Table of contents for June 2024 in Birdwatch

THE weather was very pleasant in my area over the early May bank holiday weekend, which was a blessing for my ‘green’ big day effort. Along with fellow local birder Jake Williams, we set out on our bikes into the calm night air at 4 am on Sunday 5th. Our first stop was Etton-Maxey Pits, where migrant waders including Whimbrel, Wood Sandpiper and Grey Plover were bonuses as we cleaned up on the expected species partaking in the dawn chorus, on what was a gloriously mild and still morning. Over the next 16 hours, we cycled 105 km around the Deepings area in Lincolnshire, netting 117 species in the process. To say that we were knackered by the evening would be an understatement – so much so that we didn’t…

A Dark-eyed Junco has drawn crowds to a Hartlepool garden after the bird was identified on Facebook. In a post on the social media platform late on 23 April, homeowner Kevin Boddy asked what the mystery bird he’d photographed in his garden was. Quick-thinking birders replied to confirm it was a Dark-eyed Junco – a first for Co Durham and a national rarity to boot. Mr Boddy was forthcoming with information, stating the bird had been present since 22nd, and subsequently allowed access for anyone wishing to twitch the junco until it was last seen on 27 April. He told Birdwatch: “I have always enjoyed watching birds and I put out food out for them. On the morning of Monday 22 April I noticed an unfamiliar species feeding on seed…

African vagrants continued to be a major feature of the southern European birding scene this month. Perhaps the most remarkable discovery was a Yellow-billed Egret in inland Spain at Embalse de Alcollarín, Extremadura, from 20th – only the second European record. French birders got in on the act as well, with the excellent discovery of a Spur-winged Lapwing in the Camargue on 13th being a strong shout for the first acceptable French record. A Red-necked Nightjar at the month’s end was also notable, with a returning Elegant Tern along the Biscay coast. Interestingly, further extralimital Spur-winged Lapwings were in Hungary and Cape Verde. Islands in the Strait of Sicily enjoyed a fantastic run, with an African Desert Warbler on Linosa, Italy’s fifth White-crowned Wheatear on Lampedusa, an Atlas Wheatear on…

I ’ve lived in my adopted county of Northamptonshire for more than 40 years – at least 35 of those were in the house I still occupy and, before that, a house round the corner. My BirdTrack records come overwhelmingly from my local patch of Stanwick Lakes which, apparently, I have visited 617 times in the BirdTrack era and at which I have seen 167 species. Next in line is my own garden and its airspace, with 71 species from 427 lists. Three more of my top 10 most-visited sites are in Northants and the other five comprise RSPB nature reserves in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Essex, as well as a racecourse overlooked by the Cotswold escarpment. It’s clear that I don’t get out much! Or at least not out…

CHINA is a vast nation that is, from a birding perspective, extremely diverse. From the taiga to high-mountain plateaus, and from sultry subtropical forests to the expansive estuarine habitats of the Yellow Sea, this country offers a rich array of highly desired birding targets. I have birded in China once previously, although it barely felt like scratching the surface. Yet I had one of the most enjoyable birding experiences I have had anywhere in the world, especially so in Inner Mongolia where, as a European birder, my mind was blown by the abundance of breeding ‘Sibes’ such as Eyebrowed Thrush, Yellow-rumped Flycatcher and Lanceolated Warbler. Also on that trip I was fortunate enough to score the rare and elusive Swinhoe’s Rail, so it brought back fond memories when I opened…

ONE Midsummer’s Day is so much more than simply a book about Common Swift. Author Mark Cocker uses the species as a framework rather than the complete focus for the book, as he states it ‘is not intended as a single-species biography’. Instead, he aims to show the deeper connections that ‘function through time and all across life.’ Interwoven with his personal observations of a single species, Cocker delves deeper, showing us the way nature operates and exploring how fundamentally interconnected everything is. He looks at the whole picture, rather than restricting himself, which is refreshing to see. Drawing on a combination of literature, history and science, as well as his own personal observations, this book is packed with information and provides plenty of food for thought. Particularly of interest to…

MANY birds use their wings as part of their courtship behaviour. In a wide range of species, a female may quiver her wings to beg for food and if this results in her being fed by the male, it will help to strengthen the pair bond. This is often accompanied by begging calls, and so cannot be described as non-vocal gesturing. There is now evidence that certain behaviours in birds may actually be deliberate gesturing, as no sound is involved and yet communication is taking place. Members of the crow family are known to be very intelligent and are especially good at tasks such as problem solving and counting. Research on Raven, the largest passerine, has shown that these birds can use specific gestures. Members of a pair may use…

■ The delights of ‘Dunge’ Jutting out into the English Channel in south Kent is the Dungeness peninsula. David Walker discusses the history of Dungeness Bird Observatory and the special birds it has produced over the years. ■ Autumn already One of the first signs of autumn migration in Britain comes as early as mid-summer, when southbound Green Sandpipers appear. Ken Smith profiles this curious species, looking at its year-round habits. ■ Lost at sea Some of the greatest rarities ever to be observed in Britain and Ireland have been seabirds – but proving these records, which so often involve distant birds passing windswept headlands in just a few short minutes, can be challenging. Luke Nash looks back at some of the intriguing sightings that have failed to make the…

What is it about European Honey Buzzard that captivates birders? The scientific name Pernis apivorus translates as ‘bee-eating hawk’, a somewhat misleading moniker that gives a clue to the unique diet of these birds; they feed mainly – although not exclusively – on wasp and bee larvae and time their breeding to coincide with wasp life cycles. Elsewhere in the Western Palearctic the species is known for its spectacular numbers at migratory bottlenecks in spring and autumn. A rare breeder By contrast, close encounters with honey buzzards in this country are usually rare and often hard won. The species is a scarce migrant and rare breeding bird in Britain, with strongholds in southern England, Wales and central Scotland, although it is not restricted to these areas. Breeding is not known…

THIS is a remarkable book about a species almost as emblematic of extinction as the famous Dodo. We learn a great deal about Great Auk within its pages, including its breeding sites, and the local people, too, who lived along the Icelandic coasts and knew this striking species well. This publication is also about the passions of scientists (and collectors) John Wolley and Alfred Newton, who visited Iceland to try to see the bird but failed. Wolley nevertheless bought some eggs and Newton studied them. It is strange that in an era when the processes of evolution were beginning to be understood, their thoughts about the auk first brought about the idea that extinction was a part of it, too. It is good to have an Icelandic perspective on the…

THIS new field guide includes all resident, breeding and migrant species found in Greater Southern Africa – in other words, South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. This is a vast area of more than 4.6 million sq km and this book describes nearly 1,200 species that can be encountered in the region, and that includes quite a selection of seabird vagrants given the region’s extensive coastline and proximity to the southern oceans. The taxonomy follows that promoted by BirdLife and HBW. The immediate comparison to be made is to the Sasol guide, Birds of Southern Africa, which first appeared in 1993 and is now on its fifth edition. What you get with the new book is the addition of Zambia and Malawi, neither…

BIRDS that lay more than one egg have two strategies for incubation which result in either synchronous (at the same time) or asynchronous (at different times) hatching. In precocial birds, which leave the nest immediately, it is important that the eggs hatch at about the same time, even though they are laid over a period of several days. Incubation is often delayed until the last, or one before last, egg is laid. The eggs may have different amounts of hormones, carotenoids, immunoglobin and other materials. Later-laid eggs usually have a higher amount of nutrients, thicker shells and greater weight, and the embryos have a higher metabolism, so they grow faster and hatch more quickly. This results in the eggs hatching at similar times. Research in 1966 showed that among a…

FOR an inland site in a fairly built-up location in the northwest of Surrey, the Papercourt area has good potential to bring in relatively unusual and even rare birds. I have been birding in Surrey for 12 years now and at Papercourt for 10 of them, finding a number of good local birds including Western Cattle Egrets, Smew, Siberian Chiffchaff, Black Redstart and several Great Egrets. While these may not seem too exciting to many coastal birders, for us inland Surrey folk they are enough to get the heart racing! Finding these scarcities is the ultimate reward and while I am not at all averse to twitching (I have been on many a twitch now), nothing can beat coming across a local rarity on your patch. The Papercourt complex is…

British birders experienced a bit of everything in April. The month began cold and chilly, but Storm Kathleen’s arrival on 5th produced powerful, warm southerly winds – and an abundance of early migrants as a result. This theme continued until mid-month, when colder conditions set in, putting the brakes on northbound passage somewhat. Indeed, the end of the month saw a run of chilly and damp days, often with northerlies, ultimately leaving a feeling that there’s much more to come from spring 2024 as we head into May. Kathleen’s winds mainly produced early common migrants en masse – but also a decent arrival of Hoopoes. Sussex bore the brunt of the fall, with an exceptional eight birds logged over the weekend of 6-7th. This included two keeping close company at…

I don’t think I’m entirely alone in becoming a little averse to spending ‘too much’ of my spring in woodlands. Walking among the trees with ears on alert for Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and Hawfinches makes up much of my birding routine in February and March, as does scanning over the treetops for Eurasian Goshawks, but my attitude always shifts as the season races on. When April and the start of the migration season comes around, my instinct is to stay in the open, keeping to the coast or wetland sites, in anticipation of a spring defined by scarce migrants. A big sky is key: something could fly over at any moment and trees cannot be in the way. Inevitably, each spring goes by with a few of the unexpected encounters…

The soft ‘purring’ song of European Turtle Dove is one of the most uplifting sounds of the British summer. So many birders will have fond memories of listening to a purring turtle dove on a warm summer’s evening, providing the perfect aural backdrop to the verdant vegetation, golden light and clouds of insects all around. Alas, this idyllic scene has become little more than a pipe dream for the great majority of us. Of the myriad declines that British birds – both resident and migratory – have suffered during recent decades, none has been as severe as that of European Turtle Dove. For every 100 turtle doves that roamed the British countryside in the 1960s, only one (yes, one!) remains today. There have been some staggering declines and numerous losses…

MY first impressions of Birds of Ireland: A Field Guide by Jim Wilson and Mark Carmody were excellent. The book itself is quite compact with a laminated cover, which is perfect for a field guide. One of my pet peeves is books which don’t look good on a bookshelf – you can’t say that about this one. The spine is lime green with the title in bold, which makes it easy on the eye. I was blown away by the standard of photography throughout. Most of the images were taken by Carmody, who is a well-known Irish birder and photographer. The selling point of this title is that it is focused on Ireland’s birds and the authors have filled a niche in the market. The inclusion of Irish names for each…

THE title of this raptor-conservation book is nabbed from the 1989 film Field of Dreams, but also has a hint of an M R James ghost story about it. Indeed, there are plenty of ghosts within its pages, from authors and artists of books admired by the author as a child, through to gamekeepers who shot Ospreys and collectors who took their eggs, as well as the countless Ospreys themselves that used to breed in Britain. The species was lost to us until its famous return (naturally, not reintroduced) at Loch Garten RSPB, Highland, in the 1950s. How different things are now. This is a multi-threaded story of Ospreys past and present, of the author’s own experiences and observations and his determination to see Ospreys return to the area of…

Online communities I’VE been birding a long time. Like a lot of ‘average’ birders, I used to put gulls into the ‘too difficult’ tray. I didn’t even really try, as compared to other birds they somehow didn’t have any attraction for me, although always in the back of my mind I knew I was missing something and I didn’t want to admit it. I always enjoy watching gulls with their antics and constant bickering – they are pure entertainment – so I decided I would give them yet another go and once again I gave up at the first hurdle. I love to take photographs of birds and when people ask whether I’m a birder or a photographer (because apparently you can’t be both), I always answer with ‘birder’. I’m…

In late April, I treated myself to an actual day of actual birding. It’s been a while since I’d enjoyed such an indulgence. A beautiful day in January in the Netherlands was my last such delight (when Middle Spotted Woodpecker was the highlight), but since then finding the time, weather and enthusiasm has been impossible. Doing this with a five-year-old in tow takes even more planning; the wrong mood, wrong weather, wrong pair of sparkly wellies and you can give up after 45 minutes. Minsmere RSPB was my destination – five-year-old, sparkly wellies and all. I was craving biodiversity and bioabundance, more than I’d find in rural Leicestershire. I wanted Common Nightingales and Common Cuckoos, Eurasian Bitterns and Eurasian Stone-curlews, and I wanted to enjoy them to their full. I’ve…