Next trips: Follow autumn migration in Hampshire
Inspire
RSPB Oxford Local Group Newsletter Volume 8, Issue 3
September 2014
A very big welcome back to the start of
another full programme of great talks
and walks. There should be something
for everyone as we travel all around the
world with our talks programme.
I went to the Birdwatching Fair recently at Rutland
Water and it got me thinking; just how much our love
of birds, and wildlife in general, leads us into so many
different activities. There are hundreds of different
stalls at Birdfair, and a similar number of talks to get
us enthused, and we can be taken off anywhere we
like. For some it’s about visiting other parts of the UK
or all around the world to see birds. For others, we put
food out for a wide variety of birds in our gardens –
often spending a lot of money just doing that.
The range of optics on display was amazing – gone
are the days of just seeing scopes on your travels;
now it is who has the most powerful camera lens. You
can learn how to photograph birds and other wildlife,
both flora and fauna. You can become a dragonfly or
butterfly expert or get just as excited over wildflowers.
So our love of birds leads us into much more and if
we, as a group, can help you with that with our
programme of events then we will have achieved our
aim. Do your bit and enjoy it as well. Talking of aims, I
achieved a long-time one on our group trip to Bulgaria
by spotting my first hawfinch (you can read a report of
the trip on our website www.rspb.org.uk/groups/oxford/
news/373932/). So, despite seeing so many species
for the first time, that was my bird of the summer.
Happy birding
Roy
Unlike the spring migration when the dash is on to find a
nesting site and a mate, the autumn migration is often a
more leisurely affair as birds take time to feed up before
undertaking their often arduous flights south. With that in
mind, our first birdwatching trips of
the autumn are heading to
Hampshire; to favoured refuelling
spots for migrants and destinations
for winter visitors.
On Sunday 28 September we are
visiting the Hampshire and Isle of
Wight Wildlife Trust’s (HIWWT),
Keyhaven and Pennington
Marshes Reserve. The intertidal
mudflats and salt marshes, which lie outside the seawall,
offer a variety of wildlife habitats that are important for
waders and wildfowl in autumn. Just inside the seawall lie
a series of shallow, brackish lagoons connected to the
sea through a system of sluices and tidal flaps. In autumn
these bring in migrant wading birds including whimbrels,
curlew sandpipers and little stints.
Farlington Marsh, which we visit on Sunday 12
October, is one of HIWWT’s oldest reserves. Formed
from reclaimed land on the northern
shore of Langstone Harbour between
Portsmouth and Havant, this site is a
coastal grazing marsh and lagoon
which has several pools, both
freshwater and brackish, and a broad
stream which provide feeding and
roosting sites for waders and
wildfowl. The majority of the circular
walk around the reserve is on the sea
wall, about 4km long in total (approximately 2.5 miles).
Recent repairs to damage caused by 2013’s extreme
winter weather include resurfacing the top of the seawall;
however, it is still soft in some areas. Wellingtons or
sturdy boots may be needed if conditions are wet.
The RSPB is a registered charity in England & Wales 207076, in Scotland SC037654
Harvest mouse Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)
Turnstone Tom Marshall (rspb-images.com)
Radcliffe Camera © Lyn Ebbs New College, Oxford © Lyn Ebbs
Are you under 30? If so, you might not
remember a time when there were no red
kites flying in Oxfordshire and the only
chance to see one in the UK was to make
a trip to Wales. If, however, you are nearer my age,
you will remember the thrill 25 years ago of hearing
that the Chilterns would be the
setting for the reintroduction of
red kites into the English
countryside. Trips to London
on the Chiltern Line became a
lot more interesting when you
could get a glimpse of one
flying alongside the train. It’s
probably better not to admit to
kite spotting while driving on
the M40 through the cutting by
Aston Rowant nature reserve.
Now 25 years on from one of the UK’s most
successful conservation projects, there’s rarely a day
when I don’t see a red kite locally; I even see them
over Oxford city centre. There are now at least 1,000
breeding pairs in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire,
Hertfordshire and Berkshire.
Kites have remained fairly faithful to their Chilterns
home but other release sites in England have also
been very successful and the last BTO atlas* showed
an astonishing 1600 breeding pairs in Britain up from a
couple of handfuls in the 1970s. Expansion in
Scotland has not been as good, with disheartening
evidence that red kites are
among the birds targeted by
the criminals who also poison
other birds of prey.
While it’s a spectacle to watch
red kites gather at feeding
stations in Wales, the RSPB
doesn’t encourage other
people to put food out for kites.
Feeding discourages the birds
from dispersing away from
their breeding ground. If the density of kites becomes
too high, there is a risk of bird strikes which could
endanger flights at RAF and commercial airfields in
our area.
*Bird Atlas 2007-11: The Breeding and Wintering Birds of Britain
and Ireland, D Balmer et al. British Trust for Ornithology 2013.
Focus
on Red
Kites
Helping birds in distress
As members of the RSPB, we are sometimes asked
for help in caring for injured wild birds and there is
some very useful information on the RSPB website1.
But in some situations the bird is not wild, or even
injured, such as when a racing pigeon dropped in
on Rex Tester this summer. The Royal Racing
Pigeon Association (RPRA) has this advice to offer.
You can tell if the bird is a stray racing pigeon
rather than a feral pigeon by checking for a leg ring.
If the pigeon does not have a ring on its leg, it is
unlikely to be racing pigeon. The RPRA says that it
is not unusual for racing pigeons to come down for
a rest, especially during training or racing. Giving
the bird water with some sugar dissolved in it will
help if the bird is simply exhausted. Wild bird seed
or uncooked rice or lentils are all suitable foods, if
you wish to feed it but, unlike feral street pigeons,
they ask that you don’t feed bread to a racing
pigeon.
After refuelling, the racing pigeon may probably
decide to continue its journey home. And you can
encourage it to complete the final leg of its journey
if you remove the food and water after a maximum
of 48 hours. Should you find a stray racing pigeon
and open its wing,
you may find
stamped on one
or more feathers,
the name and
address and/or
telephone number
of the owner.
Alternatively the
name and
address of the
owner may be
found on another
ring on the
pigeon’s leg.
The RPRA also
has a stray pigeon
reporting system
on its website2.
1. http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/health/
injuredbirds.aspx
2. http://www.rpra.org/stray-reporting/
Red k
ite B
en H
all (rs
pb-im
ages.c
om
)
Pig
eon B
en H
all (rs
pb-im
ages.c
om
)
Book review by Richard Ebbs: A Message from Martha
In ‘A Message from Martha’ Mark Avery estimates
that there were between five and ten billion passenger
pigeons in North America in the mid 19th century but
on 1 September 1914 the last, captive-bred bird,
named Martha, died in Cincinnati Zoo.
Within a century they had become
extinct. Can you imagine a flock of
pigeons, a mile wide and flying at up to
60 mph, passing continuously overhead,
obscuring the sun, for up to six hours or
more? A flock containing perhaps three
billion birds? When they roosted in their
preferred oak, beech and chestnut
forests their weight was so great that
large branches or even whole trees could
break down.
Treating this disappearance like a
detective story, Mark investigates the
sparse and unreliable data from the
period to find out detail such as whether
the birds laid one or two eggs or may have been
double-brooded. The birds were known to be good to
eat, so were hunted remorselessly. Then, with the
advent of the railroads, telegraph and the right to bear
arms, they were shipped by the barrel-load to cities as
food. However, the major reason for their demise was
probably the clearance of the vast
hardwood forests for agriculture: the birds
fed mainly on acorns, mast and chestnuts
and the forests were their breeding sites.
Mark puts all these findings in the context
of a burgeoning population and economy
and the effects of these on the natural
environment. A hundred years on he
makes the comparison with the plight of
the turtle dove, looking at the hazards
that they face, asking whether we are
doing enough to protect them and
whether we have learned the lessons of
the past.
This is a fascinating and very readable
book, a bit quirky in places, but one that I very much
enjoyed and thoroughly recommend.
A Message from Martha Mark Avery (Bloomsbury Nature Writing)
As well as Mark Avery’s book, reviewed
above, there are other good books on
wildlife and the environment out in
paperback or hard covers. The following
all come recommended. (It’s not too early
to add them to your Christmas list and avoid the
scented candle/socks/after shave scenario.)
What Has Nature Ever Done For Us?:
How Money Really Does Grow On
Trees by Tony Juniper (Profile Books)
is full of engaging and startling stories,
such as how the Chinese use feather
dusters to pollinate plants in the
absence of bees. There are many
warning messages but also positive
notes.
Feral by George Monbiot (Penguin
Books) speculates on what sort of
environment we could have if we
returned more of our countryside to
the wild side. As many people feel
uncomfortable with urban foxes, they
would almost certainly not welcome
his suggestion to reintroduce the wolf
and lynx. The book contains some
very provocative ‘what ifs’.
If you have something a little more
expensive in mind how about A
Sparrowhawk’s Lament: How British
Breeding Birds of Prey Are Faring by
David Cobham illustrated by Bruce
Pearson (Priceton University
Press)? Wildlife film-maker David
Cobham poses and answers the
question of the status of birds of
prey. There are success stories: five birds of prey that
were extinct have become re-established with viable
populations. However, persecution is still rife: so much
so that one bird of prey, the hen harrier, failed to breed
in 2013 and only had four breeding pairs this year.
The final suggestion is Ten Thousand Birds:
Ornithology Since Darwin by Tim
Birkhead, Jo Wimpenny and Bob
Montgomerie (Princeton University
Press). The book follows the
transition of ornithology from a
museum-based study of dead
specimens to the field-based
biological science of today. In
doing so it also tells the stories of
the inspiring people who advanced the science (and
the occasional unpleasant eccentric as well).
Snippets
all about
books
RSPB Oxford
Local Group
Committee
President
John Wyatt
Group Leader
Roy Grant
Treasurer
Roy Jackson
Secretary
Anne Clark
Other committee
members and
volunteers
Reg Cox
Lyn Ebbs
Charles Merry
Cecelia Merry
Linda Neal
Keith Neale
David Rolfe
Alan Sherman
Please visit our
Group Website
www.rspb.org.uk/
groups/oxford/
If you have comments
about Inspire or would
like to contribute,
please contact the
Editor, Lyn Ebbs
Email:
The RSPB is the country’s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home.
www.rspb.org.uk
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