The RSPB North Staffs Local Group

The Ouzel December 2018

‘Nature does great things without asking for reward.’

Alexander Herzen

Moving In

Great white egret, photo credit – Ian Worden

A bird you’re almost certain to have seen if you’ve been to Doxey Marshes or RSPB Middleton Lakes recently is the great white egret. Having been removed from the British Birds Rarities Committee’s, BBRC’s, rarities list in 2005 thanks mainly to increasing numbers in south–east England and East Anglia the species has successfully bred in the Somerset Levels since 2012. A rapidly expanding range means that the days of the little egret being the only representative of the egret family we are likely to see when out birding locally seem to be well and truly

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numbered. Those of you who visited Belvide Reservoir this autumn might also have seen another relation, the cattle egret.

Leader’s Message – Geoff Sales

All RSPB members will be aware that we have been asked to embrace all of the natural world, as reflected in the title of our magazine Nature’s Home, which replaced the earlier Birds magazine. With this in mind, I’d like to talk a little about hedgehogs. You probably know that the UK’s hedgehog population has been in serious decline for several decades, and there’s a very real danger that the nation’s favourite mammal could become extinct. You could say that this mirrors the decline of our curlew population, but through different drivers.

Hedgehog

photo credit – Ben Andrew

(rspb-images.com)

I’ve been lucky enough to have had hedgehogs breeding in my garden for the last four years (at least), but I also know that many people, adults included, have never seen a living one. A couple of months ago, while glancing through a social media site, I found reference to a local hedgehog rescue lady, Denny (Denise). Being me, I made contact with her and visited her place, bearing gifts of cat biscuits. At that time, she had an amazing 47 hogs in her care, all either sick, injured, orphaned or underweight; at this time of year, with impending hibernation, Denny regards a suitable release weight to be about 650-700g. Second-brood hogs are often well under this, and need fattening up where possible.

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What Denny dearly desired was a support group of some sort. Another guy, Mark, also appeared on the scene at this time, and we started batting ideas about. Knowing that Denny gave talks in schools and to WI groups, I suggested she give a talk in the church hall 50 yards from where I live, in the middle of the Westlands. I duly arranged this and put the word out, wildly hoping for around 30 people; Mark and Denny thought 12 would be pushing it. We were not displeased, once folk had stopped trickling in, to have 64 people in the room, by this time with standing room only.

And so A Group Was Born – the Newcastle Hedgehog Group is up and, err, crawling, but will very soon have a Facebook presence. Denny was well pleased with the offers of help; she constantly needs to offload hogs to make room for more, and is ever after people to take in hogs for over-wintering or for ‘soft release’ back into the wild. For further info, contact me initially.

Happy birding, hogging, etc. An advance notice about the 3rd Staffs Birders Conference appears on this magazine’s last page.

Conservation Matters

As we may have been a little critical of the American administration in the last edition of the Ouzel - based on its blind disregard for nature and the environment - we thought a little balance might be in order:

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Sea of Heartbreak

Just over a month ago the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, the CCAMLR, was hoping to turn the Weddell Sea and other parts of the Antarctic peninsula into a 1.8 million square kilometre marine sanctuary as we mentioned in a previous edition. Sadly the plan, which would have led to the protection of countless forms of wildlife, including Emperor and Adélie penguins, killer seals, leopard seals and blue whales, and played a key role in tackling climate change, was dealt a mortal blow by delaying tactics on the part of Russia, China and Norway during the negotiating process. Although the other 22 members of the Commission were in favour of the plan unanimous agreement was required for if it to be approved.

Licence to Kill

Despite massive global pressure from politicians and campaigners the EU has reneged on tightening its restrictions on the continent’s ivory trade to, almost certainly, the delight of elephant poachers and organized criminal gangs. In 2017, with elephants on the brink of extinction, the European Commission banned the export of raw ivory but held back from banning the domestic trade completely, much to widespread concern. This July a draft report on efforts to curb wildlife trafficking in Europe included the statement ‘(As a follow up to this consultation) the commission intends to further restrict ivory trade in and from the EU. The Commission intends to discuss the contents of such restrictions with their member states and stakeholders in the coming months.’ The statement was conspicuously absent from the final version of the report when it was eventually published in the autumn.

Europe is the largest domestic market for ivory products in the world. A recent investigation into the backgrounds of 100 ivory items in 10 countries, led, in part, by the University of Oxford, has confirmed that illegally poached ivory is continuing to make its way into this market.

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Barnacle goose photo credit – Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)

Hold Fire

Just to show that the badger culls throughout the UK aren’t the only ones based on flawed thinking, leading ornithologists and scientists are strongly criticising Scottish Natural Heritage, SNH, for the licensed killing of barnacle geese on the island of Islay in the Inner Hebrides, in an ill thought out attempt to safeguard crofters’ crops. Recent research has shown that the mass shootings often leave the birds to die slow and agonizing deaths, with the lead shot polluting the surrounding areas, putting the lives of other wildlife at risk.

The cull also endangers the Greenland white-fronted geese that regularly mix with the

barnacle geese on the island, with numbers of Richardson’s cackling geese and red-spotted geese having also been recorded. Despite having no information on the distribution or movement of the barnacle geese SNH has been increasing the number it permits farmers to kill on an annual basis since 2015.

The RSPB and WWT have both lodged formal complaints with the European Commission about the actions taken by the SNH, which has previously sanctioned controversial culls of ravens in Perthshire and hedgehogs on Uist.

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And on a Cheerier Note

In our April 2017 edition we half jokingly suggested that it might not be long before doctors started to formally prescribe visits to nature reserves for their patients, after the BTO and two universities had highlighted the (obvious) benefits of regular communication with the great outdoors. Guess what, it’s actually happened thanks to a partnership project between NHS Shetland and the RSPB. Following a successful trial run at Scalloway surgery last year, all 10 GP surgeries on Shetland are now able to give their patients verbal and written advice on how they can best communicate with nature.

‘The ‘Nature Prescriptions’ recognise the benefits of nature in reducing blood pressure and anxiety and increasing happiness, whilst addressing the growing disconnections with nature through society.’ (BIRDGUIDES, 5.10.18)

In our previous report on this item we also suggested that it could be a good idea to get out birding now before the hides all get too full. You might want to take note.

A Limerick (1) – Roger Birch

Sadly our resident poet’s summer holiday in Kefalonia failed to provide the poetic inspiration or birds Roger had been looking forward to, due to a surfeit of rain. However, he has very kindly sent us a number of limericks based on more local sightings. They appear here and on subsequent pages:

Winter days in Hanchurch Woods

Nearly always come up with the goods

‘Cus crossbills in the pines

Are a cert (at most times),

But keep it under your hood

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Cetti’s warbler Photo credit – Ian Worden

North Staffs RSPB Trip to Mallorca April 2018 – Ian Worden

Following the successful bird watching trip to the Algarve in 2017, Regent Travel organised a further eight-day bird watching trip to Mallorca for April 2018. Places sold out very quickly.

Due to the way that the travel industry works the trip had to be organised some twelve months in advance, however the time quickly passed and we all found ourselves with an early start and heading for Manchester Airport.

After a good flight, which provided fine views of the snow covered Pyrenees, we landed in Palma. Our efficient transfer saw us arrive at our hotel in time for a late lunch and a saunter around the resort. A large garden surrounded the hotel, which was not far from the sea and beach. That evening we met up with our guides

who outlined the itinerary for the following week and provided local birding information.

The first day commenced with a coach journey to the Cur bar Reservoir in the Tramontana Mountains through marvellous scenery under a blue sky. During our stay black and griffon vulture were seen together with blue rock thrush and cirl bunting. A lunch break at Lluc Monastery allowed us to walk through the lush gardens where firecrest, pied flycatcher, and red kite were observed. That afternoon we travelled out of the mountains and onto the Vilafranca Plains where greater short-toed lark, yellow wagtail, serin, corn bunting and red-legged partridge were visible.

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The second day saw us take a short journey south to the S’Albufeira Natural Park where we separated into two groups. This is a wetland reserve and contains a varied selection of wildlife. Among the birds seen were night heron, purple heron, black-winged stilt, greater flamingo, marbled duck, garganey, red - crested pochard, avocet, Kentish plover, green sandpiper, wood sandpiper and spotted redshank. Great, little and cattle egrets were also present whilst both marsh harrier and osprey hunted over the reeds. Nightingale and Cetti’s warbler were in full voice and occasionally showed themselves.

The afternoon was spent exploring a reserve on the Arta Peninsula where hoopoe, subalpine warbler and woodchat shrike were seen together with an assortment of orchids.

The third day was taken as a rest day with the majority opting to take the rail and tram excursion from Port de Sóller to Palma. This allowed people to relax and take in the local sites and restaurants.

So far the weather had been bright and sunny however on the fourth day the sky was grey and threatened rain as we set off to the Formentor Peninsula. Very few birds braved the cold, wet and windy conditions although a peregrine and blue rock thrush did show. The scenery was stunning but it was decided to return to lower and more sheltered areas.

We made a brief visit to the La Gola reserve in the centre of Puerto Pollensa. This proved fruitful, as we were able to see subalpine warbler, Iberian chiffchaff and common crossbill.

In the afternoon, due to improved weather conditions, we visited the southern extremity of the S’Albufeira reserve. Barn swallow and red-rumped swallow swooped across the open areas together with swift, alpine swift and pallid swift. Booted eagles patrolled the wooded hillsides and flamingos fed in a shallow lagoon. Yellow wagtail were seen in the hedgerow whilst a single

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Black- winged stilt Photo credit – Ian Worden

bluethroat foraged in an area of reeds and grass near a wooden walkway. Of particular note was the sighting of a rufous-tailed rock thrush in the distance. These birds are not regular visitors and it was of great interest to our local guide.

Due to the weather conditions the fifth day was reorganised as a rest day and group members made their own plans with some visiting local reserves and others visiting local cafes and shops.

The sixth and final day dawned fine and clear. Our first stop was at Salobrar de Campos saltpans where black-winged stilt, whinchat, stonechat, grey plover, little-ringed plover, greenshank, dunlin, sanderling, thekla lark and marsh harrier were seen.

The afternoon was spent at the Ses Salinas headland where Audouin’s gull, Balearic shearwater and Cory’s shearwater were seen from the headland. Also passing over were a number of booted eagles migrating from North Africa into Spain and Europe for the summer. Although not seen, a wryneck was heard in open forest inland.

A total of 110 species were observed on the trip, many of them first time sightings for some members.

Again this holiday was so popular that Regent has launched a trip to Cyprus, which will depart in March 2019. Tickets for this trip have already sold out and we are already planning a further trip for Spring 2020.

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Cover of the Editor’s copy of the book Photo credit – Penny Cartwright

A Limerick (2) – Roger Birch

Long-tailed duck at Westport Lake?!

Yes, a duck, it isn’t a drake.

I dash straight over there,

And look everywhere,

But NO luck! only heartache.

“H is for Hawk,” by Helen Macdonald – Joan Hudson

‘H’ for Hawk is obviously written by an academic as demonstrated by the descriptive writing which you need to carefully read and not skim over. “H” could also stand for Helen as well as Hawk, as it is not just about her experiences of training hawks but also her experience of coming to terms with her father’s unexpected death. The hawk she trains in this book is a goshawk which had been captive bred and not taken from the wild. Although she had previously trained kestrels this was her first goshawk, which she aptly named Mabel. Helen intertwines the process of

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this journey by comparing it with a book written by TH White, a teacher, author and falconer, entitled “The Goshawk.” At times it is hard reading but well worth persevering as you have no idea what happens to Mabel until the very last page. This book is unlike any other book that I’ve read as it is part autobiography, part lament for the loss of her father and part a nature treatise. I really enjoyed the read but it would be nice to have other opinions on it too.

Pete and I have only watched a goshawk once and this was over near Chatsworth House having been given the heads-up by John Booth, our previous leader. The bird/birds were at a distance but other birders were present who allowed us to look through their telescopes. A truly amazing experience! We also think we saw one in the Elan Valley after spending an uneventful number of hours at a place where Keith Offord (one of our regular speakers) had taken the birders on one of his workshops. This one was entitled “Getting to Grips with Raptors.” We think we saw one because we went back to the same area at the end of the course and sat in the same place, again for hours, but because we were on our own we were unable to tick it.

A Limerick (3) – Roger Birch

A nubile young birder called Sally

Went spotting pied flies at Coombes Valley,

Where she met a young ranger,

Now they’re no longer strangers,

In fact they’re exceedingly pally!

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

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

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Advance Notice of 3rd Staffs Birders Conference – Geoff Sales

The third Staffs Birders Conference will be going ahead next spring. Following a recent and very encouraging message from the West Midland Bird Club, I have just booked the same venue as before, Oulton Village Hall, for the event on Sunday, March 10th, 2019. Now to get busy booking speakers! Please put the date in your diaries.

Have a great Christmas from

Everyone on the Committee

Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this edition of The Ouzel. If you’d like to contribute to the next edition please contact me, Alan Cartwright, via 01630-296126 pandacartwright@gmail.com and, if both of those fail simply by grabbing me at an indoor meeting.

The Ouzel accepts advertisements for publication. They cost £15 for a half page and £25 for a full page. To place an advert, please contact the editor or any member of the committee.

N.B. Adverts featured in the newsletter cannot be specifically endorsed by either the North Staffs Local Group or the RSPB.