Sommaire pour Autumn 2020 de Bird Watching

BIRDING QUESTION We ask this month’s contributors: What’s the best thing about autumn birding? Ian Parsons: I love standing at night at the back door listening for the first Redwings calling overhead David Chandler: I like seeing Redwings and Fieldfares as they arrive, and hearing Redwings flying over at night Ruth Miller: It’s the unpredictability of the season, anything can turn up, even a Citrine Wagtail close to home… David Lindo: I love ‘the expectancy’ that comes with autumn birding (and the chance of a Ring Ouzel or two) …and the Bird Watching team’s choices Matt Merritt: Finding migrant Woodcocks popping up in unlikely locations. Mike Weedon: The eternal search for a local Yellow-browed Warbler. Mike Roberts: Looking forward to the returning Whooper Swans. GET IN TOUCH: Bird Watching, Media…

twitter.com/BirdWatchingMag facebook.com/BirdWatchingMag 1 SANDERLING The charismatic Sanderling is the short-billed little wader you see running along where tiny wavelets tickle the sandy shore, looking more like a wind-up running toy than a real bird. It is not a British breeding bird (nesting in the Arctic like many other waders), instead being seen on passage (some 40,000 birds) and with a wintering population of 16,000 individuals. Winter birds are very pale (hence the scientific name Calidris alba), while breeding birds have spangles of orange, and juveniles have a gorgeous speckled back and buff-infused shoulder patch. All have boldly marked black-and-white wings. 2 JACK SNIPE It may seem strange that there are actually more than six times as many wintering Jack Snipe (100,000) in the UK as wintering Sanderling; as the latter…

The times below are for high tide, when waders and wildfowl will be pushed closer to dry land… 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 (+2:58Whitby (+2:20)Hartlepool (+1:59)Blyth (+1:46)Berwick (+0:54) SCOTLAND Leith (+0:58)Dundee (+1:12)Aberdeen (-0:18)Fraserburgh (-1:28)Lossiemouth (-2:00)Wick (-2:29)Lerwick (-2:50)Stromness (-4:29)Scrabster (-5:09)Stornoway (+5:30)Ullapool (+5:36)Gairloch (+5:16)Oban (+4:12)Greenock (-1:19)Ayr (-1:44)Campbeltown (-1:12)Girvan (-1:51)Kirkcudbright Bay…

No one needs to be told it has been a very strange year. The coronavirus has infiltrated all aspects of our lives. It has even rudely hampered much of our birdwatching! To be fair, many of us have rediscovered the joy of watching garden birds, or at least birds very close to home, in our local patches and parks. But, if you are trying to broaden your birding horizons through our #My200BirdYear challenge, then you may have hit something of a list-building brick wall. Most of the rich birding time of the spring was lost to full ‘lockdown’, and the last thing on any of our minds was increasing our year lists! But all is not lost. There are, after all, still four months (a quarter of the year) left…

David Chandler updates us on his two-mile challenge My2MBY is my own invention – an alternatives to #My200BirdYear. I record in a two mile radius from the house, and by late July I’d made it to 105 species, having added 14 since my report in the June issue. Our Cambridgeshire house is adorned with mud huts, or more accurately, mostly their remains. They were homes for House Martins – eight of them, most of which are ideal for the DIY enthusiast and none of which saw active service last year. House Martins showed up on 17 April, in the sky not the nests, but maybe this year will be different… The next day saw me doing my ‘cell 1 circuit’ on the fen and finding a Wheatear – a good…

Many people won’t have seen a Bearded Vulture before, so how would you identify one if one turned up on your patch? Well, for a start, they are pretty hard to miss! These are no skulking vagrant warbler, they will be in the air and they are quite simply huge! With a wingspan of up to 2.75 metres, they dwarf even the fabled flying barn door that is the White-tailed Eagle; everything will look small in comparison. They have huge broad wings that taper towards the tip and a relatively long tail that has a very distinct wedge shape to it (a bit like the tail of the Raven). The young birds that are likely to be seen wandering will also appear dark in coloration, especially against a bright sky,…

RUTH MILLER I was walking along the promenade in Llandudno in North Wales when I heard a familiar ‘reyk ‘reyk, reyk, reyk’ scream overhead. Looking up, I saw three birds tearing across the sky, all with the same distinctive swept-back wings and anchor-shaped silhouette against the bright sky: Peregrines. They swooped and chased one another, as one bird led the others over the town. Looked like it was time for hunting school again. With the elevated view from our home, we’ve regularly seen Peregrines flying over the town looking for an unwary bird to catch. Once over the town, these incredible falcons soar in lazy circles, slowly gaining height until they are a mere speck against the sun. This is their tactic, copied by fighter pilots in the war: to…

1 Sparrowhawk by Neil Pont Camera: Fujifilm X-H1 Lens: 260mm Shutter Speed: 1/550 sec Aperture: f/5 ISO: 2,000 2 Wren by Trevor Burch Camera: Nikon D500 Lens: 390mm Shutter Speed: 1/400 sec Aperture: f/7.1 ISO: 4,000 3 Dartford Warbler by Trevor Partridge Camera: Canon EOS 7D Lens: 600mm Shutter Speed: 1/640 sec Aperture: f/6.3 ISO: 200 4 Little Owl by Daniel Webber Camera: Canon EOS 7D Lens: 400mm Shutter Speed: 1/640 sec Aperture: f/5.6 ISO: 1,000 WE LOVE We received a hatful of Sparrowhawk garden photos this month. But Neil Pont’s was the best. Gruesome, but superb!…

• Stephen Moss was a guest of Adam Riley and Rockjumper Birding Tours: rockjumperbirding.com/ • Rockjumper run regular birding tours throughout Southern Africa, including Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique and all the key regions of South Africa itself. These range from nine to 22 days in length, and cater for birders of any degree of experience, from novice through to expert. Locations Stephen visited were: • Oribi Gorge: sa-venues.com/game-reserves/oribi.php • Karkloof sa-venues.com/game-reserves/karkloof.php • Sani Pass and Lesotho mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za/find-a-pass/ kwazulu-natal/item/410-sani-pass.html • Manyoni Private Game Reserve (Zebra Hills Lodge) manyoni.co.za/ zebrahills.com/ • His flight was provided by South African Tourism: southafrica.net/uk/en/ • Thanks also to Angie Wilken, Andy Ruffle, Crystal Brook, Keith Kopman, Craig, Chantelle, Wade and Casey Lee, and the friends and family of Adam Riley.…

PIED CROW This corvid is a powerfully built and beautiful bird. Clearly bigger than a Carrion Crow, it’s black-and-white with a proportionately longer bill, slightly longer tail and wings giving it a more falcon-like appearance in flight. It is truly a distinctive bird. The species is Africa’s most widespread corvid, essentially found across the continent south of the Sahara, and is even found on some of the islands like Madagascar and the Comoros Islands. It avoids full-on forested areas. The Pied Crow is rarely found away from human habitation and behaves in a similar manner to our Carrion and Hooded Crows. The Maasai people call it Ol-korrok after its call. They consider it an annoying bird but, thankfully, not a bird of ill-omen. These birds have strayed into Europe and…

BOOK OF THE MONTH ORCHARD, A YEAR IN ENGLAND’S EDEN BENEDICT MACDONALD & NICHOLAS GATES, WILLIAM COLLINS, £20 This book looks at an ancient English orchard throughout the course of a year, focusing on the wide range of wildlife of all sorts that it supports, dealt with on a month by month basis. If you remember Benedict Macdonald’s many features for this magazine, you’ll know some of what to expect. There’s dense detail and hard facts to support every argument, and to make clear the scale of what we stand to lose if we don’t protect remaining habitats such as this, as well as perhaps create new areas. But, both in his chapters and those by Nicholas Gates, there’s a lot more, too, with both men writing with a lyrical…

SOUTH WEST Highlights In association with When it comes to highlights of the month, it is hard to beat a shoo-in first for the UK. So, the Zino’s Petrel seen briefly (but well) on a Scilly pelagic trip late in the month was always going to trump the Yelkouan Shearwater(s) seen off Portland, Dorset, at the start of the month. AVON ESTUARY-WATCH: A good seawatching period (3rd-5th) produced up to 300 Manx Shearwaters turning around at the Severn Crossing and heading back down the estuary. Also logged was a Great Skua, four Arctic Skuas, a Balearic Shearwater (at Sand Point), four Gannets, four Kittiwakes, two Fulmars and Storm Petrels. Black-headed Gull flocks reached 600 at Clevedon and 550 at Avonmouth with a scattering of Mediterranean Gulls, Common and Sandwich Terns.…

That magic period in late September and early October, into which we squeeze our Autumn issue, is arguably the peak time for rare birds. Here are some ‘predictions’ of great rare birds to come. SIBERIAN ACCENTOR Will there ever be a repeat in our lifetimes of the great Siberian Accentor invasion of autumn 2016? Let’s hope so, and let’s hope it is this year. In 2016, the birds were all in Scotland or north-east England, as far south as Easington, East Yorkshire. Look for brightly coloured Dunnocks! BLACK-FACED BUNTING There have been just six accepted records of this Asian bunting (which is even more Dunnock-like than the Siberian Accentor!). All bar the first (a spring bird in 1994) were in October, and there is a bit of a northern bias…

AUTUMN TONES In autumn, moths turn to leaves. At least, that’s the way the colours and patterns of many species lead your thoughts. Centre-barred Sallow is one such creature, its golden backdrop textured with the chestnut-pink of season-old vegetation. Common in broad-leaved woodland, this moth regularly brightens up garden moth traps. Bluetones Sprouting through the leaf litter of deciduous woodland, the unusually blue-toned mushroom Clitocybe odora boasts a similarly distinctive smell - as suggested by its common name, Aniseed Funnel. Indeed, as the fungal fruits are often buried below dense or decaying vegetation, smell may be the first clue as to their presence. Not a spider Not all arachnids are spiders. The class Arachnida also boasts scorpions, ticks, mites and the distinctly spider-like harvestmen. Around 20 species of the latter…

Many years ago, when staying at a B&B in the Highlands, I overheard some chaps at a neighbouring breakfast table discussing their plans for the day. I leant across and asked if they were fellow birders. “No”, they replied “we’re buggers!” This came to mind the other day. I was doing my best to socially distance (steering clear of people comes naturally to me) while birding at one of the few reserves I know where one can park right next to fantastic birding. There is a layby where those with mobility problems have priority. A small group of ‘toggers’ stood at the other end of the pull-in, trying to capture footage of an obliging Lesser Yellowlegs, there for its second July. One of the guys was broadcasting anecdotes. He could…

My50BirdGardenYear How about seeing 50 species from your own garden during the year? This sounds like a tough challenge (especially with only four months left), but you could always assign your own target number. As is the case with #My200BirdYear, ‘rules’ are very flexible and up to you; no one is judging you, this is just for fun! My150BirdYear Perhaps 200 birds is too much to aim for now. But, then again, at the right site, you could possibly see about 100 species in a single day, with a fair wind! So, how about 150 bird species as a decent compromise? There is, after all, a quarter of the year still left! My100BirdOctober October is one of the best months for building a decent list. Lots of our summering species…

The Bird Photographer of the Year team are continuing their challenge to photograph 150 species within the county of Hampshire, over the course of 2020. Summer is well and truly in full swing, with many of the local garden and woodland birds becoming more elusive now that their breeding seasons are coming to a conclusion. Also, some of the earlier spring migrants, such as Cuckoo, are on their way back south. With lockdown restrictions being further relaxed, trips to all parts of the county are now possible, and the team are making the most of this renewed freedom in search of species not yet photographed. Rob’s alarm clock repeated its familiar early morning summons and numerous dawn starts were rewarded by some great photographs of an obligingly tolerant Great White…

BEARDED VULTURE OR LAMMERGEIER? Some of you may be wondering why I am using the name Bearded Vulture as opposed to the name Lammergeier, a name that is often used in relation to this bird. There are two reasons, the first is that the bird’s English name is actually Bearded Vulture, Lammergeier is an old Germanic name for the bird, so it would be odd for me to refer to a bird by its old Germanic name rather than its actual English one. The second reason is that the old Germanic name means Lamb Vulture and refers to the old mistaken belief that these birds killed lambs. Bearded Vultures, like other vultures, are scavengers, clearing up the animal casualties that they come across. They are not hunters of live prey.…

To most of us they are ‘rarities’, but the birds we are looking at this month are seen regularly in the UK during the autumn migration period, but in very small numbers. Hence they get termed ‘scarce passage migrants’. By the very nature of their scarcity, these species often sit a little outside the comfort zone of many of us, in terms of ID. However, as usual, we are not presenting any exceptionally difficult or extremely rare birds in this ‘challenge’. All live up to their loose collective name as ‘scarce passage migrants’. Most are probably best looked for at migrant hotspots, such as along the east coast, or on offshore islands, but they can turn up anywhere. So, all you have to do is put a name to each…

COLLECT & KEEP Every month we bring you 10 more sites to build up your GO BIRDING collection ARGYLL MAX MILES ON FOOT: 0.5 MIN TIME: 3 HOURS LOCH A PHUILL A great site on the Isle of Tiree, loved by Corn Crakes Tiree is a great place to visit, claiming more sunshine than most areas of the UK. This is one of two large lochs on the island, with a hide. Don’t be surprised by the number of birds in the area, as the island is noted for its number of breeding birds/winter visitors. WHERE TO WATCH 1 The first thing you notice on this island is that it is so flat, and this area around the loch is no exception. Check out the waders around these flashes as…

• Seven night’ comfortable accommodation at The Mountview Hotel, VisitScotland rated 3 Star. All rooms are en suite, with TV and hospitality tray. There is no single supplement, and guests are never expected to share. • Full Scottish breakfast, a substantial packed lunch, and a delicious dinner. • Six full days wildlife watching with Heatherlea, VisitScotland rated 5 stars for ‘Wildlife Experience’. • Guidance from a professional group leader. • All transport by comfortable PCV minibus, including Capercaillie safari in Heatherlea’s private estate grounds (weather permitting). • A checklist specifically prepared for your holiday to record your sightings and notes. • Courtesy bus service to/from transport in Aviemore. WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED: • Travel to Aviemore from your home location. • Insurance, drinks and other items of a personal nature. MORE…

Like others of its kind, ‘our’ Swift leads a most improbable life, with the vast majority of its time, night and day, spent on the wing. Considering the adverse weather that they have to endure occasionally while on breeding grounds in the UK, and what they must overcome on migration and while wintering in Africa, their lifestyle seems too awful to contemplate from a human perspective. Add to that the vagaries of food supply – flying insects – and it is a wonder any survive. As if to emphasise this point, there was an account in the press earlier this year of thousands of migrant Swifts being killed on migration in Greece by a weather event on the night of 5–6 April; it was disastrous for migrating birds because of…

A scope and tripod combo can be heavy, cumbersome, and may have to be put down to use your bins. The Mulepack is one of the better-known carrying solutions, and has been around for quite a while. Earlier this year I was sent the latest version. It’s a fairly simple concept – two tripod legs form a ‘V’ frame for a backpack, the third sits to the rear, and your scope stays fixed to the tripod. You wear it like a backpack and take it off to use the scope. Attaching the Mulepack to the tripod is straightforward enough, and there’s a video to help you at cleyspy.co.uk. The Mulepack is well-made with padded shoulder straps with D-rings, thumb loops and a chest strap, and a grab handle at the…

Sometimes, when my teenage son Eddie and I are watching some retro pop programme from the 1960s or 1970s, he asks me, in horror, “were they considered ‘cool’ ?” Of course, in the vast majority of cases, I assure him that, no, this or that band/artist can surely never be cool (think Peter Noone singing Bowie’s Oh! You Pretty Things!). But, others will always be cool (think Bowie himself, the Stones, the Beatles, the Who, the Kinks, Jimi Hendrix). Anyhow, some birds will never be cool, while others can’t help it. For instance, the Chaffinch is a pretty thing, with a blue head, pink underparts, and a green rump; but it will never be ‘cool’. The Bullfinch is cool. And the Crossbill is even cooler. We don’t get many Crossbills…

Chief appointment The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) has named Professor Juliet Vickery as its new chief executive. Prof Vickery, who is currently the RSPB’s head of international conservation science, commented: “To have been trusted with this position is an enormous privilege and a hugely exciting opportunity.” Juliet will join BTO in November, working alongside the current chief executive, Dr Andy Clements, until he steps down at the end of the year. Wildlife appeal Somerset Wildlife Trust (SWT) has l aunched an emergency appeal to raise £200,000 because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also faces financial challenges through cuts in EU funding, while a rise in fly-tipping on its nature reserves has added to outgoings. SWT, a charity, looks after a variety of nature reserves on the…

① Burghead Long experience on readers’ holidays over the years, has taught us to expect the unexpected here (and along much of the Moray coast). Not only should you see lots of seabirds, sea-ducks, grebes and divers passing by, or even in the harbour, but you can get the likes of Hen Harrier coming in off the sea, as they make the hop across the firth. ② Burgh by Sands BW regular John Miles often recommends this site on the Solway Firth, not only for seabirds, waders and wildfowl, but as a good place to watch skuas passing on migration – in autumn, they appear here having crossed the country from the east coast on their way south. ③ Spurn Point Probably the UK’s best-known migration hotspot, and now boasting…

Too positive? I will start by saying that I enjoy your magazine. But every month I have this nagging feeling that it represents a world that doesn’t exist. I have been a keen birdwatcher for almost 50 years, and the decline in UK birdlife since the 1970s and 1980s is disturbingly clear. Your magazine rarely addresses these issues, and that bothers me a lot. I enjoy reading the Go Birding walks. But I know some of these places and plenty more places in the countryside around London (where I live), and I know that the reality is that an experienced birdwatcher can spend three or four hours walking through the countryside and see nothing more than Woodpigeons and Magpies. The truth is our countryside is largely devoid of birdlife. Frankly,…

SPECIES FACTFILE MISTLE THRUSH Scientific name: Turdus viscivorus Length: 26-29cm Wingspan: 42-48cm UK numbers: 170,000 pairs Habitat: Woodland, parks, mature gardens Diet: Fruit, invertebrates It was a tweet from a follower that prompted me to remember. I cannot recall the exact location, but the feeling of surprise comes back strongly. It was one of those warm summer days when the green of the trees had noticeably faded, and the shade slumbered to the crooning lullaby of Woodpigeons, their ‘coos’ as fulsome and soft as expensive bed linen. By the edge of the forest, the Rowan berries had begun to come out, so new and shiny that you thought any hungry bird arriving would have to remove the plastic packaging first. Out from one such tree, I disturbed a Mistle Thrush, which…

You would forget your own head if it wasn’t screwed on. How many times have you heard that phrase repeated? Was it justified? They say that those who are forgetful do so, neurological issues aside, because what they needed to remember was not a priority. I have had my share of forgetfulness, but rarely has it impinged on my birding, apart from one notable time. Back in April 2001, I was in Cape Town, South Africa, working on the set of an Economist commercial. It was a two-week shoot that mostly involved filming in the city. I was in my guise as the director’s assistant, and that role afforded me plenty of time for incidental urban birding. For instance, while in the minibus travelling around the city recceing for locations,…

Birds on the Brink is a conservation grant-awarding charity (Charity No: 1188009) that owns the competition Bird Photographer of the Year. Grants are awarded to projects that support bird conservation, typically offering between £200 and £1,000 to small groups or individuals carrying out grassroots conservation work that has measurable impact. It was borne of a passion for wildlife and in particular birds, and is a response to the seemingly unstoppable process of human environmental exploitation and biodiversity’s steady progression towards extinction. At its heart there is a recognition that all is not yet lost and Birds on the Brink aims to inspire people to care using striking imagery - to capture the imagination and thereby nurture interest and compassion. Bird Watching magazine is proud to support conservation and money generated…