Содержание выпуска: Autumn 2022 — Bird Watching

twitter.com/BirdWatchingMag facebook.com/BirdWatchingMag RARITY RATINGS 1 BLACK REDSTART Like all chats, Black Redstarts are not looking at their most striking in the autumn. In fact, males, females and youngsters all look pretty similar, in ‘dull’ grey-brown, but they all share the distinctive, quivering orange tail, which makes these Robin-like beauties especially exciting. Black Redstarts breed in very small numbers in some cities, power stations and even airports. In the autumn, passage birds are more likely to be encountered especially around the coasts, where there is something rocky (or appearing rocky) to perch on. 2 CURLEW SANDPIPER Curlew Sandpipers are relatively scarce waders, seen mostly in late summer and autumn, as juveniles. Fear not, though, this is one wader which is very handsome in its first proper feathering. They are a little…

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) NOR TH EAST Skegness (+4:29) Grimsby (+4:13) Bridlington (+2:58) Whitby (+2:20) Hartlepool (+1:59) Blyth (+1:46)…

SET A TARGET OF SEEING 200 BIRDS IN ONE YEAR! BROUGHT TO YOU IN PARTNERSHIP WITH It’s that time of year again – the avian world is in motion, and in a big way, and that means your local patch could harbour unfamiliar species. Species you need to add to your #My200BirdYear list! Remember, you set the rules as far as your #My200BirdYear list is concerned. Geographical restrictions, heard birds, birds that you’ve found yourself, birds that you’ve photographed – it’s your decision, so it’s entirely up to you what you ‘count’. But, however you’ve decided to take our challenge, this is one of two times of year that it pays to get out and about birding, making the most of the phenomena of migration. Turn the page and follow…

Amanda talks to Rob Jaques from the Garden BirdWatch team to find out. Would you like your window birding to contribute to something bigger? The BTO’s Garden BirdWatch citizen science project has been running since 1995 and is free to do. The 20,000 participants decide the time they can commit to recording birds and submit data weekly. I ask Rob Jaques from the Garden BirdWatch (GBW) team whether someone can take part in the GBW if they only look out of their window. “Absolutely”, he says. “And it doesn’t matter what you are looking out onto”. He tells me that some people record from windows, others from balconies, parks and allotments. But would time commitment be an issue? “It can be for as little as 10 minutes a week, if…

This ambitious project, jointly launched by the University of Sheffield and London Natural History Museum, took four years to record information on plumage colour from around 90% of the world’s birds. At the outset 8,500 bird species in the Museum’s collection were photographed, first to record colour in the visible spectrum, and then to capture UV wavelengths. With the contribution of about 6,400 citizen scientists to mark relevant coordinates on each photograph, colouring at key points on the body could be analysed. As well as finding out how widespread UV colouring is, the research team are planning to test explorer-scientist Alexander Von Humboldt’s theory from the early 19th Century that bird colourfulness increases as you approach the equator.…

GET IN TOUCH birdwatching@bauermedia.co.uk facebook.com/BirdWatchingMag twitter.com/BirdWatchingMag Bird Watching, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA A Mute point! Having just enjoyed David Lindo’s article in BW September, I thought I’d write to you and share my own encounter with a Mute Swan. One of my local birding patches is home to a particularly formidable male, whom I’ve christened Rothbart. Such is his reputation among the wildfowl that Canada Geese flee when he appears on the horizon. Last autumn, I was sitting at the lakeside on this patch, when a juvenile from Rothbart’s latest brood hauled herself onto the bank in front of me. I carefully began to retreat, but not before receiving a rubbery peck in the eye! Thankfully it didn’t really hurt; it felt like an inquisitive poke rather…

What first sparked your interest in birdwatching, and when? As a child, looking at birds on the river and identifying them in a British field guide. I wanted to see every bird in the book. Who was your birdwatching inspiration or mentor? Bill Oddie Goes Wild was a huge inspiration on TV. In person, I was fortunate to learn loads from Richard Porter and many other Norfolk birders. Do you bird alone or with a friend? Both. It’s a great way to spend time with a friend or alone. Your dream bird to see? Since first learning about the WWT conservation project, it’s been my dream to one day see a Spoon-billed Sandpiper in its native environment. “I WATCHED AN OYSTERCATCHER CHICK HATCHING WITH A SCHOOL GROUP AND THEY WERE…

Eagles earn their keep A pair of White-tailed Eagles on Mull have celebrated their 25th anniversary by successfully fledging their 25th chick. Skye and Frisa paired up in 1997 and had their first chick the following year, before becoming famous in 2005 on BBC’s Springwatch. A recent study highlighted the economic benefits the birds have brought to Mull, with between £4.9million and £8million of tourist spend being attracted by White-tailed Eagles, annually, which in turn supports up to 160 jobs. Follow @MullEagleWatch and @skyeandfrisa on Twitter. Wind farm grants Equinor, the operators of Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm, have helped buy a HiSun Nipper electric vehicle for the Hawk and Owl Trust’s Sculthorpe Moor reserve in Norfolk, taking the amount awarded in grants by the Sheringham Shoal Community Fund past…

Sign up to #My200BirdYear in 2022 to be in with the chance of winning some great prizes from our partners. Enter now for your chance to win a Rohan gift card worth £150, so you can add the latest clothing to your outdoor kit list. Perfect for taking you from your next chase to spotting the usual suspects. Rohan gear is brought to life with outdoor adventure and travel at the heart of the design, from waterproofs that keep you protected in a downpour, or being caught in an unexpected shower, to breathable clothing with Insect Shield® that keeps you cool and limits the intrusion of biting bugs on the hottest of days. All Rohan clothing packs easily in to a backpack ideal for daily exploring, featuring plenty of pockets…

As soon as I arrived at the wetland I saw them. They’re hard to miss. Their dark plumage means that these birds really stand out from the lighter background of reeds and grasses, and the bill, well how can you not notice that elegant, curlew-like bill? There is something special about seeing Glossy Ibises. The birds I was watching, as they fed in shallow waters, were at an extensive wetland site in Extremadura in central Spain. When I first started visiting this region many years ago, it was almost unheard of to see them, but now they are regular, almost standard – if ever a bird like an ibis can be called standard! The Glossy Ibis became extinct as a breeding species in western Europe in the early part of…

Etta Lemon, an artillery instructor’s daughter from Blackheath, campaigned from the 1880s until the 1930s against the killing of wild birds for the fashion trade. While the suffragists and suffragettes were busy fighting for votes for women in the early 20th Century, Etta was determined to convince her political sisters to stop using feathers and bird skins on their oversized hats in their efforts to draw vital attention to their cause. The male-only British Ornithologists’ Union wasn’t taking action on the feathers issue, so women campaigners believed it was up to them to step up despite the difficulties of women being heard in the public sphere. The combined efforts of Etta Lemon, Emily Williamson and Eliza Phillips led to the founding of the Society for the Protection of Birds in…

A few years ago, I walked the West Highland Way with my teenage son. It’s a long-distance footpath, covering 96 miles of rugged Scotland from the northern outskirts of Glasgow to Fort William. Thousands of people each year do the same. And before they go, they read the blurb, which invariably and correctly states that you shouldn’t take this lightly. Plan ahead, make sure you’re in condition, take what you need… The only problem was that we didn’t do that. A week before we set off, I found that everything was booked. We didn’t train at all. We had no idea what our physical resilience was like. We just left, took our chances, and decided to wild camp. What I never knew at the time was that we were acting…

Do you ever get the feeling that you are drawn to things for inexplicable reasons? For several years now I have increasingly begun to feature Feral Pigeons Columba livia aka the Street Pigeons (among other names) in my life. Once, on a London Underground platform, I even put my phone down to observe a ropey looking pigeon tackle some discarded cheese and onion crisps that were strewn around the heels and trainers of unconcerned commuters. I didn’t even have the urge to shoo it away! I wondered what was happening to me. I haven’t registered Feral Pigeons for years. They never made it onto my bird lists and were lucky to get even the most cursory of glances in the field. I mean, if you were to take to the…

At some times of year, and in some birding situations, I’m one of those birdwatchers whose standard uniform is supermarket-bought T-shirt, fleece and jeans, with footwear the only item I’m likely to splash out on. But long experience has also taught me that any extremes of weather require something a bit more specialist. There’s nothing worse than having your day’s birding ruined by the fact that you’re freezing cold, scorching hot, or just thoroughly uncomfortable. So, I was eager to see what Rohan’s Pioneers could do. As I started testing them, along came the hottest heatwave in the UK’s recorded history, then a couple of weeks of showery and dull weather, and then the return of the extreme heat. Perfect conditions for testing convertible trousers, if nothing else. Let’s start…

ISLAND TO ISLAND: FROM SOMERSET TO THE SEYCHELLES SALLY MILLS, CRANTHORPE MILLNER PUBLISHERS, SB £15.99 Imagine living on a tiny tropical island no larger than a city park. It’s just you, your partner, and four local rangers (whose attitude to life is different from yours). On the plus side you are living a nature-lover’s dream among more than a million birds and uncounted numbers of lizards, turtles, crabs and other fauna. And every day is barbecue weather. On the debit side, you will have permanently wet, sandy feet, your clothes will smell of wet dog, your shower is a bucket with a hole in it, and your washing water often smells of dead skink. There are also cyclones, monsoons, heavy seas and biting insects to cope with. I suspect most…

BIRD OF THE MONTH WRYNECK Most people know there are three British woodpeckers: Green Woodpecker and the Great Spotted and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. But, of course, there is a fourth, though you wouldn’t necessarily suspect it was a woodpecker, at a glance. The Wryneck is an oddity, a woodpecker shaped like a large warbler and wrapped in the feathering of a Nightjar or some similarly cryptically patterned bird. Get a really good look at one, and the zygodactyl toes (two pointing forward and two back) are a clue to taxonomic position. And while you are getting this excellent view, check out its long, thin, sticky tongue, which it is probably using to collect ants, on the ground (where most Wrynecks are seen). Once upon a time, not so very long…

In the spring of 1996, an email arrived in my inbox at the Department of Biological Sciences, Hokkaido University. It was from a very good friend of mine who was also a keen birdwatcher. I remember the email well: it explained how my friend had just witnessed two things which I would never see. Firstly, and most importantly, he had just seen the UK’s first ever American Coot, at Stodmarsh, Kent, and that it would be long gone by the time of my return from Japan. The second thing was an unspeakable act which he had witnessed ‘by accident’ through his telescope from a hide, elsewhere in Kent. But I will spare you the horrific details… He was right, of course. The first American Coot was gone by May 1996,…

Recently, the Somerset Levels were declared a Super Nature Reserve. The conservation efforts of the RSPB and others have paid off with an avifauna not seen since the feared fens of medieval East Anglia. Cranes dance, Bitterns boom, and herons breed in quantity and variety. It’s a wonderful, acknowledged success. I’d like to believe it is all the result of detailed planning and foresight by government. Sadly, we know different. The truth is that it is only partly down to long-sighted nature lovers. Other factors combined with that goodwill. Climate change has meant flooding that should happen once a century has happened three times in a decade. Unfarmed land loses value, planned housing schemes finally get the hint that building on flood plains is an expensive nonsense and pandemic-induced local…

It’s one of those grey winter days when it feels like the sun doesn’t actually rise. As I trudge up some steps in my local patch, I see a blue feather on the mud. It’s from the bend of a Jay’s wing. As well as the metallic blue, this feather is ‘vermiculated’ – such a lovely bird word – with black wavy lines. I tuck the feather carefully into my wallet to treasure. The day is looking up, already. Later, at home, I look more closely at the feather with my hand lens. I know it’s made from keratin, like fingernails, but I have a shaky knowledge of feather anatomy. I read that the central shaft is called the ‘rachis’ and the feather’s ‘barbs’ off either side of this form…

Seabirds are tough to identify. There are a few factors which influence this. Firstly, the distances involved when looking at birds at sea are often huge, which always makes picking out key features tricky. Secondly, strong winds and high waves can make viewing very hard (and birds can ‘disappear’ with ease behind waves; or can dive!). Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, many seabirds belong to groups of birds which most of us are unfamiliar with, including such mysterious birds as tubenoses and skuas – not the sort of bird you will encounter inland very often… Finally, many species can appear confusingly similar to each other and can be in ‘odd’ plumages: think, for instance, immature ‘smaller’ skuas, or distant large gulls, or shearwaters. That said, please try to identify the…

COLLECT & KEEP Every month we bring you 10 more sites to build up your GO BIRDING collection MORE SITES For a full list of the sites we’ve featured, go to birdwatching.co.uk/gbindex DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY MAX MILES ON FOOT: 3 MIN TIME: 2 HOURS BURROW HEAD A great chance to make your own birding discoveries Burrow Head is the southernmost tip of the Marchars Peninsula in south-west Scotland, only two miles from the Isle of Whithorn. Like many parts of Dumfries and Galloway, it is an underwatched location, and seems to offer the birder the chance of helping to put the location higher on the map. JOHN MILES WHERE TO WATCH 1 The approach road from the Isle of Whithorn offers you a mixture of hedgerow and open fields, so…

Send all your birding questions to birdwatching@bauermedia.co.uk and our experts will give you the answers Long-billed flying wader Q Hi, attached are pics taken on the Isle of Mull. It was on the south shore of Loch Na Keal. The bird was flying fairly high up and then dropping right down, it was doing this for 30 to 40 minutes continuously, with no sign of any other bird. At first, I thought a godwit but now I’m not so sure. The small feathers between the wings and tail seem unusual. Many thanks. Rob Sumsion A Thanks for the email and photographs, Rob. This is a simple one. Your bird is a Snipe. Furthermore it is a displaying Snipe, performing the ‘song’ of the Snipe which is usually known as ‘drumming’.…

I have spoken before about the pressure I sometimes feel to consistently capture compelling wildlife photographs. I have always felt that I should be producing work that rivals award-winning photographers in the photography competitions I have been involved with, and that which I see regularly coming from photographers I admire. At times, I can’t help but feel a little inadequate when I see all this great work, work which I consider far superior to my own. It seems that I am not alone in my frequent periods of introspection, and that many who wield a camera to immortalise our feathered friends in digital code feel similarly. I enjoyed numerous conversations with birders and photographers on the WildArt Photographer of the Year stand at Global Birdfair this year, many of whom…

VANGUARD VEO 3 263CO TRIPOD, £319.99 A three-legged-friend designed for us. It’s tall (176cm, 143cm with column down), has three twist-lock leg sections, a hook to add weight, three leg angles, rubber and spiked feet, and is “a stable base for even the most expensive spotting scope at maximum zoom”. The arca-compatible two-way head has one handle for locking – you can use your other hand to focus and zoom. 71cm folded. 2.1kg. Copes with 8kg. Two year warranty. Aluminium and more portable four-section versions available. vanguardworld.co.uk A6 RECYCLED LEATHER POCKET JOURNAL, £8.99 If you like notebooks you might like this. 62 pages of mixed lined and plain FSC certified sustainable paper, and the cover is recycled leather in one of five colours (subtly branded with ‘Make a Mark’). It’s…

SOUTH WEST Highlights In association with Probably the star bird of July in the region was an adult Least Sandpiper at Drift Reservoir, Cornwall. A Laughing Gull was seen on Scilly, and off Scilly, the pelagic season got into full swing with good numbers of the rarer shearwaters and Wilson’s Petrels. AVON CLEVEDON-WESTON-SUPER-MARE: Clevedon-Yeo had a Fulmar (5th), two Great White Egrets (13th), 19 Little Egrets, 110 Curlews, 130 Redshanks, three Whimbrels and two Greenshanks. SEVERNSIDE: Seawatching produced a Scaup (25th) and Common Scoter (11th). The Northwick Warth/Pilning Wetlands area had a few Little Ringed Plovers, a Grey Plover, 135 Curlews, two Knot, a Sanderling, 230 Redshanks, a Greenshank, just 13 Black-tailed Godwits and three Snipe. Severnside had a Great White Egret, 12 Little Egrets, three Mediterranean Gulls, a Yellow-legged…