Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2018 i Bird Watching

My feet were already tapping to a salsa beat as we emerged from the airport terminal into a warm Havana evening. For the next two weeks as we travelled around Cuba, enjoying the fabulous birds of this beautiful island, our evenings were accompanied by the irresistible sound of bands playing traditional Cuban love songs and dances. During the day, however, we were out enjoying Caribbean birdwatching at its very best. Cuba was a new destination for us and it was a revelation. To start with, it’s bigger than expected, being nearly 800 miles long and about 55 miles wide. It also encompasses a variety of diverse habitats including mangrove swamps, dry forest, limestone outcrops, savannah grasslands and sandy beaches, which are home to an exciting range of birds, including 25…

This summer birding walk is located just off the main A9 south-east of Inverness in a valley tributary of the River Findhorn with great views across the surrounding whale-back mountain tops of the Grampians. The still waters of Loch Moy, complete with an island and ruined castle, is a favoured location for a passing Osprey or White-tailed Eagle which can often be seen perched on dead trees on the island. Black-throated Diver also pause a while to fish, as all three species breed locally. Funntack Burn to the south of the loch flows through a boggy field which is a good spot for Whinchat, and during the evening a hunting Long-eared Owl. Large flocks of Swallows, martins and Swifts often feed on the vast clouds of midges rising off the…

This is a very interesting walk with woodland, open areas and the half-mile long lake adding lots of water birds to the list. The ‘pool’ was actually created around 1766, when two lakes in the garden of the then Sundorne Castle were joined together. Even now the lake itself and much of the surrounding land is private, but the public footpath passes close to part of the lake and the views are very good with plenty of birds to see, so remember to take your bins. Note that in the lake area the local landowners are very particular about people wandering off the public path – but don’t worry because everything can be seen from the path, which is very close to the lake in parts. From the start of…

The Glamorgan Heritage Coast with its cliffs and secluded coves stretches for 14 miles from Aberthaw to Porthcawl, with Dunraven Bay below the village of Southerndown providing a key access point to the coastal path. However, there’s no connection with Ravens, as Dunraven, in Welsh Dyndryfan, means the fortress of the three rocks or triangular fortress. The popular sandy beach at Dunraven Bay is fringed on the north by the Dancing Stones, large flat-topped boulders and on the south by the headland of Tyryn y Witch – the Witch’s Point. Here are the remains of an Iron Age hillfort and the outlines of 12 pillow mounds, purpose built during the Middle Ages as accommodation for Rabbits, when large numbers were taken for food. Barely sheltered from the worst of the…

Britain is a great place to witness the migration of many types of bird. We are well served with large-scale movements and impressive flocks. But when it comes to the migration of birds of prey, our position as an island off the European continent counts heavily against us. It takes freak conditions to bring anything out of the ordinary over here. People still speak about the Honey Buzzard ‘invasion’ of September 2000, when about 1,000 of these birds were blown over on a south-easterly gale from the continent. That, for us, is an enormous event. In some parts of the world, it is what you see in your lunch break. This means that, when a travelling British birder finally witnesses the spectacle of raptor migration in suitable areas, the experience…

You may think that urban birding on the streets of Cali would not be on the cards, especially after watching the various Netflix series about the drug cartels based in Colombia. This stigma also affects the country’s other notable cities, like Bogotá and Medellín . Well, certainly in Cali (or Santiago de Cali to give it its full name) you can enjoy safe, stress-free birding provided you go to recognised reserves or are in the company of a local who knows the lay of the land. The people of Cali are, in the main, very friendly and helpful, if a bit curious when encountering urban birders. The western side of the city is generally more affluent and, as a consequence, safer for birding. A good place to start exploring the…

THERE are all sorts of reasons why you might prefer to use a very small, lightweight spotting scope, not least that it can make life a lot easier if you’re travelling by air. But there’s a balance to be struck – lack of bulk is no good if the scope isn’t offering anything you can’t get from a good pair of bins. So, I thoroughly enjoyed putting Hawke’s Endurance ED 50mm scope through its paces over several weeks. On the first count, it scores very highly. It weighs just 745g with the 12x-36x eyepiece included, and it really is pretty dinky. I found it easy to stow it away in the main pockets or the inside pocket of my winter coat, or even the inside pocket of a fleece or…

A frozen start to the month melted to reveal Snowy Owls around the country March was a month which started snowy and the snowy theme continued to dominate proceedings. The Beast from the East, as the big late February/early March freeze was tagged, brought some hideous conditions for birds, with tragic consequences. Birders started noticing unusual build-ups of birds such as Lapwings and Golden Plovers and winter thrushes, in unusual places, with Woodcocks and Snipes appearing in several gardens. Exhausted plovers almost became a ‘trend’ on social media, and there were inevitable mortalities of birds unable to flee to a warmer haven (when our island climate is so often the ‘warmest’ place around). There were few rare displaced birds found at this time, and even getting out and about to…

The Shag is one of those birds which somehow duck beneath the radar. The UK is rightly renowned for its seabird cities, with sea cliffs bustling with the famous spectacles of rows of Guillemots and Razorbills, or mind-blowing colonies of giant Gannets. The skies resound with the calls of Kittiwakes and Fulmars swoop around like mini-albatrosses. But who remembers the Shags? This is odd, as a Shag in full breeding plumage is an extraordinary and exotic sight, complete with quiff-like, curly crest, deep almost black green plumage and emerald green eye. And they are not uncommon as breeding birds in the UK, mainly in the north and west. In fact there are about 27,000 pairs breeding in the UK, which is three times as many pairs as there are the…

There are two subspecies of Black-tailed Godwit in the UK, and one of them is in real trouble. The birds you’re likely to see in winter are of the islandica race, which stay here or drop in on passage, and we can get large flocks on the coast, and at the Nene and Ouse Washes (Cambs/Norfolk). Most of these breed in Iceland, but a small number nest regularly in Orkney and Shetland. The nominate limosa subspecies, nests here in small numbers, around 50 pairs. There are other populations of this subspecies in the Netherlands, France and Germany. In the winter, they fly south to Portugal, Spain and West Africa. If you’ve been birding in China or Russia, you may have seen a third subspecies, melanuroides . At the beginning of…

The Somerset Levels are a coastal plain and wetland area, running south from the Mendips to the Blackdown Hills. They have an area of about 160,000 acres and are bisected by the Polden Hills; the areas to the south are drained by the River Parrett, the areas to the north by the Rivers Axe and Brue, while the Mendip Hills separate the Levels from the much smaller North Somerset Levels. Made up of marine clay ‘levels’ along the coast and inland peat-based ‘moors’, agriculturally, approximately 70% is used as grassland and the rest as arable. Willow and Teasel are grown commercially, while peat is extracted. So, the Levels have been managed for millennia. Subsequently, the Levels are also saturated with history. A Palaeolithic flint tool found in West Sedgemoor is…

Many folk go to Holy Island for religious reasons, and my visits have certainly felt like a pilgrimage as the island holds a glowing reputation for its birds and flora. It was the site of the first ever bird protection decree, made by St Cuthbert himself for the Eider (sometimes called the St Cuthbert’s or Cuddy Duck locally). Of course, there is the priory and a castle, not to mention its location on the east coast that draws in migrants from across the North Sea. I have visited in all four seasons and you definitely need to check the tide tables to get on and off the island. Whatever the season, the island always sees crowds of folk, but by using the walk along the shore, you’ll avoid the masses.…

These two Birmingham parks, just a stone’s throw away from each other, offer a surprisingly varied array of birdlife, from waterbirds to passage migrants, and a good list of those that breed. Perry Hall Park, the larger of the two, is the best for passage migrants, with the River Tame running through the centre of the park, while Perry Park Pool, lying in the shadows of the Alexander Stadium, offers a varied but small selection of wildfowl during the winter months. We will start the walk in Perry Park, where the pool will be the main interest. Wildfowl during the winter include Wigeon, Gadwall, Pochard, Teal, Shoveler, Little Grebe, Mute Swan and fishing Cormorant. The surrounding fields host good numbers of gulls including the locally scarce Common Gull. The path…

This is a region shaped over centuries by the powerful forces of nature. Behind the coast at Lynmouth, the fast-flowing, boulder-strewn East Lyn River hastens through a deep and densely wooded gorge to the sea. This is the area which, in 1952, succumbed to appalling floods after nine inches of rain in 24 hours. The already swollen rivers of the East and West Lyn were unable to cope with the deluge, Lynmouth and its environs bearing the full force of millions of tonnes of water and its accompanying debris. Sadly, 34 people died. A tranquil garden marks the site of destroyed houses, now a haven for wildlife. Along this stretch of river, there are always Dipper and Grey Heron may be seen. The river leads to the National Trust’s historic…

SPECIES FACTFILE SPOTTED FLYCATCHER Scientific name: Muscicapa striata Length: 13.5-15cm Wingspan: 23-25cm UK numbers: 36,000 breeding territories Habitat: Often woodland, with open glades Diet: Flying insects Summer treats often come in small, brown form. Think of the rapturous songs of Nightingale, Garden Warbler and Sedge Warbler, characters that are soberly-clad but prone to vocalise as if high on summer spirits. Think of the Sand Martin, seemingly of weak and hesitant flight, yet so often the first spring arrival to lift the mood, fluttering against the powerful winds and uncertain weather of those daffodil weeks. Think, too, of the Whitethroat, with a song no better than a drunk karaoke on a Friday night, with a totally unimaginative, up-and-down display-flight, and yet a bird to encapsulate the enthusiasm and optimism of…

Can you explain Toucan names? QI have just purchased the May edition of the magazine, and was interested in the article by David Chandler about Panama. I was in Costa Rica in January, and one of the toucans we saw was the one shown in the article on page 72. It is described as the Chestnutmandibled Toucan. However, in Costa Rica, it is called the Black-mandibled Toucan. Looking at the photo in the magazine, and the illustration in the Costa Rica field guide, it appears to be the same species. Can you shed any light on the name difference? Keith Harris, Chertsey, Surrey A The Chestnut-mandibled Toucan (Ramphastos ambiguous swainsonii), also sometimes known as Swainson’s Toucan, is a subspecies of Yellow-throated Toucan, and is found in Central America and South…

June is a month to unwind slightly from the rush of spring migration and enjoy some of our fine breeding birds, including the seabirds and heathland birds featured here. We also include a rare breeding bird among the five birds to go looking for this month. Remember, it may be summer, but some great birds are still on the move right now. 1 BLACK GUILLEMOT Arguably our prettiest auk (though Puffins may complain about this), the delightful little Black Guillemot is a bird of the rocky coasts of western and northern Scotland (especially the Northern Isles) as well as Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and Anglesey. Rather than being a cliff nester (like its larger cousins), it nests among boulders. There are nearly 20,000 UK breeding pairs. Black Guillemots…

ROOK Though no-one is certain, the name of the Rook is almost certainly derived from its call, the soft cawing call which is so familiar from the breeding colonies and fly-over birds. The chess piece with the same name has an unrelated etymology; it is thought to be from Arabic or Persian words for ‘chariot’ or ‘war chariot’ which may have become confused with the Italian word ‘rocca’ meaning tower. The bird’s scientific name Corvus frugilegus means fruit-picking raven (or crow).…

CARDINAL SIN A MEDIUM-SIZED, SUN-LOVING INSECT, RED-HEADED CARDINAL BEETLE IS CHARACTERISTIC OF SUMMER HEDGEROWS LANDSCAPE FIELDS ON FIRE I have a soft spot for the flaming fields of Common Poppy that flare up in our countryside. I love them for thriving on disturbed land – which is why they blossomed amid the bloody battlefields of World War I and came to symbolise remembrance. And I love them for being the county flower of my adopted home, Norfolk. A swathe of the northeast coast is even nicknamed ‘Poppyland’. INVERTEBRATE BARBOUR-COATED MOTH Choose a sunny day to visit open grassland, heathland or sand dunes in fortunate pockets of the country, and you may encounter a rather striking day-flying moth. In flight, Foresters are almost beetle-like, meandering without any apparent urgency. At close…

One of the main reasons I moved to the Somerset Levels, just over a decade ago, was the birdlife. OK, I convinced my wife that we needed to be near Bristol for my work, and in the catchment area for good local schools – which we were. But, in truth, I had fallen in love with these watery flatlands a few years earlier, around the turn of the millennium, when I led an outing there for the Field Studies Council. Looking back, I wonder now what all the fuss was about. OK, so we saw a few Little Egrets, along with Great Crested Grebes, and a Hobby or two. We may even have caught sight of a Marsh Harrier, then only an occasional wanderer this far west. We didn’t see…

Chough chicks hatch naked, during April, after 21 days incubation. Broods usually consist of up to five chicks per adult pair. For the first few weeks, chicks will be kept hidden in nests, while their parents take it in turns to feed them on invertebrates, such as ants, larvae, dung beetles and grasshoppers. During June, chicks will begin to venture out of the nests. They will ‘boulder’, meaning they leave the nest, take short test flights and head to the nearest rocky area, to hide again. After a month, chicks will fledge, but remain with their parents for around a month before becoming independent. The young birds will join up to explore the area, before pairing up and settling on their own nest site. Choughs usually pair for life and…

I had heard a lot about this area from a friend who had stayed up here, so on a bright sunny day gave the area a good going over, and was I glad I did! Being so far north it does take some reaching, but that means you’ll probably stay for a longer look at fantastic beaches, sea cliffs and inland moorland to explore. It is also not a place where you think you will bump into birders, but I was there on a day when migrants were on a high. The Balnakeil beach was full of Dunlin, Sanderlings and Ringed Plovers, not forgetting beautiful Turnstones in full breeding plumage. Purple Sandpipers were on the rocky areas while there was a ‘twitch’ for a northerly Little Ringed Plover. There were…

This is one of the most exciting woods on the River Irthing, with a Roman quarry as well as the Hadrian’s Wall footpath running through it. Both the Wall and the Vallum (an associated earthwork) no longer exist here, as stone has been plundered to build the local farms, but parts of the Wall show well not far west and east of here. Most of the wood has been felled at some time, with several exotics planted, including Wellingtonia. An area of ‘hanging oak’ woodland only exists due to lack of opportunity to extract the timber due to the incline. A nestbox scheme here encourages a large number of Pied Flycatchers to nest, as well as increasing the Redstart population. Birds still hang on here, with natural holes caused by…

This is a very interesting area of generally flat farmland that was once a peaty wet marshland, but it is very good for birdwatching, particularly the area overlooked by the hide, which is owned by Wall Farm and managed under Environmental Stewardship with the idea to encourage wetland breeding birds, which it certainly does. At one time the area overlooked by the hide was drained, but now this is reversed and water is pumped from the nearby Strine Brook to create a most magnificent wetland absolutely irresistible to water birds such as Wigeon, Shoveler, Teal and Pintail. Of course, added to these are the birds you will spot along the hedgy lanes depending upon the time of year. Overhead, various birds of prey have been recorded here, including Kestrel, Buzzard,…

Situated on the northern rim of the New Forest National Park, Plaitford Common includes all the classic forest habitats concentrated into a relatively small manageable area suitable for a morning or evening birding walk. The acid soils support typical heathland vegetation, now swathed in the purple flowers of ling along with associated birch and gorse scrub favoured by those classic New Forest specialties, such as Dartford Warbler, Wood Lark and, at dusk, Nightjar. Woodland enclosures and scattered trees still support small numbers of Redstart, Tree Pipit and Wood Warbler plus commoner warblers, tits and finches. A conifer strip is good for both species of crests and, as the summer progresses, Crossbills are certainly likely. Check solitary Scots Pines for perched Hobbies on the lookout for flying insects. From mid-morning, soaring…

Barn Owl By: Don Davis Camera: Canon EOS-1D X Mk II Lens: 300mm Shutter Speed: 1/1.250 Aperture: f/6.3 ISO: 1,000 Blue Tit By: Jim Hutchins Camera: Canon EOS-1D X Lens: 800mm Shutter Speed: 1/5,000 Aperture: f/9 ISO: 10,000 Glossy Ibis By: Mark Butterworth Camera: Nikon D7100 Lens: 150-600mm Shutter Speed: 1/250 Aperture: f/5.0 ISO: 100 Grey Heron By: Kevin Bowers Camera: Nikon D7200 Lens: 150-600mm Shutter Speed: 1/1,250 Aperture: f/8.0 ISO: 800 SEND US YOUR BEST PHOTOS Send us your best birding snaps to birdwatching@bauermedia.co.uk every month to be in with a chance of seeing your photo in print. All images should be high resolution (300dpi). Get in touch with Bird Watching Bird Watching, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA birdwatching@bauermedia.co.uk facebook.com/BirdWatchingMag twitter.com/BirdWatchingMag…

A couple of years ago, I left London. It was an amicable break-up, but we don’t see much of each other anymore. I live in Lincolnshire now on the banks of the River Welland – I see films at the local arts centre at least two months later than my friends in the capital and I spend a lot of time looking out of the window at birds. It’s live entertainment, so I’ve not much need for TV. I am what you might call an accidental birdwatcher – I was never trying to attract any bird in particular, I was just observing what was already there. If you focus too hard on one thing, you’re going to blur out the rest of the picture, and that’s where the real action…