Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2024 i Bird Watching

What was your favourite or most inspirational bird as a child? Jon Mason: “I grew up in central London surrounded by House Sparrows. I loved their incessant chirping, watching their squabbles and admiring their creativity when it came to nest location.” Amanda Tuke: “When I was a teen, skies seemed filled with Swallows over our Dorset farm, and I'd watch them flit from light to dark and back again through the half-open shed door.” David Chandler: “Great Crested Grebe. I took the 90B bus to Kew Gardens, paid 1p to get in, and saw Great Crested Grebe there. Wonderful birds.” David Lindo: “The Ring Ouzel inspired me as a child, and continues to do so to this day.”…

Now we are getting to the really juicy part of the second half of the year. September has increasingly become the ‘new October’, with thrilling rare birds appearing every year. Here are some less rare, but always exciting, birds to see this month. twitter.com/BirdWatchingMag facebook.com/BirdWatchingMag RARITY RATINGS Common, widely distributed Localised – always a treat Very scarce or rare WRYNECK There is something very special and attractive about birds with ‘cryptic plumage’, disguising them as bark or similar outline-breaking backgrounds. Think of the Woodcock or the Nightjar, or the Wryneck – the bizarre, scarce, migrant woodpecker, which looks like an over-sized warbler. The once common ‘Cuckoo’s mate’ is now all but extinct as a breeding bird in the UK, and far more likely to be seen on passage. Like Green…

Unpleasant, of course, but birds can be identified even after death, even when flattened by vehicles. For instance, in the past few months, assistant editor Mike Weedon has found two examples of Short-eared Owls in his beloved Peterborough area (both in south Lincolnshire), both presumably killed by cars. One was near a road being fed on by a Carrion Crow, and another (shown here) was at the roadside in a headless condition. The combination of size, shape and feathers meant they were both readily identifiable (even without heads). Found during the summer, the presence of these dead birds has raised questions about whether Short-eared Owls are in the process of colonising the East Anglian fens as breeding birds.…

NAME OF THE MONTH One might hope that the September Thorn would be well named, particularly given that one congener is called August Thorn. Sadly, the flight seasons of these two geometer moths overlap, and both are still flying this month. One good tip to distinguish this rather similar duo is that September Thorn typically sits with its wings raised at a sharp angle. PLANT Keys to success Ash trees are not having a good time of it, thanks to a fungus of Asian origin that results in ‘Ash dieback’. The Woodland Trust estimates that eight in every 10 UK Ash trees will succumb to this disease. But that should not stop us celebrating those that remain, or survive – and September is a good month to spot their distinctive…

White Storks could make London home Plans have been announced to release White Storks in London, with Citizen Zoo set to investigate the measures required to make the capital more suitable for the species, while increasing awareness and generating public support for reintroductions. The species breeds in many urban areas in mainland Europe. Birds have been released in West Sussex since 2016 at Knepp Estate, and in 2020 two pairs nested for the first time, one of them raising young. Last year was a record breeding year there. Runway converted to tern breeding site Conservationists on Islay have turned a disused runway into a potential Little Tern colony. Staff at Islay Airport and a team from Species On The Edge have transformed the runway into a ‘beach’ for the birds…

A bright orange gape catches my eye. Lurking among the heather is a Cuckoo – recently arrived from Africa, now in my back garden on the Isle of South Uist, in the Outer Hebrides. But, instead of calling for a mate, it skulks among the undergrowth. I watch it crash through the grass, following a tiny speckled bird. Its mission: to lay its egg in someone else’s nest. But this plucky little Meadow Pipit tries to deter it, furiously flapping its wings, and the Cuckoo flies away over the moorland. Only time will tell who won this game of hide and seek. I retell this story to my neighbour, and show her photos of this event. “Poor wee gocan,” she says. I look at her quizzically, asking her to repeat…

In association with os.uk/osm MAX MILES ON FOOT: 1 MIN TIME: 2 HOURS Cove Harbour is a little gem, and a tunnel was made in 1752 to give access to the cove. You walk out of the tunnel to an amazing view and, even better, it is a great place to look for birds! WHERE TO WATCH 1 Travelling between the two Berwicks you’ll find this overlooked beauty of a site. The height from the car park straight away gives you the chance to scan the sea, with St Abb’s Head only around the corner to the south. Look out for the movement of feeding Guillemots, Razorbills and Puffins, especially in the summer. Gannets are back and forth from Bass Rock while Fulmars can glide into view. 2 Walking down…

In association with os.uk/osm MAX MILES ON FOOT: 1 MIN TIME: 1.5 HOURS Located in the borough of Hackney, this relatively new nature reserve is a hidden gem surrounded by new tower blocks and adjacent to the New River waterway – previously known as the Stoke Newington East Reservoir. The 11-hectare site was opened by Sir David Attenborough in 2016 and is attractive to wintering populations of waterfowl and trans-Saharan migrant hirundines with a habitat of reed-fringed ponds and dykes. WHERE TO WATCH 1 On the water, look out for Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Shelduck, Gadwall, Shoveler, Coot, Mute Swan, Canada Geese, Little Grebe and Pochard. Many nest on site, as well as the only nesting larid – the Lesser Black-backed Gull. 2 In the reedbeds, look out for…

GET IN TOUCH birdwatching@bauermedia.co.uk facebook.com/BirdWatchingMag twitter.com/BirdWatchingMag Bird Watching, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA Unusual nest-site My father, Trevor Comley, who turns 80 in August, took this photo of a Hoopoe feeding its young in a rainwater down pipe, in El Rompido, Huelva, Andalusia, Spain. It would make his day if you can use it anywhere in Bird Watching. It is a magazine he has read for longer than I can remember, and to be in it would be the icing on the cake of a very special year! Marc Comley Merlin says Golden Oriole On Friday, 26 April 2024, I was birdwatching at Pow Hill, Derwent Reservoir in Co. Durham with a group of friends and one member was trying out his new ‘Merlin’ app when he recorded…

In October 1987, I was on the Isles of Scilly, twitching any rarity that I could reach. It was my first time on these fabled islands, and I didn’t want to miss a thing. News broke that the English mainland, and particularly the south-east, had been hit by a huge storm that did untold damage to trees and property, resulting in the unfortunate loss of human life. This unforetold event also brought inland an unprecedented host of seabirds. Several London reservoirs played host to a range of seafaring species as varied as Guillemots to Grey Phalaropes. There were also at least 25 Sabine’s Gulls at large in the capital. This gorgeous bird, a true ‘seagull’ I must add, was high on my wanted list and I even contemplated coming back…

The higher the magnification, the more you notice hand-held wobble. So, while a higher magnification can reveal more detail, it can be hard to see that detail if the view isn’t stable enough. Image stabilisation (IS) is designed to reduce the impact of wobble and deliver a more usable view. Several binocular brands have IS technology. This Fujinon has a 12x magnification – there’s also a 16×28 in the range. In the hand and in the box You might expect this to be heavy, but at 485g, it isn’t. The shape and the feel in the hands is different from most binoculars, but you get used to it. Build quality seems very good. This binocular is waterproof and will survive submersion at one metre for up to 30 minutes –…

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR 2024? #My200BirdYear challenge It was lovely to meet and speak with so many of you at the recent Global Birdfair, and one of the most heartening features of the event was the number of children and young birders that we encountered. A lot of birders regularly express fears that birding and conservation needs new blood, but on the evidence of our three days at Rutland’s Lyndon Top, the future is in safe hands. Camping in the wild might be a great way of getting youngsters interested in birding, and our feature on page 32 tells you everything you need to know about getting right into the heart of superb birdwatching habitat. Incidentally, the writer, Jon Mason, is making his return to these pages after 36…

Every four weeks, a new issue of BW comes out, and in it another prediction of outlandish rarities just waiting to be discovered by you! How about these three? GREATER YELLOWLEGS There have been about 50 accepted records of this North American equivalent of the Greenshank in the UK (far fewer than the similar, but smaller, Lesser Yellowlegs). These records are widely spread over the UK, and a decent number of these were in September. THICK-BILLED WARBLER There have been just half a dozen accepted UK records of this large, bulky, long-tailed warbler from south Siberia (which is part of the general group often called Hippolais warblers). All of the UK records have been from Shetland, and half were found in September. You know where to start your search! WHITE-RUMPED…

PATCH DIARY In the previous edition of this column, you may recall I talked of regaining my birding mojo after having my camera pinched, and having to have my faith in the general goodness of people restored. Well, that restoration went a step further soon after. My dear wife Jo’s bank card had become somewhat worn and in need of replacement. The ‘contactless’ bit still worked, until a couple of weeks ago in Lidl, when she was asked to put the card in. The chip and pin thingummy let her down, and she was embarrassed by a £50 shop she couldn’t pay for. Well she would have been, except for the total strangers behind her in the queue who, no questions asked, decided to pay the bill for her. In…

NEWS & OPINION Feral Pigeons drive Hawkeye nuts. They arrive in the garden en masse and by sheer numbers and dogged doziness oust their betters from on, at and around the feeders. A flock of 20 or so white ones, brown ones, and mock Rock Doves, taunt her from a neighbour’s roof, waiting for her to let her guard down. Then they slip into the yard, gliding down from the roof above my study window. Bully boy Starlings also get her ire ignited as they empty the suet feeder in seeming seconds while her ‘lads’, our loyal bunch of House Sparrows, barely manage a kamikaze beak-full, dodging Starling aggression. Collared Doves are classed as ‘OK’ and allowed to neck whatever is scattered under the feeders by the marauders. We are…

More than half of the remaining Scottish Gaelic-speaking population lives in the Outer Hebrides, and I’ve heard it in conversation during many visits to these islands. Records show that this Celtic language was first spoken in Scotland more than 1,500 years ago. The Highland Clearances, combined with economic hardship in the 18th and 19th Centuries, led to mass emigration and the decimation of the Gaelic-speaking community. Later, an act of parliament forbade generations of children from speaking their mother tongue in the classroom. The introduction of the Gaelic Scotland Act in 2005 eventually attributing the language the same respect as English, thereby fuelling its resurgence. Duolingo recently announced that 1.5 million people have enrolled on their Scottish Gaelic course since its launch on St Andrews Day in 2019.…

In association with os.uk/osm MAX MILES ON FOOT: 4 MIN TIME: 3 HOURS This Iron Age hillfort offers both a good viewpoint over the surrounding countryside, and some good mixed habitat, including a variety of woodland, scrub and upland heath. A visit to this site at any time of year can be rewarding, but particularly so during migration periods. WHERE TO WATCH 1 The woodland track uphill here offers the chance of Redstart and Pied Flycatcher in spring and summer, plus Spotted Flycatcher and more common woodland birds, including mixed finches and tits, Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, and more. 2 From the hilltop, scan the skies for the resident Buzzards, Red Kites, Kestrels and Sparrowhawks, while Peregrine is a regular visitor, and Merlin and Goshawk are both possible, too. Ravens…

I’m concerned and disappointed that you’ve described the Pheasant and Red-legged Partridge as ‘naturalised’ in the ID Challenge page of the July issue. These birds, especially Pheasants, are anything but naturalised. Released in their tens of millions into the countryside every single year to provide ‘sport’ for people who enjoy shooting things, Pheasants are known, beyond a shadow of a doubt, to attack our native reptiles by eating the smaller ones and pecking larger ones, such as Slow-worms and Adders, to death. Pheasants must also consume millions, if not billions, of invertebrates every year, too. The carcasses of Pheasants on the roads provide scavengers such as Foxes, Buzzards and corvids with a never-ending banquet, elevating their numbers so that they themselves may well be impacting numbers of our smaller native…

SPECIES PROFILE BULLFINCH I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like Bullfinches. They are colourful, invariably smartly attired, and just uncommon enough to be exciting every time you see them. But recently, I have discovered another reason why we should all love Bullfinches – they really are very strange. Take their voice. One of the best ways to locate a Bullfinch is by hearing the pure and slightly plaintive ‘piu’ call. Many birders know it well, but have you ever heard them making any other sounds? If you’re lucky in spring, you might hear a slow, halting phrase which sounds somewhat like a pub sign creaking in the wind. But it is so softly spoken that most people have never detected one. And yet, the Bullfinch’s abilities as a songster are…

BLACK+BLUM LUNCH BOX ORIGINAL, £21.95 This one-litre lunch box is better than a throw-away plastic bag. It “presents your food beautifully” -but don’t let that stop you eating it. It has a compartment inside, a sauce pot that doesn’t leak and a stainless steel fork. You can stick it in the dishwasher or freezer, and, apart from the lid, a microwave. BPA free, leakproof, 510g. And a little bit of the price goes to charities that reduce food waste – which is a major contributor to climate change. In olive or ocean. black-blum.com RFID CARD HOLDER WALLET, £10 It’s “perfect for bird lovers wanting to keep their card details safe and secure”. It may work reasonably well for non-birdwatchers, too. It’s designed to stop dodgy characters from scanning your card…

BIRD OF THE MONTH CURLEW SANDPIPER The Curlew Sandpiper is quite a relatively scarce passage wader, mainly seen during the more leisurely ‘return migration’ of late summer and autumn. In the bad old days of fieldguides, two distinct plumages were shown: the brick-red plumage of breeding birds, and the grey-and-white winter plumage shared with many other wading birds. However, in this enlightened age, when we all own the Collins Bird Guide, things have become easier, as you can now see illustrations of by far the commonest autumnal wader plumages: those of juvenile birds. In common with most shorebirds, Curlew Sandpipers have a distinctive juvenile plumage, quite dissimilar to those of either the breeding or wintering adults. This is the plumage you will most likely encounter in September in the UK.…

SET A TARGET OF SEEING 200 BIRDS IN ONE YEAR! #My200BirdYear ticklist Download and print off our #My200BirdYear ticklist to track your progress… www.birdwatching.co.uk/my-200-sign-up 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 you can develop your ID skills. 1 FIND RARE SEABIRDS Autumn storms, in particular, can blow rare and scarce seabirds onto our shores, or even well inland. Look for Leach’s Petrels along the west coast of the UK (especially in the Severn…

Amanda: “How is the RSPB trying to achieve that balance between access and protecting wildlife at its reserves? From memory, only a small proportion of RSPB sites have no public access…” Blánaid: “Yes, out of more than 200 reserves managed by RPSB, only a small handful are without public access – for example, Coquet Island, a highly protected and sensitive seabird colony in Northumberland. There are other reserves we’d describe as having low access, where conservation is the priority, as well as fuller access reserves where the primary focus is helping people engage with nature. Where people do have access, we look carefully at how we minimise impact on wildlife, from careful signage and skilled wardening to screening and soft barriers. Outside of reserves, one emerging issue is the increase…

Bho Bheul An Eòin/From the Bird's Mouth by Derek Robertson This beautiful bilingual book has been written and illustrated by the birder and artist Derek Robertson, with support from NatureScot and Bòrd na Gàidhlig. Not only does it include 14 newly named birds, but also a whole range of flora and fauna that have crossed the border into Scotland. This work is an important cultural record, capturing the evolution of language and the changing nature of wildlife in the region. Mrs Moreau's Warbler by Stephen Moss If you want a greater understanding of how birds were named in the English language, then look no further than this comprehensive book. Stephen Moss accompanies you on a light-hearted 1,000-year journey encompassing expeditions, events, and encounters which reveal their origins.…

One way to distinguish different groups of enthusiasts is by the slang and jargon they use and understand. ‘Members of the public’, particularly those with a political or historical leaning, may think LBJ is short-hand for Lyndon Baines Johnson (you know, the president of the USA who succeeded Kennedy and preceded Nixon). But we birdwatchers know that an LBJ is a little brown job, one of those, at first glance, nondescript birds which share the characteristics of being small and more or less brown (and sometimes streaky, to boot). Here are six birds which could be said to fit that category. The idea is to see if you can name them in more detail than simply an LBJ. Once you are happy with your answers, please turn the page to…

In association with os.uk/osm MAX MILES ON FOOT: 5 MIN TIME: 2 HOURS With habitats including wet and dry heath, mire, open water, woodland and acid grassland, Strensall Common is a fantastic place for wildlife, including heathland birds, reptiles and insects. This walk starts on the part of the common that’s managed by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, before crossing the road to explore the wider heathland. WHERE TO WATCH 1 Some of my best sightings have been in the patch of woodland in this corner of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve, just across the railway, including my one and only Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, a few years ago. You might also find Marsh Tits here, along with Treecreepers, Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers, and other woodland species. In late spring, keep an…

In association with os.uk/osm MAX MILES ON FOOT: 3.5 MIN TIME: 3 HOURS The South West Coast path between Lyme Regis in Dorset and Axmouth in Devon travels through the astonishing Bindon landslide, the remains of a geological ‘incident’ that took place in December 1839. This whole stretch of Undercliffs was designated a National Nature Reserve in 1955; it is a region of dense woodland and spectacular wildlife that extends some seven miles between the two towns, straddling the county boundary. This walk visits the eastern end of the NNR and also heads inland slightly from the coast path, though the whole extent of this remarkable area is well worth exploring. WHERE TO WATCH 1 The Cobb is Lyme Regis’s iconic harbour wall. Its sloping top is a good vantage…

Q Can you help with a bird sighting over the weekend, sitting in the Christmas tree out of the lounge window? It was about the size of a sparrow with the mottling of a Dunnock, but a distinct white throat. I can’t find anything on the internet about it; the closest seems to be a Grasshopper Warbler. It didn’t appear to be a young bird, and moved quite erratically, like maybe a flycatcher would, but then sat as you see here (right) for a minute or so. I live in the Scottish Borders. Steve Martin A Your bird is indeed a juvenile Dunnock, Steve. The bill shape (and indeed the overall shape) are typical of a Dunnock, but the pattern of juveniles is a bit more streaky than their parents,…

According to seabird specialist Peter Harrison, one of his Cornish birding buddies, Ted Griffiths, found a Glossy Ibis on a farm manure heap near Wadebridge. Griffiths took Harrison to the spot. The bird was still there. As they were watching it, a motorbike with a throbbing engine arrived, ridden by another birding buddy, Howard Medhurst. Hearing the noise, the bird took off, never to be seen again. Having travelled overnight, Medhurst was freezing, but his only words were, “Where is it? Where is it?” The others said, “It's gone, Howard. It's gone.” At this, Medhurst started to twitch. Griffiths said, “My God, he's twitching. He's going to have a seizure!” From that point, so the story goes, anyone who travelled a great distance to see a rare bird was called…

In last month’s article, I wrote about the importance of taking your own path. A recent experience gave me cause to want to expand on this theme and share some of my newest images as inspiration for your own work. I write this having just returned from a very pleasurable day at Global Birdfair, an event I’m sure many of you will also have enjoyed. For me, it’s an opportunity to catch up with the many friends and contacts I have made over the years, and to meet new people who share my passions. One of the promises I had made was to collect a copy of a photography book for a friend who had written the foreword. I duly made arrangements to meet the book’s author, and subsequently arrived…

BIRD TRACKS BY JOHN RHYDER AND DAVID WEGE HISTORY PRESS, SB, £25 Most folk do it by sight, some by call or song, and now you can do it by ID-ing birds’ tracks. Yes, birdwatching has taken another turn, thanks to this book. One of the problems, of course, is that some species are very hard to tell apart, such as Grey Partridge and Red-legged Partridge. Even more confusing can be the types of material that the bird has been standing in, as very wet mud, for example, can expand the print. But this book tells you how to overcome these obstacles, and gives you the ‘get up and ID’ feeling – you can photograph any tracks you come across and then check the book to identify them. BOOK OF…

SOUTH WEST Highlights Rare seabirds dominated June’s news in the SW, with the UK’s third Red-footed Booby off Portland and even landing on a boat for a while off the Dorset coast. A Brown Booby passed Porthgwarra, Cornwall. Meanwhile, a Solitary Sandpiper was the rarest wader, on St Mary’s, Scilly, mid-month. In association with AVON CLEVEDON-WESTON-SUPER-MARE: Sand Point had a Bar-tailed Godwit and Fulmar (11th), and four Kittiwakes, a ‘commic’ tern, Sandwich Tern and seven Gannets (16th). Two Avocets were at Clevedon-Yeo (8th). Two Little Ringed Plovers were at Portbury Wharf. SEVERNSIDE: Cranes twice flew over Oldbury. Severnside had seven Avocets, six Little Ringed Plovers, four Sanderling, a Knot (1st), Temminck’s Stint (12th-14th), five Black-tailed Godwits, a Greenshank (30th), a few Kittiwakes, a Guillemot (15th), two Fulmars, 12 Manx Shearwaters…