Next trips: Hampshire and closer to home

Inspire RSPB Oxford Local Group Newsletter

Volume 12, Issue 3 September 2018

W elcome back to another season.

Doesn’t time fly! It hardly seems

any time at all that I was wishing

everyone a good summer and

here we are again ready to enjoy another year – our 41st

as a group. And we’re not the oldest, 2019 sees the 50th

anniversary of RSPB local groups – look out for the

special golden robin pin badge to celebrate the year.

Did everyone enjoy the sun? It was too hot for me and I

didn’t go far, relying on my garden for birding in most

cases – apart from one osprey in Scotland! Being able to

get close to certain birds helps me to get to know them

better. Certainly the 30+ sparrows in “my” flock are

fascinating, watching the way some birds dominate. They

consistently empty a large feeder of food each day – so

much for easing down over the summer months!

As always we have a varied programme of talks to come.

We’ve something a little different to start off the season –

“Improving your Wildlife Photography”; maybe this could

inspire us to run another calendar competition in the

future.

Don’t forget that our birdwatching trips will this year

include more car trips (details of the first four are below).

If you are willing to act as driver, please let us know.

And an early request; please let us know if you would be

prepared to give a brief talk at our Winter Warmer in

December.

Best wishes and happy birding

Roy (RSPB Oxford Local Group Leader)

Please note that travel on these trips is on a car-sharing

basis. If you are willing to drive, please let us know when

you book.

Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve (Sunday 16

September) was created by a failed attempt

in the 16th century to keep Titchfield as a

viable port on the Solent by damming the

river and building a canal. But as the sea

trade moved to Southampton, Titchfield

became a wetland, with woods, scrub and

willow, making ideal bird habitat. At this time

of year it attracts southbound migrants and,

being on the Solent, there are often a few

waders around. The reserve has seven

hides, a visitor centre and tearoom. There is

an entry charge of around £4.

Farlington Marshes (Sunday 14 October) is one of the

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s oldest nature

reserves. It consists of grazing marsh and saline lagoons

on the northern shore of Langstone Harbour and is

internationally important for the migratory wildfowl and

wading birds. You can view the marshes from a circular

walk, mostly on the sea wall, of approximately 4km.

Regular sightings at this time of year include godwits,

grey and golden plovers, Brent geese and peregrines.

Spend the morning of Sunday 11 November

with us looking around the hedgerows and

local lakes of the Lower Windrush Valley

at Rushy Common and Standlake Common

Nature Reserves. Rushy Common is a

haven for over-wintering wildfowl such as

wigeon, geese and the more unusual red

crested pochard and goldeneye. In autumn

Standlake Common attracts migrants such

as fieldfares and redwings. There are hides

on both sites but no other facilities.

On a bracing morning trip on Sunday 9 December to

Bury Down on the Ridgeway we will look for corn

buntings, stonechats, winter thrushes and, possibly, over-

wintering short-eared owls.

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‘Our Place’ - Book review by Richard Ebbs

“The goal of environmentalism is to renew the living

fabric of the land so that it also replenishes the spirits

of its human inhabitants.” This quote from Richard

Mabey is fundamental to Mark Cocker’s latest and

very important book, “Our Place”.

Cocker visits a churchyard: he finds a

trimmed rye-grass monoculture,

devoid of daisies; yews have been

replaced by leylandii, devoid of

insects; ivy is brown and withered cut

off at the base, devoid of birds;

graves covered in chippings, devoid

of weeds. A board outside the church

welcomes you to “The Unkempt

Churchyard”, pamphlets praise the

wildlife. Another place: daffodils in

serried ranks waiting to bring spring in

to someone’s living room, no longer

Wordsworth’s, fluttering and dancing

in the breeze. Cocker thinks our

priorities have changed. And yet he

suggests we are a land of nature

lovers; the RSPB has 1.2 million members, the

National Trust over 5 million, far more than all the

political parties put together.

This book is in the tradition of the best environmental

writing. Deeply searching for the causes of our loss it

echoes “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson; it looks for

solutions as does George Monbiot’s “Feral”. It has the

feel of the land like J A Baker’s “The

Peregrine”. He emphasises his points

with quotations from poets: Thomas

Hardy’s “Darkling Thrush” and

Seamus Heaney’s bog poems. He

takes us on a fascinating journey in

the genre of Cobbett’s “Rural Rides”

and Orwell’s “Road to Wigan Pier”.

He looks for involvement: he urges

conservation charities to directly

challenge authorities and landowners;

for us to become latter day mass

trespassers like the Kinder Scout

ramblers and achieve a right to roam

for everyone, to visit the uplands, to

protect the hen harrier.

You should read it and so should

Michael Gove!

Our Place: Can We Save Britain’s Wildlife Before It Is

Too Late? Mark Cocker (Jonathan Cape 2018)

Going to Rutland Water’s Birdfair at

the end of August has become an

annual event for many of us but it has

evolved since I’ve been going – and

that’s only for about a third of its life.

As our local group knows, any birthday with a 0 at the

end gives rise to a lot of introspection, and so has

Birdfair’s 30th: how much has Birdfair changed; are

the changes for the better; should it make even bolder

changes and in what particular direction?

Mark Avery’s blog “Standing up for Nature” hosted

much of this discussion and even a questionnaire on

how visitors would like to see the event develop. There

was a lot of comment about the relative scarcity of

women presenters and some interesting names were

suggested as the female “celebrity” that most people

would like to see.

Some of the discussion revolved around whether men

and women see Birdfair from a different perspective.

Both sexes said that the main reason they go is to

meet people, which is good to know as it’s always felt

like a friendly event. It seems to me that the main

auditorium – the Events Marquee – hosts talks and

discussions with a more campaigning slant now rather

than just an entertainment focus. A debate on plastics

was in women’s top three attractions – because of the

all-female panel or because women care more about

environmental damage? I couldn’t possibly comment!

For me, this year could be summed up as a tale of two

pairs of binoculars. One pair was repaired, free of

charge, by the makers in the Optics Marquee. The

other pair was lost but found and reunited with their

owner with minimum fuss but with friendly efficiency.

Blog: Mark Avery - Standing up for Nature

Birdfair

at 30

Meeting Chris Packham © Lyn Ebbs

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2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

First arrived

Active nests

Chicks fledged

Last departed

Productive year for Oxford’s swifts

A lot of us were worried this year about the late arrival

here of long distance migrants like swallows and swifts

and the impact that the cold spring would have on them.

In the case of swifts at least, it appears that the hot

summer more than made up for the poor start to the

breeding season.

Our well-monitored colony of swifts in the Oxford

University Museum of Natural History tower fledged 72

chicks from 34 nests at an average success rate of more

than two chicks per nest. And, job done, their departure

date from the tower was also the earliest in the past 14

years; they had all gone by 13 August. Hopefully this will

allow the colony to rebuild to the levels where they

regularly fledge 100+ chicks each year.

You can find out more on the museum website:

https://www.oumnh.ox.ac.uk/swifts-in-the-tower-0

Many thanks to Keith Nieland for sharing some

images from his travels this summer. The Canada

geese were actually seen in Canada - in Orangeville,

Southern Ontario - 15 goslings, how do they

remember their names?

The hooded crow in Belgrade demonstrates corvid

cleverness in managing to get a drink from a very

shallow puddle.

Barnacle geese are a common site in the parks in

Helsinki. Can we have some here?

(Arrival and departure

are shown as week

numbers)

RSPB Oxford

Local Group

Committee

Group Leader

Roy Grant

Treasurer

Roy Jackson

Secretary

Anne Clark

Other committee

members and

volunteers

Petula Banyard

Reg Cox

Lyn Ebbs

Paddy Gallagher

Charles Merry

Cecelia Merry

David Rolfe

Alan Sherman

Please visit our

Group Website

www.rspb.org.uk/

groups/oxford/

You can also find us on

Facebook

www.facebook.com/

oxfordrspb

If you have comments

about Inspire or would

like to contribute,

please contact the

Editor, Lyn Ebbs Email:

lynebbs@btinternet.com

Front page pictures:

Otmoor reeds at sunset;

Blenheim toadstools; Bridge

219, Oxford Canal © Lyn

Ebbs

The RSPB is the country’s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home.

www.rspb.org.uk

Andrew Coles’ Tiggywinkle experience As a wildlife enthusiast and nature volunteer I’ve long been aware of the St Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital, just over the border in Bucks, but only recently realised how hard they work and the difference they make to British wildlife. Many just think of it as the hedgehog hospital but most of their patients are actually wild British birds.

I was given a Wildlife Keeper Experience as a present and it was a real eye-opener – as keeper for the day, I got to see areas not open to the public. After a very friendly welcome we went through the main hospital reception and into areas not unlike a human hospital – in addition to the wards, there were triage, assessment area, an x-ray unit, high dependency unit and rehabilitation areas. Among the 1400 patients were some baby squirrels, blind and furless, which were brought in when a tree containing a drey was cut down; a badger, with horrendous injuries, that had been caught in a legal snare; a beautiful long-eared bat and numerous pigeons and doves. One kind-hearted lady was convinced that the ugly yellow-downed chick with an odd shaped beak was the find of the century, a long-thought extinct dodo! Staff had to break it to her gently that the causality she had brought in was in fact a wood pigeon chick. Apparently most wildlife rescue centres refuse to accept wood pigeon casualties but not at Tiggywinkles.

Most fascinating for me were the different chicks – all being fed every 15 minutes by dedicated staff – house martins, swallows, swifts, house sparrows, a goldfinch and some very bold blackbird chicks. Owls are the commonest birds brought in, with numerous tawny and barn owls currently being treated. There were quite a few red kites too. They actually make the best patients as they play dead when they feel threatened. Not so for their distant cousin, the buzzards, who were quite feisty. One appeared to scowl at me fiercely when I approached.

Probably the most memorable activity I was allowed to help with was exercising a red kite’s broken wing. I’ve never handled this

magnificent bird before and I was left truly in awe as I gently held the injured part while stretching the rest of the wing. The kite had come in five days earlier following a road traffic collision. Scavenging on road kill makes them especially vulnerable.

We also took part in the maintenance and cleaning of the hedgehog enclosures, food preparation, enrichment activities, providing exercise and, finally, feeding.

One not-so-friendly permanent resident was the 98-year old male tortoise who, despite its slow pace, is able to sneak up on people and bite. The gardeners insist that he is moved out of his enclosure before they go in due to his tendency to bite them on the bum when they crouch down to tend plants. I’d love to know what they’d written on the risk assessment forms.

The work at Tiggywinkles continues 365 days of the year and is in high demand. As a registered charity it is dependent on the kindness and generosity of individuals. I would hate to take a guess at their weekly food bill although I was impressed at the new ambulance which had kindly been donated by Toyota. Every wildlife lover can truly appreciate the importance of the work and the skill, professionalism and dedication of the staff – a mixture of paid employees, volunteers and graduate trainees. If you’ve never been I would definitely recommend a visit, especially as its only 30 minutes from Oxford. The Wildlife Keeper experience is a fantastic opportunity to see firsthand the wonderful work done by St Tiggywinkles and get up close to and help some of Britain’s spectacular wildlife.

Find out more at: Tiggywinkles website