Big Garden Birdwatch

Okay, maybe it’s an age thing, but I did the Big Garden Birdwatch this year.  Well, it takes me an hour to walk from the house to the car these days (poor feet not big garden), so I might as well do something useful on the way to somewhere better.  I recorded a total of 25 species feeding in the garden during the hour.   I have 3 large seed feeders (nyger/sunflower), fat ball feeders and lots of ‘apple trees’ (half apples spiked onto branches).  Tits dominate by far, Great and Blue Tits are near impossible to count but there are easily 25-30 of each at any one time.  Several Coal Tits are regular and a single Marsh Tit has been visiting frequently all month and duly put in an appearance. 

The ‘apple trees’ are a great hit.  Jays, Jackdaws and thrushes love them.  Even the Blue Tits regularly feed from them.  Single Mistle Thrush and Fieldfare have each ‘guarded’ an area of apples during the cold spell.  The local Sparrowhawk regularly raids the feeders about twice a day.  It deters the tits for a minute or two, but then the flight-line resumes.  It’s a bit like a speeded up arrival at Heathrow; look into the garden and Blue or Great Tits are descending from the large tree to the feeders every few seconds, one after another.  Unlike Heathrow, they increase their arrival rate in the snow.  A quick wait on the arrival branch, onto a spare perch on the feeder, and then away.

I’ve been in this house for about 9 months now.  The commonest bird in my last garden was Redpoll, with up to 40 on and around the nyger.  Greenfinches were the commonest birds on the sunflower feeders.  Just 11 miles away, the avifauna of my new garden has a very different feel.  No Redpolls, very few Greenfinches and zero House Sparrows or Starlings.  Although both gardens are located close to woodland (then Epping Forest, now Broxbourne Woods) the current garden has far more woodland birds, with Nuthatches, Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers all visiting daily.  However, the highlight of the new garden has been the occasional visits of up to three Hawfinches over the last month. One briefly appeared in a tree at the end of the garden yesterday, but they have failed to come down for seed so far.

Count completed, I did then sneak out for a quick look at the nearby Caspian Gull.  Oooo don’t you just love those tertials?  Hmmm maybe not that much.

Pics above: Marsh Tit, Nuthatch, a busy day on the feeders, Blue Tit on 'apple tree'.

Rejuvenation

 

Reedbeds under conservation management have traditionally been managed by rotational cutting, with the objective of slowing natural succession. Even on a small site, such an objective is questionable, but with a site of over 200 ha, this is not a feasible option. So Ham Wall in Somerset is the focus of a larger scale ‘reedbed rejuvenation’ project, a trial of a new form of reedbed management.  Compartments of up to 20 ha will be held at a lower water level for a number of years and reverted to grassland by a combination of cutting, burning and grazing. After maybe five years, the ground will be re-flooded to create shallow open water and reeds will slowly re-colonise.  Compartments will be 'rejuvenated' on rotation in order to maintain a range of successional states within the reedbed.

I returned to Ham Wall last week to look at the first compartment to be managed in this way and recently re-flooded after several years of drier conditions.  So what will happen next?  Well, we expect the newly flooded habitat will provide good feeding opportunities for a range of reedbed and wetland birds as the reeds regain dominance over a number of years.  In the short-term, it should attract large numbers of waders, wildfowl, egrets and herons over the next year or so as water levels fluctuate, particularly as they drop in late summer.  The land will be allowed to revert to reedbed, with higher water levels, and continue through its succession to old, littered reedbed, before the process is repeated.

Although early days, the first signs are promising.  Large numbers of duck, including Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall and Shoveler are already using the area, with Lapwing and up to 200 Snipe around the margins.  A dozen Water Pipits flitted around the margins.  A couple of Great White Egrets were in the area and it is hoped they will find the area to their liking.

New Year thrash

Although a dry and sunny day boded well for the traditional New Year thrash through the Lee Valley, the broken rib (a Christmas present from the log-pile) somewhat slowed me down and it was more of a crawl than a thrash.   A rough tot-up showed a vaguely possible 100 species but in the end I settled for a reasonable 86 seen on the day.

High water level was the theme of the day, with brimming lakes and flooded fields. The Girling Reservoir was as full as I can remember it and typically, once the gulls had departed at dawn, there were very few birds left.   Most of the Black-necked Grebes also seem to have departed, with only 6 noted.  A Chiffchaff along the Girling fence was an unexpected bonus.  Further up the valley, just 5 Smew are around this winter so far, but Bittern number 6-7, of which I managed a couple – at Cheshunt and Amwell.

The long-staying drake Scaup and Long-tailed Duck may seem to be the highlights of the day but they were probably eclipsed by Hawfinch and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, the first time I have seen both species locally on a day count for many a year.  Pleasingly, the Hawfinch was added in my valley-side garden during a breakfast stopover, with up to three being noted in recent days.

Although water birds are generally in good numbers in the valley, it is the dearth of seed-eating farmland birds that is a problem.   There seems to be virtually no flocks of finches in the valley any more, but given that weedy areas on farmland or around mineral workings have all but disappeared this is not surprising. So while Red Kite, Little Egret and Peregrine now almost put themselves on the list, partridges, linnets and Yellowhammers take some searching out.

Don't tell him Pike

I saw my first Bittern in Nightingale Wood in 1972.  The London Bird Report has it as:  Cheshunt GP, one on Mar 4^th (GJW).  Hmm, rather brief for what I seem to remember was a good find at the time.   However, over the years this has become a regular haunt for wintering bitterns.  So why do Bitterns return to this spot year after year?

Nightingale Wood is a wonderfully scruffy few acres of wet self–set woodland on the edge of a badly restored gravel pit.  It’s landform is varied to say the least: hollows, holes, slopes, cliffs, pools and piles of reject gravels.  Initially colonised by Hawthorn and willow scrub but now succeeding to Ash and Alder, with masses of dead wood. The modern mineral planning officer would never allow it.  They would smooth everything out, cover in top soil and insist on regimented rows of planted trees, and in doing so would eliminate any decent habitat.

Nightingale Wood? I hear you say.  Well yes, once upon a time in the scrubby days, 2 or 3 pairs were to be found.  I found my first Nightingale nest in this wood and watched the youngsters fledge.  Many a Willow Tit nest was also noted.  Over the years the wood has provided regular Woodcock, Water Rails, Siskins and Redpolls , but also 3 Golden Orioles, 2 Firecrests, 2 Wood Warblers, Pied Flycatcher, Great Grey Shrike, Bearded Tits and a roost of 9,000 Fieldfares one night.  The edge of the wood grades into the water-filled pit through tumble-down wet woodland and marshy spits to a reedbed fringe of about an acre.

This is where the Bitterns come in. So why do Bitterns return to this spot? The varied topography of the wood continues out under the water with deeper pools interspersed with reedy shallows.  Research papers will tell you that Rudd and Eels are the preferred prey of breeding birds in the UK, but Perch and Pike aplenty tuck into these watery hollows in the reedbed during the winter and form the main prey for Lee Valley Bitterns in the lean months. Good feeding at this time of year is crucial for getting the birds through the winter and into good condition for breeding.

I returned to Nightingale Wood yesterday for an hour or so at dusk and a couple of Bitterns were on show.  There are currently 7 or 8 Bitterns wintering in the Lee Valley, with 5 in the Cheshunt pits complex.  The reedbed now has excellent viewing rides cut into it by the Lee Valley Park Authority.  One Bittern duly appeared on the edge of a reedy ride no more than a dozen paces from my original sighting in ‘72.   It caught a nice stripey Jack Pike and soon dispatched it.  At dusk both birds moved with just a brief few wing-beats from the feeding spots to the safe roosting areas on the edge of the reedbed.   That’s why they come back here.

Cranes

One frosty morning last week, I was out in the Fens again looking at Cranes.  The nesting pair were back on territory, after some weeks of touring the Fens.  Last year’s youngster was still in tow but will surely be given the boot as spring approaches. Cranes have had their most successful year in the UK since returning as a breeding bird, with up to 24 pairs rearing at least 13 youngsters.  The Fens offshoot of the Broads population now seems well established

The winter food of these birds is a mix of agricultural remains and more natural foods from wet grasslands.  The Cranes had been feeding extensively on beet tops earlier in the winter.  One family party were feeding in a maize strip, picking cobs off the standing crop.  Spuds seem to be a good food also.  Spuds left in the ground after harvest may be favoured as they are fresher, but good farming practice usually leaves few available for the birds.  Piles of dumped spuds have been used to attract birds but it appears Cranes prefer them fresh, so replenishing stocks may be the best approach.  The birds I was watching were feeding on waste grain put out for them.

Winter roost sites are important, with birds favouring shallow flooded areas. Ideally they will be close to feeding areas but birds will frequently fly some distance to a suitable roost.

So if we want to attract Cranes, or keep them in a particular area for viewing, why not grow small areas of sacrificial crops - spuds or maize, adjacent to wet grassland etc.   Also, ensure that suitable winter roost sites are present.   Shallow flooding of some cropped land would be beneficial.    These techniques are well known to attract cranes and geese in the USA and such management would also benefit other farmland birds.  

In the beginning.......there were LRP's

 As December ticks away, I eventually get to the task of sorting out the years records from the notebook.  If only I was a little more organised.  This week’s task was to complete the analysis of one of my regular breeding bird surveys; at Amwell Quarry (now nature reserve).  The run of data on breeding birds for this site now extends back to the late 1970s when mineral extraction began.  Why have I done this for 35 years?  Who knows, it just happened.

Eighty species have bred at Amwell over those years, 46 of them managing to enter the ‘scoresheet’ for 2012.  This is somewhat below the 53 species in the best year; 2001.  These 46 species amounted to a total of 327 pairs of birds, again somewhat below the peak of 410 pairs in 2002.  So the headline story is somewhat of a rise and fall.  However, as you would expect, these figures hide the many changes over the years.  A number of species, such as Willow Warbler, Yellow Wagtail (5 pairs in 1983), Turtle Dove, Linnet and Tree Sparrow, have all declined more or less in line with national trends.  But without doubt, the major influence has been successional changes in the habitats, with meadow, marsh and mud being replaced by reed and willows. 

These changes have, of course, produced a number of winners: Grey Herons and Cormorants in the trees, recently joined by Little Egrets, and Reed Warblers, Cetti’s Warblers and Blackcaps in the reed and scrub.  In addition, Black-headed Gulls and Common Terns have used the rafts provided.  The losers have been the grassland birds of the old meadows and more significantly the variety of wildfowl and waders.  Tufted Ducks peaked at a massive 62 broods in 1987 but have since dropped away to low single figures.  Likewise, Gadwall rose to a peak of 12 broods before dropping to just one and after peaking at 53 pairs, Sedge Warblers have dwindled to just 14 as habitats have changed.

Wading birds, particularly the Little Ringed Plover, have always been a key feature of the site since the mineral extraction began.  LRPs peaked at 8 pairs but with numbers rising and falling in relation to the amount of habitat.  Despite the recent addition of Oystercatcher in recent years, LRPs and waders in general, are now teetering on the edge of disappearing as breeding birds.   The problem is that the relentless march of reed and other vegetation across the formerly open areas outpaces the management effort.  What is needed, what most old gravel pits need, is a bit of Localised Intermittent Catastrophe.  A combination of controlled vandalism with a large digger and some dynamic water management should help knock selected areas back to an earlier stage in the succession so the process can start again.  We gathered on site this autumn, umm-ed and arr-ed a bit, and some good work was subsequently undertaken, but on reflection, much more of the same will be required if LRPs are to remain until the end.

Below - Amwell 1987 (8 prs of LRP), Amwell 2012 (none).

 

Ria Lagartos - shear magic

No sooner had we checked into the hotel, gone up to the room and stepped out onto the balcony when the words "Meester White?" came from down below. "Yes, how did you know we had arrived?" I replied.  "This is a very small place and you are the only gringos in town". We had arrived in Rio Lagartos, at the northern end of the Yucatan peninsula and entrance town to the Ria Lagartos Biosphere Reserve.

We had booked a couple of days to be guided by the excellent Diego Nunez around Ria Lagartos  http://www.riolagartosnaturetours.com. The first day by boat amongst the creeks and mangroves, the second on land amongst the scrubby transition zones.  The reserve holds large numbers of waterbirds as well as Yucatan specialities such as Mexican Sheartail and Yucatan Wren.   The boat took us through mudflat channels, mangrove creeks and out to the sea.  Waders whirled around in numbers; Willet, Yellowlegs, Semi-p, Western and Least Sandpipers, Long-billed Curlew and Short-billed Dowitcher.  Black Skimmers, Roseate Spoonbill, Belted Kingfisher, Lineated Woodpecker, Wood Stork and hundreds of herons added to the mix.  Diego attracted a Black Hawk close to the boat by throwing out fish and whistling up a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl lured out a Blue-crowned Motmot.

The early morning ‘bush-bash’ produced five species of hummers, with excellent views of Mexican Sheartail and two nests found.  Diego 'called in' a Laughing Falcon, with the cameras rat tat tat-ting away.  Lesser Roadrunner, Vermillion Flycatcher, Squirrel Cuckoo and Yucatan Bobwhite all gave excellent views.  With stomachs rumbling, the freshly caught Lobster, cooked by Diego's wife, was washed down by a few bottles of Sol.  With not a single all-inclusive buffet bar in sight, this was a simple pleasure.  Jabiru and Crested Caracara drifting over as we left was a perfect ending.

 

Above; Mexican Sheartail, Skimmers and others.

Below: Black Hawk, Yucatan Wren, Laughing Falcon and elsewhere, a Cozumel Island Racoon.