of choices between entries was very small, but in 3rd place was Ken White with a flying peregrine taken in Scotland, runner-up was Steve Day with gannets taken at RSPB Bempton Cliffs, the winner of the competition was Mike Hillman with his image of the water vole.

Alan Moore will contact all photographers in due course with the request to submit their images for consideration for inclusion into our 2020 calendar. I will then design and put together the calendar, ready for printing for the beginning of November. More details on this will be in the next Summer Newsletter issue.It will be a very difficult decision to finalise what images to use, I thought this as I made my own judgment choice at the Christmas Social competition. I’ve seen other RSPB calendars produced by other groups, I feel by far we have images that are superior to any I’ve seen before, and we all should be proud of what will be produced.The competition occupied a small part of the overall evening at the Christmas Social, the whole social event was a resounding success, with quizzes, finger snacks and interaction with other members.

Winter wanderer at Wilstone A birdwatching visit to Tring Reservoirs, Hertfordshire, on a raw January day, where fingers and noses are instantly numbed, and the puddles stay iced over all day – not best then, to have left your warm coat at home. But worth toughing it out though, as a good days’ birding was had, with the hide at Wilstone offering some respite from the cold. There, we were distracted from scanning a stony causeway where snipe had been seen, by a movement on the foreshore to the left. A peregrine, by way of a shifty, splay footed shuffle was inching towards the hide, and the corpse of a moorhen, lying just feet away. The raptor then plucked, and slowly picked at its lunch in a pernickety sort of way, until the coatless one, with frozen fingers, fumbled the binoculars, dropped them with a clang, and put the bird to flight.

Eve Chilton

Ed: The word “peregrine” means “wanderer” or “pilgrim.”

The RSPBs battle for Lodge Hill continuesThe UKs nightingale population has declined by 90% since 1967.Medway Council has decided to build 10000 new houses after consultation, putting Lodge Hill into its local plan. It would cause one of the largest ever destructions of a protected site in the UK, disregarding Michael Gove’s government ambition to pass on the natural world in a better state to the next generation. Medway Local Council launched a new (June 2018) public consultation on where new housing should go and Lodge Hill is included within this plan. Last year over 12,000 people wrote to Medway Council to object to proposals that could see thousands of houses built at Lodge Hill. The developer Homes England are revising their housing plans for Lodge Hill, proposing significant reduction in the number of houses. Urbanisation is an emotive subject; there is a significant need for new housing in the UK. Previous generations have benefitted by being able to buy affordable homes, The choice faced is not whether to protect Lodge Hill or build houses, but how and where to build those houses.

90% decline in nightingale numbers

The group at the Christmas Social.

Peregrine with headless moorhen prey.

If you no longer wish to hear from RSPB Wokingham & Bracknell Local Group, please contact RSPB Wokingham and Bracknell rspbwokinghamandbracknell@gmail.com, confirming your name and address and stating that you wish to unsubscribe from the RSPB Wokingham & Bracknell Local Group’s communications.

All illustrations by Dan Powell, Mike Langman and Mike Busby. All photographs © RSPB Wokingham & Bracknell group members 2019 Unless otherwise credited – all articles written by Thomas Bickerton

“Engagement with the shooting estates is the only long term approach solution to sustainable moorland management ”

PART 2: On the continuing conflict concerning grouse driven moors

Bad year for red grouse, but a good year for hen harrierHalf of grouse shoots across England and Wales were forced to cancel their entire 2018 shooting programmes. In Scotland a similar scenario with only about 90 per cent of the adult birds that were seen in 2017 but, probably more importantly, only about two thirds of the young birds that were counted in 2017, so it’s a marked drop in production.Last year the price of grouse was around £10-12; this year they will probably be about £16-18 – about 50 per cent more.The cause of this increase was the combined extremes in weather, the heather was blasted during the winter and then roasted in the summer, which saw female birds in poor condition when they laid their eggs and then their chicks also struggled to find insect food. The result of this was about 80 per cent of shooting days were cancelled.But hen harriers have done well with over 30 juvenile birds being satellite tagged. The odds are stacked against hen harrier chicks from the start with survival rates of around 22 per cent in their first two years of life, which is in-line with other raptor species. The tags can reveal information about the cause of death for many of these young birds. Unfortunately 10 of these birds are missing.

Grouse facts• Regarded as the “king” of game birds,

red grouse are incredibly sought after and represent the supreme shooting challenge.

• A typical grouse eats up to 50g of heather a day. Heather moorland is now ecologically rare. The UK has 75 per cent of what is left worldwide.

• Grouse shooting can be traced back 160 years to 1853. The “bags” – total number of birds shot per day – were huge, often topping 2,000 in a single day.

• The red grouse is native to Britain.• Grouse shooting generates about

£150 million for the economy every year. The industry also supports approximately 2,500 full time equivalent jobs – from gamekeepers and beaters to people in tourism and hospitality.

Hen harrier facts• The hen harrier was once a widespread

and fairly common bird in Britain and there are breeding records from many English counties from the early 19th century. Numbers declined as a result of changes in habitat, the drainage and cultivation of marshes and heathland, and of persecution by those seeking to protect poultry or game birds.

• By the end of the 19th century the hen harrier had been lost from mainland Britain and only a small population survived in the Hebrides and on Orkney.

• After the Second World War the hen harrier started to make a comeback, due to a reduction in the number of active gamekeepers and a corresponding drop in the intensity of persecution.

• Northern England was re-colonised in the mid-1960s, and in the 1970s and 1980s up to 25 nesting attempts were made each year in Cumbria, Derbyshire, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland and Yorkshire. The population did not increase further and from the mid-1990s there has been a significant decline in the birds’ fortunes and a reduction of their breeding range.

This species has an extremely large world-wide range, and does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion. The population trend is not believed to be decreasing sufficiently enough to approach these thresholds under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.The European population is estimated at 30,000-54,400 breeding females, which equates to 60,000-109,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015). Europe forms approximately 34% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is

176,000-321,000 mature individuals. The species is also shot illegally in central and eastern Europe. In the Czech Republic, wild boar Sus scrofamay pose a major threat to nesting birds.

The good the bad and uglyGrouse moor gets the bootBradford Council has decided not to renew the lease over Ilkley Moor to the Bingley Moor Partnership, which managed the moor for grouse shooting.The Council has committed funds to moorland management, tree management and peat restoration, in order to reduce flood risks to the surrounding area.

Birds illegally killed in traps at West Sussex reserveSix birds have died after glue traps were laid on a West Sussex nature reserve. Five blue tits and a great tit perished at Warnham Local Nature Reserve, near Horsham, after birdlime was placed on feeders and nearby vegetation. If caught and found guilty, sentences could include imprisonment for six months, or an unlimited fine.

Sea eagle introduction reverseAnother new setback in the proposed introduction of the white-tailed sea eagle on the Isle of Wight. A joint investigation has been launched by Isle of Wight Police and the RSPB after a buzzard and a hobby, were found with severed legs in woodland at Littletown, near Briddlesford.Jenny Shelton, from the RSPB’s Investigations Unit, said: “Spring traps are sometimes used to catch and kill vermin, and are legal if placed in a tunnel, with a restricted entrance, for this purpose. However, spring traps set out in the open are illegal, and pose a huge danger to wildlife.”

It’s just words, then more wordsAccording to Michael Gove, the UKs Environment Secretary, the UK is moving towards adopting a “Payment for Ecosystem Services”, which mean briefly rewarding farmers and land managers for delivering public goods and services. That’s great but we are still awaiting any flesh on the bones of the Governments 25 year strategy plan, perhaps as my mother would say, “Get one thing done first dear, before you start on another.”