Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2022 i Birdwatch

I hope your autumn is going swimmingly so far. I’ve not ventured far from my local area yet but have managed to cash in on the national influxes of Pied Flycatcher and Curlew Sandpiper to bring my #LocalBigYear tally to 180 by early September. I’m hoping for a few more additions now we’re in the height of autumn, but I’ll soon be heading for Achill Island in Co Mayo, where I’ll be on the hunt for American passerines – I discuss these most desirable of vagrants in detail on pages 40-44. We’re now getting into prime ‘vis-mig’ time, with October and November very productive months. See pages 24-28 for a guide on how to get started with this exciting style of birding. October is also perhaps the best month to…

Steppe Grey Shrike: Chipping Sodbury Common, Gloucestershire, 29 August 2022 HAVING been on my local common (Chipping Sodbury, in Gloucestershire) every morning for the previous two weeks in the vain hope of finding another patch Wryneck, I chose not to visit on 29 August. Six others were up there looking and had found the usual Common Redstarts, Yellow Wagtails and Northern Wheatears. It was a nice sunny afternoon, the wind was still blowing from the east and there had been two Wrynecks apiece in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. So, with nothing better to do, I decided to give the common another go. Chipping Sodbury is a large area of open scrub that is grazed by cattle in the summer months. There are several intersecting hedges, some larger trees on the border…

For just one price, you will have access to: + The very latest breaking news and sightings (our service is updated for 16 hours a day during the summer and 15 hours during the winter months – more than any other provider);+ View sighting information on your phone, tablet or web browser making the service accessible wherever you may be;+ Receive text alerts*;+ Search the British and Irish Records Archive;+ Continue receiving Birdwatch magazine to keep abreast of all the latest news and expert reviews** Small print: *text alert service is included with the Bird News Ultimate membership free of charge. For Bird News Pro, this can be added at £10 per 100 texts. **Birdwatch is included with Bird News Ultimate memberships only. Start your 30-day free trial today Go…

Far more people have heard of the Andes and Amazon than of the breathtaking place in between. One of South America’s great ecoregions, the Eastern Cordillera Real montane forests unfurl east of the Andes like a vast green trail, 1,500 km north to south, from Colombia to Ecuador and Peru. A hiker braving this rugged terrain would see dramatic change unfold over the upward climb, from closed-canopy forests to cloudforests, and on to gnarled, stumpy woodland in the higher reaches. Elevation, isolation, and precipitation – uniting to carve a mosaic of habitats fit for rich, endemic life. It is in this crossroads between Andean peaks and Amazonian floodplains that lies a natural gem that WLT is helping to protect this year. A four-hour drive to the south-east of Ecuador’s capital…

BENEDICT Macdonald’s first book, Rebirding, appeared in 2019, and in that he championed the concept of rewilding the land on a grand scale to create ‘big’ habitats to allow our struggling birds to thrive. If he could have his way, we would see major investments in saving habitats so that much of the countryside could be like a tablecloth of wildlife rather than the tatty patchwork quilt that we have today. That book won him the 2020 Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation. Now, in Cornerstones, he takes another popular concept and promotes it with passion. That concept is to support ‘cornerstone’ species that are key to the existence of others and whose actions create the ideal habitats for wildlife to flourish. So, what are the cornerstone species under…

OCTOBER is the month when many birds which winter in Britain begin to arrive. One of the more noticeable of these is Redwing, which moves southwest out of Fennoscandia, down through The Netherlands into France and Iberia, and also into Britain. The largest movements are usually seen on the east side of the country, often arriving first in the far north. In 2021 there was a record-breaking count of migrating Redwings in Britain with 34,727 at Leith Hill, Surrey, on 13 October just beating the previous British record set at The Pinnacle, Sandy, Bedfordshire, on the same date in 2009. Other places with exceedingly high counts in 2021 were 32,060 at Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire, on 13 October and 21,832 at Glen Artney, Perthshire, on 20 October. Numbers like this…

Pre-order your copy online now – see www.birdguides.com for details of how to subscribe and save more than 20% a year! ■ The ultimate field guide November sees the release of the hotly anticipated third edition of the Collins Bird Guide. Authors Killian Mullarney, Lars Svensson and Dan Zetterström detail what to expect. ■ Seven-striped sprite One of the most celebrated visitors of late autumn is Pallas’s Warbler, a beautiful East Asian vagrant that is guaranteed to brighten up any day in the field. Andy Stoddart looks at the life and times of this species. ■ Digital dilemmas Artificial intelligence, social media and rapidly developing technologies are altering the birding landscape at a remarkable rate. But is it good or bad for our hobby? Julian Hough ponders some of the pros…

OCTOBER’S digital edition has lots of bonus content, including: • Video of Pied Wheatear; • Film of Eurasian Woodcock; • Video and calls of classic vis-mig species; • Footage of North American passerines; • Sound recordings of a selection of alarm calls; • Film of rarities and scarcities from Britain, Ireland and the wider Western Palearctic. The digital edition is available for PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad and Android. Sample issues are free, and subscriptions or single copies can be purchased. Visit www.pktmags.com/bw-digital to find out more. Birdwatch subscriber issues are now delivered in a paper envelope so you can easily recycle them in your usual recycling collection.…

Harlequin Duck: Norwick, Unst, Shetland, 5-11 August 2022 AFTER the excitement of June, it’s fair to say that July had proved a little quiet birdwise on Unst. My personal birding highlight had been pretty much limited to seeing a Leach’s Storm Petrel flying around in broad daylight not far from the shore of the uninhabited island of Linga when crossing the Bluemull Sound on the interisland ferry from Yell to Unst while guiding a Swiss couple for Shetland Nature on 8th. Of course, it’s all too easy to forget that we are surrounded by breeding seabirds, waders including Red-necked Phalarope and the like. In contrast to the heatwave affecting much of the UK, the weather has been rather challenging in Shetland this summer, with it remaining cold and often wet…

Rarities and scarcities: August 2022 Record-breaking July temperatures continued unabated into the first half of August, delivering not only hosepipe bans to many areas of southern England, but also a welcome national first from the Afrotropics. Hot news from the landlocked county of Cambridgeshire heralded the arrival of Britain’s first Cape Gull, no less, present at Grafham Water from 2-10th (see Birdwatch 363: 8-9). Assisted by an accessible location right by the A1, unsurprisingly it prompted one of the biggest twitches of the year so far, with at least 1,000 birders there on the day news broke. Another wayward visitor from warmer southern climes was an Eleonora’s Falcon. Norfolk’s third – a dark-morph first-summer – proved mobile in the vicinity of Hickling Broad from 26th. It is quite extraordinary that…

You would have to have been living under a stone in recent years to be unaware of the urgent need for all of us to play a part, however small, in reducing carbon emissions and contribute to limiting global climate change. With travel and birding abroad possible again post-pandemic – conveniently coinciding with Interrail’s 50th anniversary half-price sale earlier this year – I decided to introduce my two youngest teenage kids to some European travel by train, extend my three-year no-fly success by another summer and hopefully pick up some birds along the way. No doubt many readers have fond memories of Interrail adventures from times gone by; it introduced me to a world beyond the banks of the River Tyne in my late teens with adventures in Spain, France,…

■ Winter Hill, Greater Manchester, Saturday 22 September 2012 19,189 moving birds of 36 species, including 11,651 Swallows, 3,555 House Martins, 3,481 Meadow Pipits, 19 Common Buzzards and a Hen Harrier. ■ Leith Hill, Surrey, 13 October 2021 35,113 moving birds of 18 species, mainly comprised of the British Trektellen record count of 34,727 Redwings. ■ Oxenhope, Yorkshire, 26 September 2011 8,460 moving birds of 34 species, including 7,498 Meadow Pipits and 106 alba wagtails. ■ Severnside, Gloucestershire, 2 May 2012 4,947 moving birds of 28 species, including the British Trektellen spring record counts of 2,449 Goldfinches and 30 Tree Pipits, with 33 Yellow Wagtails and 1,681 Swallows in the supporting cast. ■ Spurn, East Yorkshire, 26 June 2008 Modest numbers, but including a Little Swift south and a Pacific…

JOHN James Audubon is best remembered for his monumental The Birds of America, but there is far more to him than that: this book uses published and unpublished writings to raise our awareness of his life and works. He was a complex man. He called himself a naturalist and lover of nature but infamously killed thousands of birds. This book has amazing, fascinating descriptive material, particularly from the coasts of America, and much perceptive insight into the lives of birds. Yet you cannot get past the constant slaughter – he condemns destroying innumerable seabirds and their eggs (and collecting “eight tons” of Sooty Tern eggs), then goes ashore, with two sailors loading his guns, to enjoy an hour shooting Puffins. He shoots all seabirds for amusement, wanders ashore killing young…

BIRD migration has fascinated people ever since its discovery. The arrival of Swallows in spring and their disappearance in autumn was long known about but the mechanism of their coming and going, and the precise nature of it, remained unknown for centuries. Bird ringing started to provide answers, and we began to discover where birds went, as well as some of their stopping places. It is only recently, however, with the advent of satellite tracking and geolocators that we have begun to fill in the many blanks. Now the latest information about the movements of more than 300 bird species has been consolidated into the Eurasian African Bird Migration Atlas, a fantastic online database. Funded by the Italian Government, with support from the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species…

In association with Phalaropes are a small genus of highly charismatic waders. All three species – Grey, Red-necked and Wilson’s – are delicate gems of birds and, in breeding attire, they are exquisite. In such plumage Grey is perhaps the most eye-catching (and accounts for the fact it’s known as Red Phalarope across much of its range), but individuals in breeding fettle are rarely encountered in Britain. The colder tones of young and winter plumages are far more likely – and autumn is optimum time for this species. Grey Phalarope breeds in the Arctic and winters off West Africa and the Pacific coast of South America. Migrants pass through the Atlantic and autumn gales from the west or south-west can produce large numbers in the South-West Approaches. It’s a decidedly…

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper: Clogheen Marsh, Co Cork, 17-19 August 2022 SOUTH-WEST Ireland has a long and illustrious track record of producing exciting waders from North America, yet it also has a habit of attracting extreme rarities from the east – as evidenced in August by the appearance of a swanky adult Sharp-tailed Sandpiper at Clogheen Marsh near Clonakilty. The bird, a breeding-plumaged adult complete with russet cap, striking white eyering and stylishly chevroned flanks, was discovered by ace rarity finder, Davey Farrar, who was working in the area on 17th. Being the first Irish record for six years, news was put out promptly and a sizeable twitch (by Co Cork standards) soon ensued, with the bird offering excellent views among a small contingent of Dunlin. It went on to linger at…

Western Palearctic: August 2022 August’s penultimate day delivered the month’s biggest bird, with Norwegian ringers rejoicing at the discovery of a Thick-billed Warbler in mistnets at Revtangen, Rogaland. The country’s third, it follows birds netted on Utsira in 2004 and 2005. Interestingly, the taxon demonstrates a thought-provoking vagrancy range across the Western Palearctic, with 10 of 11 regional records restricted to a narrow band encompassing Shetland, central Finland and southern Norway. Equally surprising for Norway was an immature Bearded Vulture in the far southwest at Varhaug on 13th, while the Sandhill Crane resurfaced with Common Cranes in the far north at Lakselv on 31st. The Azores scored its first Nearctic passerine of what is sure to be another busy autumn season with a male White-winged Crossbill at Nordeste, São Miguel,…

In the late 1950s I was teetering on the brink of exploring teenage romance, and also trying to pass my driving test. I had yet to achieve either, but my fantasy was to combine both. My reality was birding around Birmingham on my racing bike. Although exhilarating, it was definitely NOT a bicycle made for two. Neither was bragging about maximum numbers of Tufted Duck or Mallard the way to woo fair lady, or indeed impress most blokes. However, I knew of a place that would surely impress anyone, irrespective of gender, age or interests: the New Grounds at Slimbridge by the tidal River Severn – the HQ of the Wildfowl Trust. It was not only Sir Peter Scott’s dream, but also mine, and that of many other visitors both…

DUNLIN is always a popular little wader, and the many submissions to this month’s Photo Challenge only served as a reminder. We received images of birds taken in all months of the year and in all plumages, with birds flying, feeding, sleeping and even fighting. However, we just loved Mark Huxley’s wonderful capture of a wing-stretching adult bird in full breeding regalia. The head-on angle is unusual but effective, with the depth of field of this shot making for an impactful capture. Well done to Mark on this brilliant image – a worthy winner!…

AS a sucker for rare birding stats and facts on a local level, I was eagerly awaiting this publication for a while – and it didn’t disappoint. In Rare Birds of Hampshire, county stalwart John Clark has produced a wonderful documentation of more than 200 unusual species to have appeared in Hampshire, all with comprehensive detail. Clearly an incredible amount of research has gone into this book – not least regarding historical records – which begins with a short history of rare bird recording in the county, The main species accounts then follow. I love reading through things like this and at this point found myself unable to put the book down, as I travelled through birding time via gripping yarns, archive photos, mythical records and evocative sketches. Even though…

£3.92 AN ISSUE Billed £46.99 annually SUBSCRIBE NOW Hassle free – every issue delivered to your door delivered in an easily recyclable paper envelope Save even more – qualify for exclusive Bookshop discounts Call today on 01778 392027 or visit our website www.birdguides.com/store/subscriptions DID YOU KNOW? Birdwatch is also available as a digital edition! Download issues directly to your digital device and read wherever you are. To find out more visit www.pktmags.com/bw-subs-2022.…

Tell us what you think. Write to: The Editor, at: Birdwatch, Warners Group Publications plc, The Maltings, West Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH or email editorial@birdwatch.co.uk www.facebook.com/birdwatchmagazine @BirdwatchExtra A huge thank you THIRTY years ago, at the Pine Bunting twitch at Dagenham Chase, I met two young guys hawking subscriptions to their new magazine. Soon afterwards, I started writing for that same publication and got to know its editor, Dominic Mitchell. As Dominic writes in the September issue (Birdwatch 363: 19), it’s hard to believe that three decades have passed since he took that brave gamble of starting an independent magazine for the birding community. He is, of course, too modest to add that without his vision, determination and talent, Birdwatch might have folded after a few issues. Instead, he…

We flicked on the television on a Friday night in August with trepidation. Channel 4 was airing a series about hobbies (Hobby Man), and this episode featured Alex Brooker and Scarlett Moffat going birding. As a hobby, we aren’t always treated sympathetically on television, with many programmes over the years adding a touch of ridicule, a hint of cynicism or a dollop of downright rudeness (in the case of Griff Rhys Jones in Three Men in a Boat). Yes, it’s mostly light-hearted and yes, the media will always emphasise the extremes – the obsessive, Aberdeen-to-Penzance-high-speed-high-carbon-low-sociability-low-responsibility twitches (as opposed to leisurely popping to Grafham Water for a Cape Gull and a mint Magnum ice cream) – but the negative portrayal is unfair. Birding is a well-recognised pastime for many reasons, perhaps…