Indice dei contenuti per December 2020 in Bird Watching

We ask this month’s contributors: What’s your favourite winter bird experience? Amanda Tuke: Watching Brent Geese and waders on the Skern saltmarsh in the Taw-Torridge estuary, North Devon Dominic Couzens: Winter waders on an estuary. Whether feeding in their different ways, or flying around the roost, the sight and sound is sheer magic Ruth Miller: Skeins of Pink-footed Geese flying against a purple sky at dawn on the Norfolk coast David Lindo: Finding Britain’s second ever wintering Redstart at my old patch of Wormwood Scrubs, west London ...and the Bird Watching team’s answers Matt Merritt: Watching wild geese return to the roost is always very memorable. Mike Weedon: I looked out of my window on Christmas Day and a Waxwing flew past. Mike Roberts: The murmuration of Starlings in Brighton…

twitter.com/BirdWatchingMag facebook.com/BirdWatchingMag 1 BARN OWL The charismatic white owl only adds to its universal charm by frequently venturing out during the daylight hours to hunt. A medium-sized owl, with relatively short, rounded wings, the ‘screech owl’ is a slow-flying hunter, patrolling over rough grassland, and often stopping to hover. It will also use fence posts, trees and barn roofs to survey the land. With its heart-shaped face, white underparts and golden-grey wings, and tail, this is about as unmistakable as any British bird. 2 GOLDCREST It is incredible how many ‘beginner’ birders say they have never seen a Goldcrest, or indeed consider it a rare bird. But the UK’s smallest bird has a population of more than 600,000 breeding pairs, and in winter this number is greatly boosted by migrants…

As we have stressed several times before, Green Woodpeckers feed mostly on the ground, seeking out their main prey: ants, which they lick up on their long sticky tongues. And we have talked about their feathers and their famously ant-packed, white-coated, cylindrical droppings. But, another sign of Green Woodpecker activity is the probing made with that strong, pointed bill, which may turn into diggings around ant hills. Look for these in any grassy area with ant hills (you should find those droppings, too).…

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 (+505) Barnstaple (+4:30) Newquay (+332) Falmouth (+330) Pymouth (+405) Torquay (+440) Bournemouth (-5:09)* Portland (+457) St Peter Port (+4:53) Swanage (-5:19)* Portsmouth (-2:29) Southampton (-2:53) SOUTH EAST Ryde (-229) Brighton (-251) Eastbourne (-248) Dungeness (-3:05) Dover (-2:53) Margate (-1:52) Herne Bay (-124) Southend-on-sea (-122) Clacton-on-sea (-200) EAST ANGLIA Felixstowe Pier (-2:23) Aldeburgh (-253) Lowestoft (-423) Cromer (+4:56) Hunstanton (+444) WALES Colwyn Bay (-247) Holyhead (-328) Barmouth (-545) 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 (-233) Backpool (-250) NORTH EAST Skegness (+429) Grimsby (+4:13) Bridlington (+258) Whitby (+220) Hartlepool (+159) Blyth (+146) Berwick…

Two world records were smashed during the inaugural Global Bird Weekend (17-18 October), when more than 38,000 people took part in what was billed as the “biggest birdwatching event in history”. Across the globe on 17 October, 7,097 species of birds – more than 75% of the world’s bird species – were recorded, beating the previous world record of 7,060 species. The weekend united birdwatchers from 169 countries and from all seven continents. Participants were encouraged to minimise their carbon footprint and with current pandemic restrictions, stayed close to home. By midnight of the 18th, the second world record was created, when a further 180 species recorded brought the total weekend count to 7,276. The first checklist was submitted by Dominik Maximilian Ramik at 00.04 in Vanuatu, with a Pacific…

I’ve never been a twitcher, but I wake one Sunday in early January from a dream about Waxwings. After breakfast it doesn’t take much effort to find a dedicated Waxwing-chasing website, so I duly sign up. The web posts and photos track this winter’s Waxwing visitors from northern Scotland south to Yorkshire, the Midlands and now Kent. Each sighting is responded to with groans of envy from those less fortunate. I ask if there have been any seen near London. In seconds, I receive a response telling me Gravesend is the nearest so far this winter. Then I waste half an hour looking up the journey from south London to Gravesend, before deciding I must stop obsessing and do the washing up. The following Friday, there’s great excitement among the…

Tell me about where you do most of your birdwatching, please I live in Cambridge and also have a place in north Norfolk. Titchwell is my favourite place to go birding. I like it best when there aren’t too many people there - early in the morning or during the last couple of hours on a spring evening, with the sun highlighting the freshmarsh. I can leave the BTO and be there in time for that. I’m ‘locked down’ in Cambridge where the River Cam is my patch. Being in nature is very important to me - I’m an early bird and energetic and manage one or two hours birding a day, more at the weekend. My records go on BirdTrack - last year I averaged more than one complete…

Birds of prey will always be among the toughest birds to identify in the reality of ‘the field’. The views can be fleeting and distant, and we birders often rely on the elusive quality we call ‘jizz’: that something special in the way the bird moves, or flies, or acts, or looks, which indicates which species it is, even if we haven’t seen it well enough to nail every feather. But this sort of ID skill comes with experience, and is hard-won. There is no real substitute for time in the field, watching birds. So, this challenge, consisting of birds of prey frozen by photography, is a luxury, compared to watching the birds in real life. All you have to do is name the six birds featured. Then, when you…

COLLECT & KEEP Every month we bring you 10 more sites to build up your GO BIRDING collection MORAY MAX MILES ON FOOT: 1 MIN TIME: 2 HOURS BURGHEAD A seawatching hotspot with year-round appeal Its position on a headland jutting out into the Moray Firth makes Burghead a great place for seawatching, especially in winter, and in spring when migrants are on the move. But while you’ll need to be prepared for some extended scope-viewing in wind-lashed conditions, don’t forget to look for birds at close quarters too – the small harbour can be productive. MATT MERRITT WHERE TO WATCH 1 In winter, the beach can hold good numbers of waders, which should include Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Redshank and Oystercatcher. Low tide is best, and you’ll have to wait…

• Five nights in Nethybridge at the comfortable Mountview Hotel, home of our hosts, Heatherlea, and two nights comfortable en suite hotel accommodation in Thurso. 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 birdwatching. • All transport by comfortable PCV minibus. All estate access and ferry fees. • Guidance from a professional Heatherlea Group Leader • Checklist to record sightings and notes Please note: all itineraries are given as a guide only. Actual holiday content may vary according to the judgement of your guide, and elements beyond our control (eg weather).…

This is a story of how while in the pursuit of lost love, I ended up pursuing a lost bird. Well, it wasn’t quite as poetic as that, but it was certainly an epiphanic moment that was to change the course of my life, forever! In 2004, I met a woman and I fell for her, as she did for me. The story should have ended as a classic ‘and they lived happily ever after’ sort of tale. But it was not to be. There was a caveat. When we met, she expressly told me that in three months she was embarking on a long-planned sojourn in South America. We agreed that all bets would be off come her day of departure. However, when that day came, both of us…

What amazing rare birds will turn up in this last month of 2020? Let’s have one (or three) more outlandish guess(es), shall we? BRÜNNICH’S GUILLEMOT There have been just 11 accepted UK records of Brünnich’s Guillemot this Millennium, and five of these were deceased! So, this northern-breeding auk remains a very rare bird in the UK. Check all guillemots closely, for a darker head and thicker bill than Guillemot. AMERICAN COOT Since the first UK bird at Stodmarsh, Kent, in 1996, there have been fewer than a dozen American Coots in the UK. Nearly all have been in Scotland, with the Outer Hebrides being well represented. Look for a Coot with white in the undertail and a red-blob on its frontal shield (plus a stripe on the bill)! AMERICAN ROBIN…

WINTRY WONDER You don’t need a moth trap to see Winter Moth. This month, this is the pale grey moth that commonly snowflakes across a dusky road in our car headlights. Go for a nocturnal wander in any woodland and you stand a chance of spotting a pair – male and flightless, grub-like female – clinging to a trunk as they create the next generation. Winter Moth is so clearly December’s stand-out moth that the website Norfolk Moths has gathered 15 times as many records of the species this month than all other types of larger moth put together. MAMMAL Race for life December is an energetic month for Grey Squirrels. More regular at garden bird tables than at any other time, the males are gearing up for procreation. By…

Given that the majority of people think that access to the countryside is a necessity, and that many more people started needing nature in their lives in the time of the Coronavirus, I think that the ‘Country Code’ needs reiterating. In pre-decimal times everything was by the dozen and so it was with the code. Back then you could get it in booklet form and it was considered on a par with the Highway Code. As we have urbanised, so have we lost contact with the natural world and its rules of use. • Enjoy the countryside and respect its life and work• Guard against all risk of fire• Leave all gates as you found them• Keep your pets under close control• Keep to public paths across farmland• Use gates…

These are some of the best places to see murmurations for yourself, though it is worth noting that murmurations are not always guaranteed (as with any nature spectacle!). For the best chance of seeing one, check out each RSPB reserve’s ‘recent sightings’ page for guidance, or head to starlingsintheuk.co.uk for local information. Starlings also tend to murmurate more on dry, bright days. Arrive before 15:30 to make sure you’re there in plenty of time – the Starlings tend to return earlier when it is cloudy, but if it’s nice weather they’ll stay out longer to take advantage of the extra feeding time. If you’re more of an early bird, you may also want to check out the Starlings as they leave their roosts in the morning, around 7:30. Hundreds of…

Hoopoes are pretty funny birds all round. They’re funny-looking for a start. Firstly, their coloration: an orangey body with dramatic black-and-white striped wings and a funky crest of orange feathers, tipped in black and white. Then there’s their shape: they’re not dissimilar to a Mistle Thrush in general size and shape, but with a long, slightly decurved bill which seems balanced at the back of the head by the crest when it’s lying flat at rest, giving the bird a pick-axe shape to its head, perfect for a bird that plunges its bill deep into the ground for food such as grubs, spiders and insects. However, on landing or if excited, the Hoopoe flares its crest to form a dramatic orange, black-and-white crown. It truly is a sight to behold.…

POSTCODE: WS15 3DU, WS15 3PH public car park GRID REF: SK 062 239 MAPS: OS Explorer 244. OS Landranger 128 PARKING: Watery Lane for the dam (good for an ice cream in summer). Public car park located off Newton Hurst Lane, grid ref: SK 053 250 signposted Blithfield Education Centre TERRAIN: Easy, level walk along the dam. Paths/rough tracks in other areas ACCESS: Open all year round, along the dam and Watery Lane Permit needed from The West Midland Bird Club for general access to the reservoir. Three trails to choose, up to one and a half hours duration from the public car park FACILITIES: Information boards, bird hide and toilets. Shops in Rugeley. Pubs in Abbots Bromley…

DAY 1: Arrive Walls Farm by 2.00pm, settle in to your comfortable cottage accommodation. After a cup of tea and settling in, we will head off for an afternoon visit to Somerset’s Avalon Marshes complex hopefully to view the spectacular display of Starlings in a murmuration prior to their roost in the reedbeds. In the evening, a Welcome Dinner including canapes and wine will be served in Walls Farm with your hosts Stephen Moss, and Graeme and Kay Mitchell. There will be good birding chat and you will be briefed further on our planned birdwatching excursions. DAY 2: Breakfast is in your cottage. Morning visit WWT Steart Marshes near Bridgwater. Many thousands of Lapwing and Golden Plover overwinter here along with many different duck species. A good place, too, for…

SPOTTED RAIL This distinctively spotted elusive rallid has the body shape of a large, spotted Water Rail, with red legs and a ridiculous-looking lime green bill with a red spot near the base It is found patchily from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean to Paraguay. It is sedentary throughout its range, only prone to the occasional local movements. Like most members of its tribe, it is a weak flyer,as it sports relatively short wings and covers short distances with a low, weak flight, often with its legs dangling.…

CRAGHOPPERS SHENDEN HALF ZIP KIDS FLEECE, £30 This winter fleece is for children and is made from about 18 recycled plastic bottles. It’s a deep pile fleece that delivers warmth and comfort and is much more huggable than you’d expect 18 plastic bottles to be. It’s available in a fairly funky blue navy print, or, for fruit lovers, a blackcurrant print. A Christmas present for someone, perhaps? And then you can take them out birding. Sizes 5-6 years to 11-12 years. 290g. craghoppers.com HEAL 3X3 CHRISTMAS BUNDLE, £30-£50 If they’ve already got socks you could buy them this. Heal buys land to “return it to nature”. The 3x3 bundle buys 9m2 of land which will be part of Heal’s ‘foundation site’, and it’s management for three years (£30), six years…

SOUTH WEST Highlights In association with As expected, Scilly hogged the rarest birds in the region, including an Indigo Bunting, a Black-and- white Warbler and a couple of Swainson’s Thrushes. There was a decent smattering of Red-eyed Vireos and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak to add some quality in depth. AVON CLEVEDON TO WESTON-SUPER-MARE: Up to three Brent Geese were at Clevedon-Yeo (18th-22nd), with one at Sand Point (18th). A drake Mandarin was on Clevedon Pill (16th). Waders along the Clevedon coast included five Bar-tailed Godwits, 28 Grey Plovers, 150 Lapwings (unimpressive but the biggest flock in Avon), 460 Redshanks with a Spotted Redshank on two dates, seven Knot and two Ruff (16th), Little Stint and Jack Snipe (19th) and an Avocet (27th). Curlew peaked at Sand Bay with 230 and Uphill…

It is early November, as I write, and the events of a month ago now seem somewhat surreal. You may recall that early in October, I was overexcited by an ultra-rare inland Radde’s Warbler appearing 4.3 miles from my home, in Peterborough. I last saw that warbler on 6 October, and the next day, as I was going to bed, news came that the famous wandering Lammergeier of Peak District fame may even be in the Peterborough area! This was total madness, but there was irrefutable video evidence, and even a possible roosting locality, in trees by an isolated farm south of the Lincolnshire village of Moulton Chapel (and at least 50m west of the eastern boundary of the official Peterborough area!). My head was spinning, and after a few…

App success The BTO’s Marsh Award for Local Ornithology has been awarded to the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club (SOC), for its Where to Watch birds in Scotland app. The app encourages users to record their observations to assist conservation and is free to download and use. With content provided entirely by an army of 150 volunteers, it launched in April 2019 with details of 400 of the best birdwatching sites and has since increased by 40% to over 560 sites. For more information about the app visit: the-soc.org.uk/about-us/app Reserve grant A grant from the Sheringham Shoal Community Fund has enabled the Hawk and Owl Trust at Sculthorpe Moor in North Norfolk to implement three new projects on its journey to becoming a carbon neutral nature reserve. One is the installation of…

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. At the time of writing, the UK is being swept by a series of low pressure systems that threaten to strip the trees of their autumn colour, as only the most hardy cling on to the vestiges of their foliage. It won’t be long before they give up the fight and the nakedness of winter becomes a reality. The team members were hoping the storms would bring in a few avian rarities to allow them to add to the swelling list, but the impending second national lockdown may well pour cold water on plans. Last month we reported that Keith had been busy grabbing the…

1 To the nearest thousand, how many species of bird are there in the world? 2 How many species of woodpecker are regularly seen in Great Britain? 3 Which species of goose can be seen migrating over the Himalayas? 4 In which countries are the following bird societies based? National Audubon Society and LIPU? 5 How much in grammes does a Bee Hummingbird, the world’s smallest bird, weigh? 6 Where do Goldeneyes make their nests? 7 What links North Ronaldsay, the Calf of Man and Bradwell in Essex? 8 How many eggs are there in the average Blue Tit clutch? 9 What are the three most northerly RSPB reserves in mainland Britain? 10 What is the commonest bird in Britain? 11 Which bird is known locally as a Tystie? And…

CL POCKET – PUTS THE WORLD IN YOUR POCKET Binoculars that are always with you and are a part of everything that you do, no matter what you’re doing, are practical. Binoculars that promise absolutely unrestricted viewing comfort are wonderful. But compact binoculars that also offer outstanding optical quality are simply brilliant. Just as brilliant as the new CL Pocket binoculars: 100% binoculars. CL POCKET 8X25 – RRP£600 CL POCKET 10X25 – RRP £660 Field bag, carrying strap, raincover www.swarovskioptik.com SWAROVSKI 8X30 CL COMPANION WILD NATURE The Swarovski 10x30 CL binoculars look fantastic, and they punch well above their weight in terms of optical performance due to the use of premium grade optics and coatings. The surprising aspect though is the price tag making this “alpha” class optic great value.…

GET IN TOUCH birdwatching@bauermedia.co.uk facebook.com/BirdWatchingMag twitter.com/BirdWatchingMag Bird Watching, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA A worrying increase in wildlife crime Bo Beolens’ article in October Bird Watching really hit home with me. I have been birdwatching since my mid-teens, about 60 years ago, and a large part of that time has been spent in the Yorkshire Dales area, a lot of which is Red Grouse country. The amount of raptor persecution and other wildlife crime seems to have increased massively in that time, no doubt owing to the large amount of money that shooters are willing to pay to shoot ‘surplus’ birds. Our own little club is based on the eastern edge of the Dales and our recording area is surrounded by grouse shooting estates. As you can imagine,…

On the school run, my teenage daughter used to delight in regaling me with tracks from her favourite indie music. Over the years not many tunes stuck, but quite unexpectedly, just the other day, a line from one of them trickled through the moving stave of my consciousness. It’s from the track ‘Dino Damage’ by Miniature Tigers, and set to an unsettlingly gentle melody it goes like this: “…If you hold on, they’ll bite your fingers off And tear you limb from limb. It’s second nature to them” This wandering fragment of verse must have come to rest because I was looking at a picture of a Great Grey Shrike. These are fabulous birds, but for most of us their searingly predatory nature manages to escape our experience, since they…

• Contact details Córdoba province: Agencia Córdoba Turismo Birding: Walter Eugenio Cejas Tel. + 54 9 351 6411-401 Email: waltereugeniocejas@gmail.com Agency contact: cordobaturismo.gov.ar/prestadores-en-cordoba/ • Contact details Salta province: Ministerio de Turismo y Deportes Birding: Felipe Usandivarias Tel.: +54 387 431-0950 Email: fusandivarias@turismosalta.gov.ar • Contact details Corrientes province: Birding: Mercedes Alegre Tel.: +54 379 442-7200, int. 102 E-Mail: mercedes.alegre@yahoo.com.ar Agency contact: Turismo Diversidad Tel.: +54 9 378 6612-170 Email: birding@turismodiversidad.com • Contact details Misiones province: Birding: Iguazú Birdwatching Julián Baigorria Tel.: +54 9 375 7461-858 Email: julianbaigorria@gmail.com Agency contact: Cuenca del Plata Tel. +54 3757 421-062 Email: cuencadelplata@cuencadelplata.com…

Visitors to New Zealand are often struck by how similar the landscape is to the UK and parts of mainland Europe, and in many locations they’re not wrong. Over the last two centuries or so, European settlers have had a profound and devastating impact on the natural environment, especially in low-lying, agriculturally-productive lowland areas. Rolling farmland, scattered trees, and herds of cows and sheep have replaced native scrub and woodland in many areas. And the similarities to ‘back home’ extend to the wildlife, too, of course, to the extent that introduced plants often outnumber native species. Of course, it is not just farming that has had an impact on New Zealand’s environment: add to the mix other human activities, from mining to logging, and the result is a much-altered landscape…

A VULTURE LANDSCAPE: TWELVE MONTHS IN EXTREMADURA IAN PARSONS, WHITTLES PUBLISHING, SB £17.99 Ian Parsons, and his love of vultures, will be familiar to regular readers of Bird Watching, but here he puts them firmly in the context of the Spanish landscape where he watches them. The focus, then, is on the three species found in Extremadura - Griffon, Egyptian and Black (or Cinereous), but one of the book’s pleasures for me is the way that Ian brings in vultures from all over the world. With chapters covering a month at a time, starting in April, the author mixes close observation and plenty of ‘hard’ ornithology with more evocative, lyrical passages, making it an easy book to dip into, or to read in long sittings. The plentiful colour photos are…