The Warbler Newsletter of the Poole & District RSPB Group Winter 2015 Issue

Photographs: Front Page- Robin - Mike Langman*, Turtle Dove - Luanne Carter, Bird Table & Blackbird - Chris Gomersall* Water Vole - Ben Andrew* Joint meeting - Jackie Hull, Page 2- Gannets - Phyl England, Turtle Dove - Luanne CarterPage 3- Nest box* Mallard on bird table -Jackie Hull, Back page- Sika deer at Arne - Nick Hull, Goldcrest -Ben Andrew**(rspb-images.com)

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

WE WISH ALL OUR READERS A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Local News

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Night sounds, Did you know fungi, wasps, turtle dove

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New indoor meeting venue Joint Event news

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in our new home on January 14th 2016 at 7.30p.m.

Directions: From Upton follow Blandford Road to Hamworthy, then turn left at the traffic lights into Blandford Close. Follow the road round to the left and park in Carter school car park.

From Poole from the Twin Sail Bridge turn right into Blandford Road and turn right at the next set of traffic lights into Blandford Close, then as above.

NEW VENUE FOR OUR INDOOR MEETINGS FROM JANUARY 2015

Af te r much research and discussion the committee have decided to change the venue for our indoor meet ings f rom January 2016. The dates and times for our current programme remain unchanged.

The new venue offers all the facilities we require and ample free parking space.

We look forward to seeing you

Successful joint meeting with Butterfly Conservation On 31st October we held a joint indoor meeting with the Dorset branch of Butterfly Conservation. The event was very popular with 58 a t t e n d e e s f o r a n e x c e l l e n t presentation by Martin Warren, Chief Executive of Butterfly Conservation. Speaking on Butterfly Breakthroughs: 50 years to conserve Lepidoptera. This was followed by tea and cakes then questions from the floor. Proceeds from the admission fees were divided between our group and Butterfly Conservation. This also raised the profile of our group and Butterfly Conservation. All involved had a very enjoyable afternoon and look forward to a repeat event.

Field events for the New Year Nestbox make-overs

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Migrating Birds at night Nick Hull

I have been doing some sound recording overnight to discover what birds are coming over our house on migration. Our home is in Upton near Lytchett Bay

Recording on the 11 October 2015 there were the usual waders, gulls and mammal noises, such as fox, cat and sika deer. As well as these there were at least 42 redwing and 36 song thrush. Contacts were recorded at pretty regular intervals which indicated a fairly heavy passage overhead. Below shows the sonogram of song thrush calls.

Also I recorded three bullfinch calls, though possibly local birds one was definitely in flight. One fieldfare, two grey heron, and a moorhen possibly a local.

There was also a call I didn't recognise but after sending it to a friend turned out to be a knot. The recording ended at 06.26 hrs with a g r e y l a g g o o s e c a l l i n g f r o m somewhere over the bay.

One of the main problems with recording overnight and only being able to hear the birds contact calls, it's impossible to know how many there are. On the night 12 October which was much quieter I recorded ten song thrush, five redwing, one blackbird, one grey heron contacts.

Did you know?

A group of long-tailed tits is known as a volery of tits.

A group of pheasants is called a bouquet.

A group of foxes is called a skulk and lone males are sometimes called tods. Hence the expression all on your tod (alone).

New Wasp species discovered on Kent RSPB reserve

It has taken two years to publish, but experts have concluded that a wasp caught in a chance sweep of a butterfly net at the RSPB’s Broadwater Warren nature reserve is a type of wasp never before recorded in the UK.

It was back in 2013 as Tony Davis of Butterfly Conservation was undertaking a moth monitoring programme at Broadwater Warren w h e n h e c a m e a c r o s s a n ichneumon wasp specimen; a parasitic wasp, Lymantrichneumon disparis, now known to be a genus and species new to Britain.

Earth star fungi Jackie Hull

On a recent visit to Blashford Lakes reserve with Liz Woodford we bumped into a couple of our group members. They had been looking at fungi and particularly earth star (geastrum sp.), related to puffballs, which I had never seen before.

At first we could only s e e o l d o n e s a s this photo shows

But then we found this beautiful specimen.

Turtle Dove in the garden

When I received an email from Luanne Carter in Bournemouth that a turtle Dove had been visiting her bird feeders for over a week I was very surprised, and envious! I wrote back to Luanne asking if she could send some photographs of her unusual visitor that I could use in this newsletter.

Thank you Luanne for sharing with us.

Puffin and Turtle Dove face extinction.Four of the UK's bird species, puffin, turtle dove, Slavonian grebe and pochard have been added to the l i s t o f b i rds considered to be facing the risk of global extinction.

The latest annual revision of birds on the IUCN Red List, which has been announced by BirdLife International on behalf of the IUCN, doubles the number of UK bird species considered to be facing the risk of extinction to eight.

Shockingly, a further 14 UK species are considered to be Near Threatened, meaning that any further deterioration in their status could see them added to the red list too. Eds. All four species are seen in Dorset and sadly increasingly difficult to see.

Christmas Lunch Saturday, 12 December 2015

Please join us for our Christmas Lunch a t t he Toby Carve ry, Fleetsbridge at 12:30pm after our morning walk at Upton Country Park. We meet in the main car park at Upton Country Park on Saturday 12 December 2015 at 10:00 am. If you do not want to join us on the walk, just join us for the lunch. 2 courses for £9.99, or 3 courses for £13.49, to include tea or coffee and a complimentary festive cracker. A c o p y o f t h e m e n u c a n b e downloaded from our website at www.rspb.org.uk/groups/poole/news/407697

Order your meal in advance by 28 November, please make your selection and send to Tony Hill email-tony.hillaa@gmail.com. Or phone Tony on 01929 552431.

Future Field Meetings All meetings are on a Saturday 10:00 - 12:00

January 16 - Meeting at NT Shell Bay car park, looking over the Bay and into Poole Harbour for wintering ducks, waders, grebes and divers. A good chance of great northern diver and black-necked grebes. Possible Purple Sandpiper and Sanderling.

February 13 - Blashford Lakes, parking by the Tern Hide (opposite the turning to educational centre). This reserve attracts many wintering duck and bittern is seen most years. Woodland species often seen at this time include brambling, redpoll and siskin.

March 12 - Radipole Lake RSPB reserve, Weymouth, meeting in the car park. Bittern is a regular winter visitors with snipe and ducks. Resident birds such as Cetti’s warbler, kingfisher and water rail can be found. Large numbers of Mediterranean gulls gather in the car park and occasional rarities like last year’s Bonaparte’s gull is always a possibility at Radipole.

S i x t y - M i n u t e N e s t b o x Makeover

The RSPB are advising South West residents to clean out their nest boxes this autumn in time for winter roosting and next year’s breeding s e a s o n . M o r w e n n a A l l d i s , spokesperson fo r the RSPB southwest said: “When the leaves begin to rust and crisp, frost knits cobwebs on our window panes, and conkers are eagerly pocketed like polished treasures, it’s time to give your nestbox an autumnal spruce-up. “Although the nesting season won’t kick-off again until March 2016, birds w i l l use nes tboxes as snug communal roosts throughout the nippy winter months. Some birds even start to select and prepare their nestboxes in early spring so it’s best

to get ahead of the game, so as not to risk disturbing them.” The RSPB suggest that people remove old nests found within your nestbox. Nests can house parasites such as fleas, lice and ticks, as well as fungi which will grow on damp nest material. The wildlife charity says that birds are quite discerning when choosing their home and prefer a clean and tidy space where possible. Ms Alldis continued: “Once old nesting material has been disposed of use boiling water to kill any remaining parasites and leave the lid off your nest box until it has thoroughly dried out. Then place a handful of hay (but not straw), wood chippings or cosy nesting wool in the

box. ‘Nesting wool’ can be bought, and is available from the RSPB shop at Darts Farm in Topsham.” “You may discover some un-hatched eggs in your nestbox, fear not, it’s normal for some eggs not to hatch. Blue and great tits lay up to 14 eggs in total, to compensate for these inevitable losses - nature lives by the age-old idiom ‘survival of the fittest’.

The RSPB reminds people to remember that eggs can only be legally removed and disposed of between 1 August-31 January (avoiding the breeding season). Removal outside of this period is classed as a criminal offence and can lead to prosecution. Ms Alldis added; “Now that you’ve given your nest box a makeover, look out for garden birds such as blue tits and wrens darting in and out, seeking warm shelter. The record number of birds recorded as roosting in one nestbox during winter is 61 wrens - who knows, your clean and welcoming nestbox could be the next record breaker.” The RSPB advises that when cleaning nestboxes people wear gloves to protect hands and a face mask to prevent inhaling dust from feathers and dry nest materials. Place the old nest directly into a plastic bag and seal it before disposal.

2016 RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

A date for your diary for the world’s largest garden wildlife survey takes place over the weekend of 30 and 31 January 2016.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a registered charity: in England and Wales no. 207076, in Scotland SC037654

School Bird Boats Phyl England

This season of school bird boats (run by Birds of Poole Harbour charity and our local RSPB group) has got off to a good start with the first four trips enjoying wonderful weather and experiencing the spectacle of some of the 58 spoonbills that have been in the Harbour this autumn. The fifth trip was dry but cold but we still enjoyed the spoonbills.

As I told you at the last meeting Birds of Poole Harbour charity are running 3 free family boats this year. The dates are 23 December, 23 January and 20 February. All you need to go along is to have a child to take, grandchildren, nieces and nephews accepted.

Further details for booking, times e t c a r e o n t h e w e b s i t e www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk or you can book on 01202 641003.

News from Arne - Luke Philips Birds Mid October the UK spoonbill record set last year of 49 on Brownsea Island was broken when a flock of 53 were counted at Arne. Just two days later the record rose to 58! Spoonbill numbers have fallen in recent days which sounds a little uninspiring but people are still seeing over 30.

Migrants and winter visitors have been busy. Firecrests are still regular in the car park though now becoming more e lus ive and numbers go down as winter approaches. Yellow-browed warbler featured a few times on the sight ings board through late

September and early October. This coincided with a national influx so it wasn’t surprising that we got a few. Goldcrest and chiffchaffs have been numerous across the reserve. A brief hawfinch seen in the car park was also a highlight. Redwing and fieldfare are now around as are a few brambling with some even coming to the feeders at the visitor hut. Wader and duck numbers are rising and will continue to over the next few weeks. Also worth a quick mention is the great white egret which keeps appearing and there was probably a second on the 18 October.

Wildlife Water voles have been the stars of the show this autumn. Lots of activity at Shipstal Ponds. The sika deer having started rutting which has also been very popular with visitors.

New Raptor Trail In September we opened a new seasonal trail which leads to a small hide looking over the reedbeds in Middlebere. Hobbies provided the initial interest but marsh hsarriers have now taken the focus. We hope to keep this path open well into the winter though this depends on how wet it becomes. Fingers crossed for a dry winter! We’re currently waiting for the first hen harrier to be spotted from the hide.

Shop and Cafe Work continues on Arne’s new shop and cafe. This is obviously going to be a superb addition to Arne and still on track to be opened in spring 2015. A recent visit to Arne would have revealed that the building is really coming on well. After a long wait I think we are now allowed to start getting excited about bacon sandwiches and cake!

Holton Lee

RSPB’s partnership with Livability at Holton Lee is now official and started work there at the beginning of September, getting to know the reserve and its dedicated team of volunteers who will be helping to manage the SSSI.

Holton Lee is an SSSI because of its dry heathland habitat but it also has some fantastic woodland, reedbeds, ponds and pasture. It is also special because the paths allow excellent accessibility to all these areas for people with limited mobility. The RSPB will be working closely with Livability to maintain the excellent access and learning from them to improve our other reserves.

Deadline for the Spring 2016 edition is 1st March 2016. Please send news, views, articles and photographs to: Jackie Hull, Tel. 01202 620049 email j.hull2@btinternet.com 41 Lytchett Way Poole BH16 5LS

Membership enquires For all membership enquires please contact Julie Sey by email julie.sey@gmail.com or phone 01202 245369