Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2025 i Bird Watching

birdwatching.co.uk/my200 February is one of those months when you can really grasp the positive side of being a birder - while everybody else is bracing themselves for a last slog through the worst of the winter weather, we can usually find a few signs of spring to warm the cockles and lift the heart. The noisy drumming of woodpeckers is one of those, as you'll see on page 28, but there are plenty of others, and not always the obvious ones such as the dawn chorus. When you're out and about this month, take note of all those subtle hints that birds are giving each other, and us, that spring is almost with us, and marvel at how nature runs absolutely to its own timetable, regardless of the labels we…

twitter.com/BirdWatchingMag facebook.com/BirdWatchingMag RARITY RATINGS Common, widely distributed Localised – always a treat Very scarce or rare STONECHAT The cute little Stonechat is a tough guy, which stays within the UK throughout the year. Part of the secret of its survival is that it heads downhill from its upland breeding grounds to spread out over milder lowlands for the winter months. At any time of year, these perky little chats habitually perch on top of tall 'weeds', small bushes and hedges, along fence lines etc, looking to the ground for signs of movement (they often feed on hairy caterpillars in the winter). Often, if you spot one bird, its partner will be nearby. Males have blacker heads and throats (and backs), contrasting with the white neck sides and orange breast; females…

Download and print off our #My200BirdYear ticklist to track your progress… tinyurl.com/2025targetlist 1 USE YOUR EARS Many birds will be starting to sing, by mid-February at least, so this is the perfect time for you to start learning bird songs. You can use an app such as Merlin for help, but remember that it can make mistakes. There's no substitute for learning, say, the 20 most common bird songs yourself – that way you'll notice anything new or unusual as the spring progresses. It can also be a particularly good way of tracking down some of the more difficult to find passerines, or of separating otherwise similar species – we're thinking of Marsh Tit and Willow Tit here, for example. 2 CATCH THE EARLY BIRDS Some species, such as Grey Heron and…

“I started birding when I was eight, and most of my early experiences were in the French mountains. As most birders do, I began with binoculars looking for birds but realised that many species were much easier to hear than see. So, if I wanted to see more birds I needed to get into acoustics and I slowly shifted from birdwatching to bird listening. “Later on, I trained as an ecologist and my interest in using bioacoustics began when I was in Wisconsin, USA, 10 years ago on, an ecology internship. There are lots of US birds with calls which are very difficult to distinguish from each other, so ornithologists there had begun creating sonograms of these calls. I thought that was super-cool and was surprised to find out no…

Say Colombia, and the Andes Mountains come to mind, running north-south through the country. They are in fact split into three separate branches or 'cordilleras': the Central, Eastern and Western cordilleras, and that separation is one reason for Colombia being so bird-rich. We were staying in Manizales in the Central Andes and were busily preparing for an exciting day birdwatching at high altitude. Padded jackets, warm hats and gloves were going to be needed, as well as sunglasses and sunscreen. We made an early start before dawn as the road was slow and winding and we wanted to maximise our birding time in this very special region. As the sun came up, we needed a pit stop, which was perfect timing as we reached the Laguna Negra Parque Reserva Natural.…

In association with os.uk/osm MAX MILES ON FOOT: 2 MIN TIME: 2 HOURS This is a nature reserve managed by the North Wales Wildlife Trust, and has recorded at least 190 species over the years. There's a brackish lagoon, plus woodland and scrub, making for lots of variety in a small area. WILLIAM JAMES WHERE TO WATCH 1 The Kingfisher (Glas y Dorlan) Hide overlooks a brackish lagoon. Expect Little Grebe, plus possible Kingfisher, Redshank and Water Rail in the autumn and winter. Wintering Greenshanks are also a speciality here. Sedge Warbler. Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff are present in spring and summer. Check overhead for raptors, particularly Buzzard and Peregrine. 2 Check for woodland species such as Blackcap, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Spotted Flycatcher. In the lagoon, look for Grey…

I happen to live a 10-minute drive from the Hawk Conservancy near Andover in Hampshire. Now, you would think that, with such an amazing resource on my doorstep, I would be a regular visitor, to photograph the enormous range of iconic species they have in their collection. However, I've never really been one to photograph captive birds too often, and I am an infrequent patron at best. But in mid-December I met a good friend there for a catch up and a day's photography. This visit reminded me of the appeal that these centres can have, especially for those just getting into bird photography. They are perfect places to practise and hone your skills in an environment with a diverse range of species that you can get very close to…

CUCKOO BY CYNTHIA CHRIS REAKTION BOOKS, SB, £13.95 This book is the latest in a massive series covering everything from swan and swallow, to beetle and wasp. They all share the same format, with six chapters on subjects as diverse as myth and madness, what exactly a Cuckoo is, the future of the species, and not forgetting a chapter on cuckoo clocks. The BTO's ground-breaking tracking work is in there, and lots of useful information, with notes on other species of cuckoo. It's a wide-ranging and always interesting volume. BOOK OF THE MONTH UNDERSTORY A YEAR AMONG WEEDS BY ANNA CHAPMAN PARKER DUCKWORTH, HB, £18.99 Here is a story of a monthly look around the north for weeds, often growing in unusual places. Seed dispersal, of course, is an amazing…

Ian Parsons: “I love seeing the first Swallow, but for me it's hearing 'chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff'.” Simone Stanbrook-Byrne: “It's the first time in the year that I hear Sky Larks singing above the field behind my house.” James Lowen: “Wheatear. The first time I see a flash of white on its tail sends my heart thumping and my mind racing about what spring will bring.” Amanda Tuke: “The first Chiffchaff singing in my woodland patch is confirmation that winter has ended.” …and the Bird Watching team's answers Matt Merritt: “We usually get a little passage of Curlews in mid-February, heading north to their breeding grounds.” Mike Weedon: “I am a sucker for the first Swallow of spring, which I declare as meaning summer is here!” Cover pic: Great Spotted Woodpecker PAUL…

WINTER STUNNER 'Mothing' in the depths of winter risks being uninspiring, with any moths caught often being a little on the grey or brown side. By mid-February, however, there are real prospects of a proper 'stunner'. Oak Beauty is pleasingly large and boldly patterned with swathes of silver and milk chocolate. Despite the moth's name, its caterpillars nibble on the leaves of a variety of deciduous trees, meaning that it is widely distributed. PLANT Kiss under the… We may associate Mistletoe with snatched Yuletide embraces, but it's actually a prominent feature of our countryside – particularly in winter. Should you see a series of leafy green spheres, up to a metre in diameter, high in an otherwise bare tree, the chances are that they are this semi-parasitic evergreen shrub. Its…

Thanks to the amazing efforts of thousands of dedicated volunteers, BTO has been monitoring the status of the UK's birds for almost a hundred years. One significant project is the Breeding Birds Survey (BBS). As a result of this long-running citizen science initiative, we have been able to map the declines in such iconic species as Turtle Dove, Swift and Curlew, while also detecting increases and range expansions in birds like Goldfinch, Nuthatch and Cetti's Warbler. The BBS is a partnership project organised by BTO, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and the RSPB, and feeds into the annual Wild Bird Indicators, which constitute part of the UK government's biodiversity framework. The vast volume of data are widely used in research, and the information has always been available upon request…

When autumn arrived, it was impossible not to be caught up in migration fever, and each day, I spent a few minutes checking which notable birds had turned up in London. If you've read this column before, you'll know I'm no more than a micro-twitcher – only prepared to down tools if the bird's perhaps just a few miles away. So the Yellow-browed Warbler, just down the road on the River Poole behind Sainsbury's, fitted the bill. There was no sight or sound of it when I visited, but I did bump into Paul, who was the first to find it, and a friendly birder, Jill, who had travelled down from North London for a chance of it. It wasn't a completely wasted trip. As well as some shopping, it…

We are now in the depths of winter, with February often being the coldest of all months, in this country. And with the cold may come snow. Sometimes, birds, like it or not (which mainly equates to not), are forced to go about their business in the snow. And this snow can play tricks of the light on the appearance of birds, sometimes illuminating them from below in unexpected ways, sometimes simply increasing the contrast between the bird and the background. So, the challenge here is to identify birds in these snowy conditions. The 'rules' are the same as usual: just try to put a name to the birds you see, here. Then, when you are comfortable with your answers and want to be put out of your misery, turn…

In association with os.uk/osm MAX MILES ON FOOT: 3 MIN TIME: 4 HOURS The Eskmeals gun range may be out of bounds, but the area still has a lot to offer, mainly due to the minor road running parallel with the site. There is even a nature reserve to visit when the range is not firing. JOHN MILES WHERE TO WATCH 1 The area is named after the River Esk, and the first part of this visit offers a chance to look over the tidal river and mudflats to find species like Little Egret, Greenshank, Redshank, Curlew, Lapwing and Dunlin during the autumn/winter, with rarer migrant waders like Wood and Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Spotted Redshank and Ruff in autumn – Whimbrel is more a spring migrant. Check the gulls…

In association with os.uk/osm MAX MILES ON FOOT: 5 MIN TIME: 4 HOURS A circular walk that takes in a variety of agricultural and wooded habitats on the drier, undulating landscape of the Low Weald is in complete contrast to the low-lying flatlands of Walland Marsh with its arable lands, sheep-grazed permanent pasture, hedgerows and spinneys. The Royal Military Canal zone and adjacent drainage ditches are bordered by patches of reed and sedge, mature trees, scrub and rough grassland. PAUL TRODD WHERE TO WATCH 1 The hedgerows and spinney along Hogg Lane back towards the railway crossing are good for singing Turtle Dove, Cuckoo and Nightingale, plus Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Cetti's Warbler. Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroats, Long-tailed Tit, Yellowhammer, Linnet and Bullfinch are regularly seen here and along the northern…

Have you ever heard of a 'ringing flight'? Apparently, this term describes a death dance between a Merlin and its potential prey. The Merlin locks on to a bird such as a Sky Lark, the lark takes evasive action by flying upwards in a circular path, the Merlin follows and the two spiral upwards into the sky, to be lost to sight. When they are no longer visible, the outcome isn't known, which makes the experience unusually evocative. Many birders have watched this happen in real life, and most +in their hearts would admit to being on the Sky Lark's side. The nagging persistence of the Merlin's ringing flight, though, is one of this miniature predator's characteristics. Many times I have seen it in guided missile mode, seemingly locked on…

FACT FILE GREAT KNOT Calidris tenuirostris • Size: 27cm • Closest Relative: (Red) Knot • Conservation Status: Endangered • UK Status: Vagrant • Pub quiz fact: Great Knot is also known as the Great Sandpiper or Japanese Knot. The Great Knot is another of those birds that wader-lovers in the UK would dearly love to happen upon. Although I personally have not seen this impressive shorebird in these lands, I have been lucky enough to see them within their more normal range, in Thailand. It is a species that breeds in Siberia and heads south to south-eastern Asia and Australia, to pass the northern winter in sometimes large flocks. It is thought that Australia plays host to most of the world's Great Knots. Thinking about it, the Great Knot is…

RAVEN The Raven is the epitome of cool among birds. Not so much shy, they are more wary in a wise way, constantly aware of their surroundings, cautious of approaching danger. They are never flushed up in panic like a Pheasant or Snipe. Rather, they simply fly off casually to a safe distance, as if they had everything well under control. They are so cool they even regularly and habitually fly upside-down, only for a second or so, demonstrating tremendous prowess in their aerial abilities. This will be a show-off display, off course, usually to a partner nearby, as Ravens often move in pairs, or small family groups. At this time of year, paired birds are already nesting, often laying eggs by late February. The nest is a massive structure…

Please let me be the last to wish you a Happy New Year. After all, you are, by the inevitable magic of time travel, reading this in the future - it is still the first week of January as I write this. In the January issue of BW, in addition to rushing through my highlights of an exceptional 2024, I brought you as up to date as possible on the progress of my local year list. I left you with my 2024 Peterborough area list on 196 species (or 195 with the eventual binning of Green-winged Teal as a full species). Well, I can tell you now that in the last few weeks of the year I was able to add two more species. The first was an astonishing find…

If you have stuck with me (here and elsewhere) for the past two decades, you may recall a piece (2010) called 'reasons to be cheerful…' (To be fair the first 400 words were 'reasons to be grumpy'…). In it, I described a seawatch that “…suddenly went horribly right! It turned completely apple-shaped; a patch so purple it practically proclaimed itself the pontiff!”. A seawatch where I didn't turn up on the wrong day, at the wrong time, in the wrong season, with the wrong weather. After swearing that my normal form was to do all of the above, I described how, just for once, I got it right. The tide was high and so were the winds; the birds were so close, they sometimes hovered over my head. Without a…

How did you get into nocmigging? “I've been a birder for forever but I first got into sound recording back in 2017. Recognition of the value of sound recording was really taking off about then, and it worked really well for me as, having started a family, I had less time for birding away from home. I started by sticking a simple mic on the outside of my shed-office window and, working late one evening, I was pleased to be able to add Moorhen and Water Rail to my garden bird list.” What times of year is it worth trying night recording? “From August into November and then in March and April you will pick up the peaks of migration, but it's always worth sticking the mic out for a…

In association with os.uk/osm MAX MILES ON FOOT: 3 MIN TIME: 4 HOURS Brora is better known for its golf course, and as a stopping-off point for the long drive north into Caithness or to catch the boat to Orkney, but it has its own special birding attractions. JOHN MILES WHERE TO WATCH 1 This car park is ideal for scanning the sea and rocksm checking especially for gulls at any time of the year, with a wide choice of species possible. Little Gulls often feed offshore and even Bonaparte's has been found feeding with them. Check the rocks for anything from Kittiwake to Kumlien's, Glaucous and Iceland Gulls. Rock Pipits are common here but even Scandinavian Rock Pipit has turned up as well. Mixed waders have used the area,…

In association with os.uk/osm MAX MILES ON FOOT: 3 MIN TIME: 2 HOURS While it has lost some of its former glory (the likes of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Redstart were once found here), and can get busy with walkers etc, this Oak woodland still has plenty to offer the patient birder, especially at the beginning of spring. MATT MERRITT WHERE TO WATCH 1 The main areas of ancient woodland are always worth checking for interesting migrants such as Redstart, Pied Flycatcher and Wood Warbler during passage periods, although more likely are warblers such as Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Garden Warbler. At all times expect the commoner tits and finches, plus Nuthatch, Treecreeper and Goldcrest. 2 Around the former quarry areas, listen for Cetti's Warbler, and look overhead in…

GET IN TOUCH birdwatching@bauermedia.co.uk facebook.com/BirdWatchingMag twitter.com/BirdWatchingMag Bird Watching, Media House. Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA Garden eagle I just wondered what you think of this photo of a Booted Eagle, in my garden in Portugal. She had being circling our field, then came in really fast under the pomegranate tree and hit a Collared Dove. Bob Cesme The editor says: That really is a remarkable photograph of an outrageous garden bird. Thank you very much for sending it in, Bob. Reader Shots Send your snaps to birdwatching@bauermedia.co.uk to be in with a chance of seeing your photo in print. All images should be high resolution JPEG files. WE LOVE… The ever-watchful gaze of the hovering Kestrel birdwatching.co.uk/my-200-sign-up/ PICS FROM OUR FACEBOOK GROUP Join our dedicated #My200BirdYear Facebook group and share your…

OSPREY CAMERA CUBE MEDIUM, £85 This turns an Osprey hike or travel pack into a camera bag that doesn't look too much like a camera bag and is, therefore, less likely to attract unwanted attention. It fits in the main compartment or add the optional shoulder strap and you can use it on its own. It has a padded grab handle, adjustable dividers and good ethics – recycled polyester, recycled nylon and DWR (repels water) with no PFAs. Charcoal grey. 39.6x27.9x17cm, 11L, 586g. Small version £60. osprey.com ALPKIT SHIEL GLOVES, £32.99 These are lightweight and “give superb warmth”, “in wet or dry conditions”. And, like you, they have “touchscreen compatible fingers”. Their toastiness comes from Primaloft Gold insulation – it's recycled and does a good impression of downy feathers. The…