Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2023 i Bird Watching

Amanda Tuke: “With drumming plus leafless branches, spring's the time for Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and three in Richmond Park one cold March morning is hard to beat” Ruth Miller: “It would be the eight Dotterel I saw on the Great Orme, always a thrill finding a scarce bird on my local patch.” James Lowen: “I discovered a pair of Black-winged Stilts in suitable breeding habitat, but later heard they had been found the previous evening and kept quiet!” Bo Beolens: “I have to go back over two decades to May 1999 when I discovered a Terek Sandpiper only five miles from home.”…

twitter.com/BirdWatchingMag facebook.com/BirdWatchingMag RARITY RATINGS Common, widely distributed Localised - always a treat Very scarce or rare YELLOW WAGTAIL Of our three regular wagtail species, the Grey and Pied are effectively resident birds, while the pretty Yellow Wagtail is a summer visitor. They start arriving in the first couple of weeks of April and by May are pretty well established; particularly in low-lying country across east, south-east and central England. They are shorter tailed and so structurally more pipit-like than the other species, and have olive-green upperparts and bright yellow underparts (brighter and yellower in males). Birds of open country, Yellow Wagtails breed in arable pastures and meadows etc, and will often be seen feeding near cattle and other livestock, in search of insects. Listen for the 'psweep’ call of fly-over…

Golden shroud Taking over the floor of old woodland once Bluebells start to wither is the Yellow Archangel, whose hooded flowers shroud the ground with a golden lacquer. Its leaves mark it out as part of the deadnettle family, but they do not sting. PLANT Hound dog Although widespread, Hound’s Tongue has a rather erratic distribution. There are clusters along the Welsh borders, in southwest England, in East Anglia and around the Forth, but otherwise it is local indeed. Which is a shame, for this large, softly hairy plant with reddish-purple blooms is a delight to behold. BEETLE Stag party There’s no mistaking a male Stag Beetle, which are active from late May. Should you encounter this globally near-threatened species this spring or summer, you can put your sighting to…

NEWS & OPINION Hawkeye is a carnivore, and a hunter. She’d have to be really hungry to chase down a bird for the table, but otherwise the hunting instinct is strong. It’s a large part of her birding motivation… don’t get me wrong, she appreciates avian beauty and the miracle of unmanned flight, but the actual finding of birds has always been her thing. On a number of overseas forays she has found a lifer for the local guide! Notwithstanding the ever-aging eyes, she can still spot a raptor when it is but a dot in the sky and, nine times out of ten, when toggers and birders are staking out a known haunt, with everyone waiting for some spotter to yell out the location of the quarry, it’s Hawkeye’s…

ID TIP! As with many birds, learning tit calls and songs is a great ‘short cut’ to ID Juvenile tits As a general rule, juvenile tits have washed-out or yellowish versions of the adult plumage. Younger juveniles can also look a bit more scruffy than their parents. Shown here is a juvenile Great Tit. Note the yellowish feathering where it would be white in an adult (such as the cheeks) and the duller blacks. Also note the orange gape line of this young individual. Two long-tailed non-tit tits The Bearded Tit and the Long-tailed Tit are both in different families from typical tits and are not closely related to each other. Long-tailed Tit (adult) • Very long tail • Black, white and pink • Partial orange eye-ring; dark eye •…

In association with MAX MILES ON FOOT: 4 MIN TIME: 3 HOURS A superb seabird city on beautiful Colonsay The name Pigs Paradise refers to an area of Bracken that was used to feed the local crofters’ pigs, which were brought here for the summer to help uproot the Bracken by eating its tubers. Now, it holds the largest seabird colony in the whole of Argyll – well worth a look! JOHN MILES WHERE TO WATCH 1 This walk starts in the community of Kilchattan, with crofting fields all around. Check out the geese using these fields for both Barnacle and Greylag Geese. Look through them for oddments, such as an off-course Pink-footed Goose or Greenland White-fronted Goose. 2 Start up the track towards Gortain looking for species like Twite,…

MAX MILES ON FOOT: 2 MIN TIME: 3 HOURS Search for drift migrants, waders and terns on the rim of Romney Marsh Sandwich between New Romney and Lydd, Romney Salts is an area of farmland reclaimed from the sea complete with reed-fringed ditches, patches of scrub and a dung-heap that often attracts birds. A strip of woodland and a spinney adds to the diversity and can be good for passage warblers. Timing is all important for undisturbed views of terns and waders as Greatstone Beach gets many visitors; so choose a cloudy, damp day for the best results. PAUL TRODD WHERE TO WATCH 1 Check the dung heap for Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Sky Lark and the occasional flocks of Linnet, Goldfinch and Chaffinch; Tree Sparrow, Yellowhammer and Corn Bunting…

GET IN TOUCH birdwatching@bauermedia.co.uk facebook.com/BirdWatchingMag twitter.com/BirdWatchingMag Bird Watching, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA Urban Birder #2 Earlier this month, I decided to make the most of a couple of free days to travel up from London to Norfolk for some winter birding. However, my plan of an early start to visit Snettisham were scuppered by the flat tyre (thanks to a pothole) that greeted me at 5am. Having made my way into Kings Lynn to get a new tyre and being told it would be a few hours before it was ready (turns out I wasn't the only person to have come a cropper due to the state of the roads) I decided (inspired by David Lindo) to do some urban birding around the town. This may not…

OBSERVATIONS What do rocky cliffs, Victorian chimney pots, the Blitz and a Bronze Age copper mine all have in common? Answer: they have all provided suitable habitat for a bird called a Black Redstart. These dapper little birds are attracted to quite a variety of habitats but usually there is a rocky patch or some exposed stone involved. On a sunny but blustery day in late January, I was visiting RSPB South Stack on Anglesey in North Wales with some friends. It was too windy to venture down to the cliff edge, so we walked along the narrow lane at the top of the hill using the stone wall as shelter as we admired the view of the lighthouse on Ynys Lawd below. Sudden movement in the midst of a…

Q What difference will a higher rate of frames per second make to the pictures I take? R Hobson, Bicester A In essence, more photos increase the odds of better photos. For wildlife photography, a camera with the ability to shoot many frames per second is a valuable tool. As we all know, most birds don’t keep still for long so getting the perfect pose can be challenging. A photo of a rapidly feeding godwit for example, with its bill halfway in the mud, isn’t as desirable as one with the bill out. So if using a camera with a high FPS you can blast away for a few seconds and hopefully get that perfect shot. Q If I’m shooting in RAW, am I better off risking overexposing images than…

THE MEANING OF GEESE NICK ACHESON, CHELSEA GREEN, HB, £20 Nick takes you on a winter journey (on a bike!) around the goosepacked fields of Norfolk. It is written day by day and although Pinkfeet are the main geese encountered, he does not miss a trick when finding other species mixed into the many flocks. He meets several other 'goose hunters’ with binoculars and telescopes, and reminisces over other trips abroad taken by himself or other friends. Winter is probably not the best time to bike around this area for pleasure, but at least the traffic is less than in summer, and the birds make it worthwhile. If you love geese, then this is for you. BOOK OF THE MONTH REWILD YOUR MIND NICK GOLDSMITH, WELBECK, HB, £16.99 Here’s another…

Welcome Every year at this time, things get very exciting. Birds are on the move, and anything can turn up anywhere. Recently, for example, I saw a Pallas’s Warbler — a ‘lifer’ for me — just a few miles from home, on a day when all sorts of unusual sightings seemed to be coming in. In this issue, we hope to convey some of that excitement. On page 26, Mark Cocker looks at just what makes Spurn Point Britain’s most renowned and beloved migrant-watching hotspot, while on page 33, we take a look at why certain places get such a gilded reputation. So, wherever you are this month, expect the unexpected, whether in the form of rarities and scarcities, or just new birds (especially breeding birds) on your own patch.…

May always produces outrageous rarities. Here is our guess at what may just appear out of the blue in the UK this month. MASKED WAGTAIL This is one of those birds which have just one ‘accepted’ record in the UK, after a month-long stayer in Pembrokeshire, late in 2016. That is likely going to change soon, after a bird in the Spurn area (East Yorkshire) last mid-May. Yes, it is still ‘just’ a subspecies (of White Wagtail), but what a looker! CITRIL FINCH There have only ever been two reliably identified Citril Finches in the UK (despite a few Victorian claims). When not in the UK, it is a little (Siskin-sized) Canary-like green bird from forests of the Alps and the Pyrenees. The last was at Burnham Overy Dunes, Norfolk…

PATCH DIARY It is the second half of March as I write, and I have had an interesting few days’ birding. After a rather quiet first half of the first month of spring, things took an uplift when I got a call from my friend Don Gardener early on Friday 17th to say he had a pair of Mediterranean Gulls at our shared favoured ‘patch’ of Ferry Meadows CP (although Don is much more loyal to the site than me, and so finds much more good ‘stuff’ there!). Usually, I cycle to this park which is only a couple of miles from home, but I was already out birding elsewhere, so arrived by car and walked to where the immaculate Med Gulls were, just before they departed! These most handsome…

Bird Watching BROUGHT TO YOU IN PARTNERSHIP WITH We all sometimes need a little bit of extra encouragement to get out there and start birdwatching. And that’s what #My200BirdYear is all about — essentially, the only person you’re competing with’ is yourself. Because it’s really very simple — we challenge you to see at least 200 species of bird in 2023. Join us on Birda! You can track your progress in #My200BirdYear by joining us on the Birda app, as featured in our recent Gear Guide. Download the app, sign up for the #My200BirdYear challenge, and log your sightings as you make them. While you’re at it, Birda’s monthly and geographicallybased challenges are a great way of motivating yourself towards the bigger target, too, and by interacting with other users…

This month’s challenge is all about the birds we call tits. That is, small, acrobatic perching birds with small bills. Usually, the end bit of the description would be to say “of the family such-andsuch”. But the term ‘tit’ is used for birds of sort of similar appearance, but not necessarily a close taxonomic relationship. Indeed members of at least four bird families have the name ‘tit’ on The British List (the BOU’s ‘official’ list of all British birds). So, in the challenge, expect that there will be representatives of more than one of those ‘tit’ families. As usual, your task is to put a name to each of the British ‘tit’ species shown in the six photographs. All are regular British birds (with no rarities snuck in, despite the…

DOMINIC COUZENS ON THE… GARGANEY DOMINIC COUZENS It is the season of the first Chifchaffs, Swallows and Whitethroats, the season of reuniting with summer favourites. Soon we’ll be hearing and seeing Reed Warblers and Spotted Flycatchers, and our hearts and spirits will be lifted. And into the spring mix comes a much less familiar name, the Garganey, a smart-striped duck that is every bit the classic summer migrant. It is far too scarce to give us that same emotional lift, but its travel plans aren’t much different to, say, a Sand Martin. It leaves sub-Saharan Africa in February, arrives in March, stays until August or September and then evacuates Europe in the same way as the smaller trans-continental migrants. However, Aristotle was not heard to say: “One Garganey does not a…

MAX MILES ON FOOT: 3 MIN TIME: 3 HOURS Yellowhammers, Tree Sparrows and Grey Partridge still hang on here As gravel extraction sites are constantly changing, newly excavated pits and more established ones offer some great birding, particularly if holding water is left undisturbed. This area has undergone a lot of change in recent years, with more pits being dug. This has led to a reduction in species such as Tree Sparrow and Yellowhammers, but they are still seen and a few Grey Partridge linger on nearby farmland. PETE HACKETT WHERE TO WATCH 1 There is a small amount of parking on the roadside before reaching the Whitemoor Lakes Activity Centre, or drive slowly along the lanes where there are a few parking areas, all dependent on the work being…

The Chaffinch almost needs no introduction. It is well known and loved by almost everyone who has ever looked at a bird in the history of mankind! In the UK, it is a very common birds and is probably the most common finch in Western Europe. The male in full breeding regalia is truly awesome and the female, despite being dun-coloured and perhaps a tad overlooked, is still a smart bird: replete with her cute brown double stripe on the back of her head. Chaffinches have a wide distribution throughout much of Europe, across the Palearctic to Siberia, plus are to be found in north-western Africa. Their insistent ‘pink-pink’ calls are a familiar element of the soundtrack of our urban woodlands and parklands. Some European countries celebrate this call in…

Find the location closest to your destination and add or subtract the hours and minutes from the high tide time at London Bridge, below SOUTH WEST Weston-Super-Mare (+5:05) Barnstaple (+4:30) Newquay (+3:32) Falmouth (+3:30) Plymouth (+4:05) Torquay (+4:40) Bournemouth (-5:09)* Portland (+4:57) St Peter Port (+4:53) Swanage (-5:19)* Portsmouth (-2:29) Southampton (-2:53) SOUTH EAST Ryde (-2:29) Brighton (-2:51) Eastbourne (-2:48) Dungeness (-3:05) Dover (-2:53) Margate (-1:52) Herne Bay (-1:24) Southend-on-sea (-1:22) Clacton-on-sea (-2:00) EAST ANGLIA Felixstowe Pier (-2:23) Aldeburgh (-2:53) Lowestoft (-4:23) Cromer (+4:56) Hunstanton (+4:44) WALES Colwyn Bay (-2:47) Holyhead (-3:28) Barmouth (-5:45) Aberystwyth (-6:11) Fishguard (+5:44) Swansea (+4:42) Milford Haven (+4:37) Cardiff (+5:15) NORTH WEST Whitehaven (-2:30) Douglas (-2:44) Morecambe (-2:33) Blackpool (-2:50) NORTH EAST Skegness (+4:29) Grimsby (+4:13) Bridlington (+2:58) Whitby (+2:20) Hartlepool (+1:59) Blyth (+1:46) Berwick (+0:54)…

The winners of our first-ever Thumbnail Nature writing competition have been announced, with first prize going to a quirky but vivid evocation of a very familiar wader. Geoff Jones, of Groomsport. Co. Down will receive a pair of Maven B1.2 binoculars, after our judging panel — Dominic Couzens, Stephen Moss, Anita Roy and Amanda Tuke — chose his piece on the lovely Redshank… I’m becoming obsessed with the beauty of those legs. Long, thin, sexy and the colour of pahoehoe lava. Holy moley, you’ve guessed it. Redshank legs. Caught in the low winter sun they’re ablaze, the sweetest seaside candy. I’ve painted a toilet wall the same colour, it brightens up my life. “This one is very individual and stands out for originality. The delight of the observer and appreciation comes…

30 minute BIRDER It’s 8.45am on a blustery March morning and I’m scanning the Humber foreshore at Paull, just south-east of Hull. On the strip of rocky beach still exposed at high tide are Wigeon, Redshank, Turnstone and Teal. Behind us is a cricket pitch and my friend, nature-writer and birder Paul, tells me that the feeding Oystercatcher is at midwicket and the lone Curlew at square-leg. He’d have carried on ad infinitum in this cricketing vein if I’d let him. Today’s leisurely bird list for Hull started before I’d even got up, with a Woodpigeon and Collared Dove singing outside my bedroom window, and that sets the tone for the rest of the day. This city trip isn’t about tearing around for ticks. The plan is to list how…

The Motus Wildlife Tracking System uses fixed VHF (Very High Frequency) radio telemetry receiver stations spread across a wide geographical area to detect and monitor the movements of birds (although bats and even dragonflies can also be tracked). The creatures are fitted with tiny, ultra-lightweight ‘nanotags’, and can then be identified when they fly within 10km of a receiver. The technology is able to ‘reach’ into difficult habitat such as saltmarshes, to maintain tracking. In the UK, there are receivers along the coast from Yorkshire south to Kent, with more planned, and the intention is that the information gathered will be used for conservation, as it will allow scientists to get a much clearer picture of the movements, behaviour and life cycles of different species, especially threatened species. In particular,…

In association with MAX MILES ON FOOT: 4 MIN TIME: 3 HOURS Upland waders and much more in scenic countryside This site is in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and in the heart of limestone country, with its many pot holes and shake holes dropping down into famous underground streams and tunnels. Kingsdale Head is just short of 1,500 acres and rises up into heather moorland and peat hags, with the species you’d expect of that. JOHN MILES WHERE TO WATCH 1 You can spot a wide number of birds from your vehicle along a slow, windy road. You come off at Dent and follow down the road, especially in spring and summer, looking for species like Wheatear, Pied Wagtail, Stonechat and Whinchat, or even the dash of a hunting…

MAX MILES ON FOOT: 4.5 MIN TIME: 3 HOURS Moorland, conifer forest, river valley and Devon Wildlife Trust reserve Covering some 368 square miles, Dartmoor has a rich variety of habitats, many of which are encountered on this walk. Bellever Forest is one of the oldest plantations on the moor. Once owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, it came under the management of Forestry England (FE) in the 1930s, and this is the place to look out for Goshawk and Crossbill. Devon Wildlife Trust leased 72 hectares of FE land in 2016, encompassing wildflower meadow and rough moorland pasture. Nightjar have been recorded in the area. The area is awash with very evident Bronze Age sites: cists, stone rows and circles. SIMONE STANBROOK-BYRNE WHERE TO WATCH 1 The medieval clapper bridge,…

Garden Night Heron? Q My daughter and son-in-law live in Totley, Sheffield. They have a medium-sized suburban garden with no water present. On 9 December 2022, this bird appeared at 1814 hours on the decking outside and was noticed first because it was tapping on the glass of the patio doors. It flew off very shortly afterwards and has not been seen since. I think that this is a firstsummer/second-winter (Black-crowned) Night Heron but I appreciate that this would be an unlikely sighting. My family and I would greatly appreciate your expert view. I also attach a video which might help with identification. Thank you. Alan Burkin A Your bird is not a Night Heron, Alan, but another water bird, a Water Rail. The small size, red-based, narrow bill, black-and-white striped…

Perhaps one of the more tricky things to master in bird photography is capturing birds in flight. It can be incredibly hard and frustrating at the best of times, but when you get it right, it is extremely rewarding, too. Success will not come easily, but the more you practise and hone your craft, the more those pieces of the photography jigsaw come together, and the results improve. In the next couple of months, I’ll run through some of the basics to get you started and demonstrate that flight photography is not as intimidating as you may think. First things first, let’s talk about kit. Let me be clear from the start, I am not going to talk about heavy 600mm prime lenses combined with the latest camera body, all…

CRAGHOPPERS MEN'S NOSILIFE ADVENTURE JACKET III, £120 “The ultimate sun-protective travel jacket”. There’s NosiLife in the fabric - that’s Craghoppers’ “bug off”, anti-insect potion. The fabrics move the wet stuff away from your skin and a UPF40+ rating protects you from UV. It has day-long moisture management and odour control patches. Ten pockets, one with RFID passport protection. Made in Bangladesh. Polyamide and polyester. Guaranteed for life. In pebble or woodland green. S-XXL. craghoppers.com BLACK + BLUM BLACK JAPANESE BINCHOTAN CHARCOAL FILTER WATER BOTTLE, £12.99 This bottle has a multi-use charcoal filter which improves the taste and clarity of your H2O, balances the pH, adds calcium, iron and minerals, and reduces impurities and nasty niffs. Your water is better after an hour, and best after eight. You need to recharge…

NORTH NORFOLK NEVER FAILS TO PRODUCE THE GOODS, AND WADERS AND WILDFOWL WERE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF A LATE-WINTER DAY OUT I have been birdwatching for nearly 60 years, and although my memory takes me back a long way, to say one day is better than another is difficult to determine. In the past year alone I have been lucky enough to visit Uganda and Namibia and seen many exotic and ‘stunning’ birds, but they have been pointed out to me and then it is on to the next sighting. This day, though, was one of the best days I have had in the UK on my own, for a while. It was February, and I decided to go to the north Norfolk coast. It did not start off too well,…