Birdwatch dec2013

WK E N OO L

● MORE IDENTIFICATION ● THE MONTH’S BEST RARITIES ● PRACTICAL ADVICE ● PHONESCOPING TIPS ● EXPERT REVIEWS

rdw dwa Birdwatch Bird rd wat atc tch ch The home of birding • www.birdwatch.co.uk

Issue 258 • December 2013 • £4.10

Bill Oddie on the attack!

Why this ‘greenest government ever’ is so bad for wildlife

Amazing winter journeys How birds escape the big freeze, by Dominic Couzens

WIN an EL 8x32 Swarovision worth £1,570 1312 p01_cover v2.indd 1

From the Severn White-tailed or to Scotland Golden Eagle?

Don’t miss our bestever sites section

DISPLAY UNTIL 26 DECEMBER

Learn to separate the UK’s biggest raptors 18/11/2013 09:43

DOMINIC GREVES (HTTP://DOMGREVES.PHOTOSHELTER.COM)

BIRD NEWS THE BIG PICTURE

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www.birdwatch.co.uk

18/11/2013 15:08

The big chill

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ad weather over the last few winters has affected several of our resident birds. Perhaps the most drastically hit has been Dartford Warbler, a mostly Continental species which breeds in southern England and coastal East Anglia on heathlands, a habitat already frequently threatened by development, disturbance and fire.

The subspecies found in Britain and north-west France – Sylvia undata dartfordiensis – is completely limited to that region, and consequently greatly influenced by poor conditions. However, an ability to produce three broods per year and a tendency to disperse quite widely usually helps the species recover from crashes relatively quickly.

Its population in Britain peaked at 3,208 pairs in the summer of 2006, but it seems likely that numbers have substantially decreased during this decade. The harsh winter of 196263 almost wiped out the species in the country, reducing its breeding population to just 10 pairs, and it is very likely that repeated cold snaps will have a similar long-term effect.

The British Trust for Ornithology says that, while no recent surveys have been performed, there have been many localised declines, particularly on the ‘leading edge’ of its range in Suffolk. ■ • For more on how winter affects bird numbers and movements, see Dominic Couzens’s article on pages 39-42.

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Birdwatch•December 2013

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18/11/2013 15:09

In association with

BIRD NEWS THE BIG STORIES

www.birdguides.com

Double vision: Soras on Scilly Not one, but an unprecedented two Soras were found on Scilly this autumn.

‘Spotted Crake’ at Shooter’s Pool, Lower Moors, St Mary’s.

Typically elusive, the Tresco individual showed well occasionally on the Great Pool from the Swarovski Hide.

The St Mary’s bird, however, appears not to have played ball after its identity became known, and the images have yet to emerge.

Still, the simultaneous occurrence of two individuals of such a rare species within the same small archipelago certainly underlines the fact that anything can happen in birding, no matter how unlikely – and even if it has happened before. ■

DAVE PERRETT

HISTORY has a habit of repeating itself in birding, and veterans of the October Scilly season will remember the famous occasion in the Nineties when a photographer selling prints of rare and scarce birds in the Porthcressa one evening displayed prints of a rare black-faced ‘Spotted Crake’.

Needless to say, it was the first clue that year that there was a Sora on the islands, and there was relief all round when the bird was duly located and mass observed the next day.

Visitors to Scilly this year were pretty chuffed to see a longstaying bird on Tresco from 9th until at least 22 October. And then, recalling the earlier episode, that pleasure was only added to by the reidentification of a second bird from photos of a presumed

The Tresco Sora was by far the most reliable major rarity for visiting birders, often showing well in front of the Great Pool hide. The other bird was reidentified from photos that have yet to emerge.

• See our Scilly photo special, pages 55-59.

The wagtail detectives

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VICTOR CASCHERA

YELLOW Wagtails showing characteristics of the nowsplit East Asian group are firmly on the birding radar, but still remain a difficult ID call. Eastern Yellow Wagtail Motacilla tschutschensis was elevated to species level after a 2003 study, and samples from a December 2010 bird in Devon indicate that it was a good match for this form.

This October saw two more candidates turn up: a belatedly announced bird on private land in Norfolk and a fairly long-staying individual in Co Donegal. The latter was found on 12th by Jim Fitzharris, Jim Dowdall and Victor Caschera at East Town on the vagrant hot-spot of Tory Island.

Jim Fitzharris picked up its call as it flew over on 15th, and all three saw it fly into a donkey field and then across to a drier area in a sheep field.

Views were brief before it flew off east, showing no sign of landing. A return visit that evening produced no bird, and it was thought that it might have disappeared.

The observers were able

NEIL BOWMAN

Three Irish birders persisted in looking for a Yellow Wagtail with a strange call and may have nailed a first for Ireland, while another candidate was found in Norfolk.

This apparent Eastern Yellow Wagtail was photographed on farmland near Eccles-on-Sea, Norfolk, staying from 13-23 October, feeding among the sheep there. The landowner requested that no unauthorised people enter the site, which is Higher Level Stewardship land.

The Tory Island bird showed well after being initially elusive. Eastern Yellow Wagtails are grey in tone and superficially resemble Citrine, a great find in itself. The lack of pale border around the rear of the ear coverts might ring the first alarm bell, along with the buzzing call.

to rule out Citrine on its head pattern, but were perplexed to realise that it looked like an obvious grey and white flava-type wagtail, despite its call sounding rasping like a Red-throated Pipit’s.

They couldn’t put a name to bird until Jim and Victor refound it at East Town and got great

views and clear photos. The very next day it moved to East Beach, showing very well up to 28 October. Its long stay meant that Peter Phillips, Aidan Kelly and Victor were able to retrieve faecal samples which have been sent for DNA testing, which should settle the bird’s ID for definite in a similar manner

to that of the overwintering Devon bird at Colyford Water Treatment Works in December 2010. The bird’s appearance, vocalisations, location and date of occurrence certainly strongly seem to indicate that possibility, and this will be the first Irish record if there is a positive result.

Two previous records of ‘grey’ flava wags have occurred in Ireland, at Tacumshin, Co Wexford, and Garinish, Co Cork, but no DNA was able to be obtained to prove the identification of these birds. ■

www.birdwatch.co.uk

18/11/2013 17:18

WHERE TO WATCH BIRDS DECEMBER

Where to watch birds

1 SITE OF THE MONTH

SLIMBRIDGE JAMES S LEES (WWW.WWT.ORG.UK)

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Slimbridge WWT, Gloucestershire.

Pages 23-25 Riverside Country Park, Kent.

Page 26 Belvide Reservoir, Staffordshire.

Page 27 Alnmouth to Lindisfarne, Northumberland. Page 28 The Ayrshire coast.

Page 29 Cloonlaughnan and Funshinagh Turloughs, Co Roscommon. Page 30

This Gloucestershire Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve is an excellent December destination, says Senior Reserve Warden Martin McGill, with thousands of wildfowl and waders to be seen.

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MORE DECEMBER SITES

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• Abberton, Essex: bit.ly/bw222Abberton • Conder Green, Lancashire: bit.ly/bw210Conder • Dee Estuary, Cheshire: bit.ly/bw246DeeEstuary • Donegal Bay, Co Donegal: bit.ly/bw234Donegal • East Fife: bit.ly/bw222Fife • Findhorn and Burghead Bays, Moray and Nairn: bit.ly/bw234Findhorn • Islay, Argyll: bit.ly/bw222Islay • Llangorse Lake, Powys: bit.ly/bw210Llangorse • Llys-y-fran Reservoir, Pembrokeshire: bit.ly/bw246LlysYFran • Medway Estuary, Kent: bit.ly/bw210Medway • Pagham Harbour, West Sussex: bit.ly/bw246Pagham irdwatc • Selsey Peninsula, West Sussex: BONUS bit.ly/bw222Selsey ONLINE CONTENT • The Wash, Norfolk: bit.ly/ bw234TheWash

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In cold weather thousands of birds gather on South Lake, providing a great spectacle for visiting birders.

ost of the Slimbridge reserve lies on the eastern shore of the upper Severn Estuary and includes the fields and wetlands inland to the Gloucester to Sharpness canal.

It is located near to the M5 between Gloucester and Bristol. Exit at either junctions 13 or 14 and follow the brown duck signs. A series of hides overlooks a wide range of mostly wetland habitats; combined with the estuary, it offers excellent birding. It is possible to see 60 species in December, while up to 80 can be recorded. The site is most productive around high-tide periods.

Arrive early and check the car park 1 hedges and ditches and the centre reedbed. Targets include Lesser Redpoll Redpoll, Siskin, Bullfinch, winter thrushes and common passerines. Keep

an eye on the grassy overflow car park for Barn Owl on dry days.

The Peng Observatory (which is heated), Rushy, Martin Smith, Robbie Garnett, Stephen Kirk and Knott Hides and the Holden Tower open at 8.15 am for members (please show membership cards). The rest of the grounds remain closed until 9.30 am – when the visitor centre and admissions for non-members also open – to allow birds to feed undisturbed.

Start at Peng Observatory 2 , as the morning feed along the southern shore of the Rushy will attract 70-300 Bewick’s Swans and about 2,000 ducks of many species, including up to 400 Northern Pintail and up to 500 Common Pochard.

Between 9.30 am and 11 am, head for

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USEFUL CONTACTS Travel information and timetables

• Traveline: 0871 200 2233 or www.traveline.info.

• Traveline Scotland: 0871 200 2233 or www.travelinescotland.com.

• Traveline Cymru: 0871 200 2233 or www.traveline-cymru.info

www.birdwatch.co.uk

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• Stagecoach Bus: www.stagecoachbus.com.

• Arriva Bus: 0844 800 4411 or www.arrivabus.co.uk.

• National Rail: 0845 748 4950 or www.nationalrail.com.

National bird news

BirdGuides: for all bird news and to

report your own sightings, please call 0333 577 2473, email sightings@ birdguides.com or visit www.birdguides.com.

Mapping

You can access fully interactive and annotated Google maps for all these itineraries at bit.ly/BWMaps.

Further information

• County bird recorders: www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/ birdtrack/bird-recording/countybird-recorders.

• Birdwatch Bookshop: for discounted birding books see www.birdwatch.co.uk/store.

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18/11/2013 14:58

CONSERVATION

MARKUS VARESVUO (WWW.BIRDPHOTO.FI)

NO Minister

DEFRA caused a public outcry when it was revealed that the department had plans to allow the culling of Common Buzzards on shooting estates.

Greenest government ever?

What exactly is so ‘green’, asks Bill Oddie, who lambasts the Conservativeled administration on its highly damaging anti-wildlife policies.

PAUL HOWELL

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week rarely goes by without someone in the media asking me “Why is it important?”, the ‘it’ often being bird related.

“Why is it important to breed Spoonbilled Sandpipers?” “Why is it important to grow reedbeds for Bitterns?” “Do White-headed Ducks really matter?” I often sense an accusatory implication that we conservationists have got our priorities wrong.

“Surely if we didn’t waste all that money on Spoonbilled Sandpipers, we could end starvation in the Congo?”

Of course, that’s just being silly, but the question remains: why are birds important? Indeed, why is nature important? Go on, ask yourself. Ask your friends. Ask your enemies! Whatever the answer may be, it’s an important question.

Let’s also ask the government, or at least see what its utterances and attitudes imply. Prime Minister David Cameron famously announced: “This may be the greenest government ever!” Not a lot of competition there, of course, but what’s his record so far? He has stated: “No one is keener than me to see the hunting act repealed, because I believe in the management of wildlife.”

Do I detect the whiff of euphemism?

‘Management’ often equals control, hunt, cull, kill.

Let’s be fair, environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are no www.birdwatch.co.uk

18/11/2013 10:05

WINTER MOVEMENTS

Great escapes OLIVER SMART (WWW.SMARTIMAGES.CO.UK)

Far from being dull, a cold December can offer all the excitement of the best of October, if the weather is right, says Dominic Couzens.

Skylark is something of a flagship species for escape movements, with sometimes large groups of birds seen passing overhead.

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ecember often seems a gloomy month for birding, with the main autumn movements fading in the memory, the last bloom of ‘vis-mig’ – visible migration, or watching birds on passage during daylight – petering out and next spring way off on an impossibly distant horizon.

The month can seem to offer the very doldrums of sedentariness, with

much the same species and individuals occupying the same locations week after week, with little change. December is when the highlights on a local patch might be 35 Eurasian Wigeon instead of the 33 of a few days before, or perhaps minute shifts in the roll-call of individual gulls – not much to reward those who brave the conditions. The avian urge to rush to breeding areas or

GARY K SMITH (WWW.GARYSMITHPHOTOGRAPHY.CO.UK)

Winter thrushes such as Fieldfare will often become nomadic, looking widely for food as the weather deteriorates.

www.birdwatch.co.uk

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to arrive in place for winter no longer freshens or enlivens the scene, as birds settle in for weeks of unadventurous, survivalist austerity.

However, in some ways this is false picture of midwinter. If there is a fast and pronounced deterioration in the weather in December or January, with widespread frost and snow – not just here in Britain, but on the near Continent, too – the effect on birds and birding interest can be spectacular.

The grip of cold may uproot thousands from the comfort of their non-breeding quarters and scatter them to all areas. Serious winter storms dislodge birds and drop them into unexpected places, to the surprise and delight of birders. All sorts of species are suddenly on the move in darkness and daylight, and the days can be as exciting as the best of autumn.

Fleeing the cold

It is important to appreciate what is going on and to understand that these shifts are not standard migrations.

Midwinter upheavals are often referred to as ‘escape movements’, a term that well illustrates their impromptu nature.

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18/11/2013 10:14

In association with

IDENTIFICATION

• www.kowaproducts.com

Golden and White-tailed Eagles PHOTO GUIDE

DICK FORSMAN (WWW.DICKFORSMAN.COM)

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1 Adult White-tailed Eagle (Hokkaido, Japan, 12 February 2005). With plenty of light and surrounded by reflecting ice and snow, even the tiniest details are visible on this adult White-tailed Eagle. But conditions are rarely as good as this. In gloomy and overcast weather all eagles will look dark, and even major plumage features can be difficult to make out. In these situations differences in proportions, flight and behaviour become most important.

PROFILE

DICK FORSMAN The Helsinki-born Finnish ornithologist is a world-renowned raptor expert, author and tour leader with extensive field experience.

www.birdwatch.co.uk

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Despite their huge size, the two eagle species found in Britain and Ireland can be elusive, distant and hard to differentiate under certain field conditions. Both inhabit the same regions of the two countries in neighbouring habitats, and like most of the other eagles of the world have a confusing number of ages and gradations of plumage.

But with careful attention to detail, says Dick Forsman, even snap judgements may be possible on quite brief views, as long as you are aware of each species’ jizz and proportions. Read our definitive guide to aquiline ID and try our quiz bird at the end to test your knowledge.

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18/11/2013 14:45

OPTICS

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BONUS ONLINE CONTENT

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Your trusted guide to what’s new in birding: bit.ly/birdwatchreviews

www.b

✓ EXPERT REVIEWS

Tough and tempting new SLCs Having come down in price, the updated SLC is a high-quality mid-range model that will surely tempt many birders, says Optics Editor Mike Alibone.

REVIEW

Swarovski SLC 8x42 WB binocular LATE autumn in the British countryside: a riot of colour and, of course, a proliferation of migrants. There is no better season to test optics, so the launch of Swarovski’s new SLC binocular range is timely.

While the previous SLC models had been an established part of the Swarovski armoury since 2010, both the price and performance differentials were small compared to the flagship EL range. The new models have been redesigned to address this with the aim of providing highquality, mid-range binoculars at a lower price point which will have long-term appeal to more birders.

The range differs in external appearance to its predecessors with a new, tougher armouring material which gives an added degree of ruggedness and is designed to withstand considerably more abuse than is likely to be meted out during the 70

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general course of birding. In fact this binocular emerged unscathed from the rigorous physical ‘hammering’ it was subjected to during a short preview testing period in Sweden earlier this year (Birdwatch 256: 52). Though clearly robust, I found the armour relatively soft with, importantly, a non-slip feel, along with the perfectly positioned shallow thumb cutaways. The SLC is well balanced and easy to hold.

The principal difference between the new and old SLC 42 lies in the focusing mechanism.

The simplified internal mechanics – originally designed for the SLC 56 – have been integrated into the new 42 mm models with two important changes. Firstly, there has been a considerable saving in the production and assembly costs, resulting in a reduction in the retail price.

? Did you know?

That’s a big plus for all potential purchasers.

The downside, though, is the close focus distance has been sacrificed to accommodate this simplification. Comparing old with new, this goes from 1.9 m to 3.2 m, although I was unable to focus more closely than 3.6 m when testing the 8x magnification review model.

I found the finely ribbed focusing wheel fractionally stiffer to turn than I would have expected, but this wasn’t an issue. Approximately 1.25 clockwise turns take the image from close focus to infinity, while only 0.75 of a turn is required to

Light transmission: this is expressed as the percentage of light transmitted through the optics and reaching the eye, with the remainder largely lost in reflection from the glass elements of the system. Higher light transmission results in brighter images. It is a measurable variable which relates to glass quality and applied coatings. This is something that we will be assessing in all our optics reviews from now on.

focus on mid- to long-range objects.

The same wheel operates the dioptre via the now increasingly used ‘pull up, turn and push down to lock’ system, which also uses a 0 to +/- 4 incremental scale. In the test model this didn’t synchronise with the full turning extent of the wheel but that didn’t prevent the correct adjustment being achieved.

The twist-out rubber-rimmed eyecups click-stop smoothly in two extended positions and they are comfortable against the eye.

Keen-eyed potential purchasers will have noticed the ‘HD’ suffix no longer appears in the name of this new model. Don’t panic.

The optics remain unchanged, employing the same high-quality fluoride glass. They are still HD and the image is excellent.

They also appear colourneutral, meaning there is no bias toward any bluish or yellowish www.birdwatch.co.uk

18/11/2013 10:22

THIS MONTH’S EXPERT PANEL

DR RON SUMMERS is the RSPB’s Principal Conservation Scientist and has made a lifetime’s study of crossbills.

DAVID CALLAHAN Prior to joining Birdwatch as staff writer, David trained as a taxonomist at London’s Natural History Museum.

RICHARD JAMES is a wildlife adviser at the RSPB, with a thorough knowledge of invertebrates, reptiles, amphibians and birds.

ERIK HIRSCHFELD is a former Chairman of Sweden’s Club300 and lead author of The World’s Rarest Birds whose expertise includes wader ID.

MIKE LANGMAN is a full-time bird illustrator whose work has featured in numerous books, as well as nearly every RSPB reserve.

www.birdwatch.co.uk

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www.birdwatch.co.uk

82How to ...

83How to ...

Our panel of experts tackles your conundrums.

Make a simple bird seed

our website and Listcheck 86On

feeder.

83Improving skills

10 ways to get more out of watching birds.

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Your questions answered

HOW TO:

Survey your local birds

Surveying your local birds can help build up a fascinating picture of how different species use a habitat, providing valuable information on how best to conserve an area and its birds.

you see as it will usually include specific habitats, while walking a set footpath may ignore other species just a few metres away from the path.

• When to survey: this may be dictated by what you are surveying, but care should also be taken to go out at the best possible time of year and day. For

BONUS ONLINE CONTENT

Pick the perfect patch.

DAVID TIPLING (WWW.BTO.ORG)

BIRD surveys are the stuff of conservation. Without them we would not know about population changes and distribution – the British Trust for Ornithology’s new Bird Atlas 2007-2011 is the best example of this, with the records provided by UK birders everywhere. Knowing what species use an area, how many use it and when helps with the conservation of the area and the birds. Surveys are useful because they help us build up a picture of the birds at a site; undertaking them each year results in new discoveries and a clearer picture of what is where.

If you take part in a local survey, you must first decide: • What to survey: will it look at bird numbers, bird distribution or both? Will it be feeding birds, at a bird table or in a local field? Will it be looking at presence (such as a winter survey) or breeding (a summer survey)? Will it count birds flying overhead?

• Where to survey: decide whether to survey a random part of your local area, or to choose a specific location, maybe your own garden. Remember that location will dictate what birds

The best tips, advice and more

example, a survey which involves hearing birds singing is better in the early morning.

• How to survey: there are different methods to employ, using transect or point surveys.

Decide how often to undertake your research, and how long to spend on each occasion. Think about exactly what to record – a

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CHRIS HARBARD After many years at the RSPB, Chris is now a tour leader, writer and editor, dividing his time between the UK and USA.

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✓ EXPERT ADVICE

www.b

EXPERT ADVICE HOW TO ...

A comprehensive updated optics guide, news round-up, crow taxonomy and more.

tips and challenge 87IDPhoto Identifying Red-necked Grebe in winter and photographing Mallard.

bird singing, a bird with food for young, or a simple count of birds seen or heard.

It is important to follow a set method every time as this allows results to be compared from year to year. For example, the British Trust for Ornithology’s (BTO) Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) requires a minimum of two visits during the breeding season, and each of these need not last longer than about an hour and a half.

Your own surveys can form part of the database of national bird information compiled by the BTO through BirdTrack, into which all sightings submitted to www. birdguides.com are fed. You could also take part in one of the BTO’s many other surveys, some of which have been ongoing for decades.

You may also like to read about survey techniques at www.ebcc. info/wpimages/other/birdsurvey. pdf. Advice on getting involved with surveys can be found at www.bto. org/volunteer-surveys, and the BTO also runs training courses on improving survey skills (www. bto.org/news-events/training/ training-programme). ■ Birdwatch•December 2013

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