Bird Watching Dec 20 mini-mag

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BIRDING QUESTION We ask this month’s contributors: What’s your favourite winter bird experience? Sign up for next year's #My200BirdYear challenge birdwatching.co.uk/my200 You can't beat a winter flock of Waxwings! ARTERRA PICTURE LIBRARY/ALAMY* Amanda Tuke: Watching Brent Geese and waders on the Skern saltmarsh in the Taw-Torridge estuary, North Devon DUNCAN USHER/ALAMY BILL COSTER/ALAMY* SIMON STIRRUP/ALAMY* FLPA/ALAMY* Dominic Couzens: Winter waders on an estuary. Whether feeding in their different ways, or flying around the roost, the sight and sound is sheer magic Ruth Miller: Skeins of Pink-footed Geese flying against a purple sky at dawn on the Norfolk coast David Lindo: Finding Britain’s second ever wintering Redstart at my old patch of Wormwood Scrubs, west London GET IN TOUCH: Bird Watching, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA Welcome As I write this, lockdown is just starting again, and by the time you read it, there'll still be at least a couple more weeks to go. If the first lockdown, back in the spring, taught me anything, it was that birdwatching has a big part to play in making it bearable! It's a reason to get out and get that daily exercise on foot. It keeps the mind active, too. And it provides a sense of achievement, as well. Never mind learning a new language or skill, while you're confined to home – chalking up a birdwatching first or two is every bit as rewarding, whether it's finding something scarce like Waxwings on your patch for the first time, or simply noting new behaviour from a familiar species. So, please, stay safe, stay active, keep birdwatching, have a great Christmas, and tell us what you see. Meantime, our Lockdown 2 lists start here... Matt Merritt, editor @ birdwatching@bauermedia.co.uk facebook.com/BirdWatchingMag SUBSCRIBE FROM ONLY £2.80 * A MONTH SEE PAGE 6 *DIGITAL ONLY twitter.com/BirdWatchingMag instagram/birdwatchingmag ...and the Bird Watching team’s answers Matt Merritt: Watching wild geese return to the roost is always very memorable. Mike Weedon: I looked out of my window on Christmas Day and a Waxwing flew past. Mike Roberts: The murmuration of Starlings in Brighton is quite the spectacle! TIM GRAHAM/ALAMY* NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY/ALAMY* FRANCESCA MOORE/ALAMY* MURMURATION: ARTERRA PICTURE LIBRARY/ALAMY; GREAT GREY SHRIKE: AGAMI PHOTO AGENCY/ALAMY* birdwatching.co.uk 3
NEWSWIRE ALL THE BIGGEST BIRD NEWS & EVENTS BIRD COUNT Record beaters Global event records more than 7,000 birds in one day Two world records were smashed during the inaugural Global Bird Weekend (17-18 October), when more than 38,000 people took part in what was billed as the “biggest birdwatching event in history”. Across the globe on 17 October, 7,097 species of birds – more than 75% of the world’s bird species – were recorded, beating the previous world record of 7,060 species. The weekend united birdwatchers from 169 countries and from all seven continents. Participants were encouraged to minimise their carbon footprint and with current pandemic restrictions, stayed close to home. By midnight of the 18th, the second world record was created, when a further 180 species recorded brought the total weekend count to 7,276. The first checklist was submitted by Dominik Maximilian Ramik at 00.04 in Vanuatu, with a Pacific Golden BLICKWINKEL/ALAMY Plover and a Barn Owl. From then on, species came thick and fast as people woke up across the time zones. The day ended with nocturnally calling White Terns and Tristam’s Storm- Petrels from Midway Atoll. The weekend was also about encouraging newcomers to birdwatching. Many clubs, societies and organisations were well represented, forming more than 150 teams to take their groups into the field. Tim Appleton MBE, founder BW’s own Mike Weedon making bird notes TOM BAILEY of Global Birding, said: “I was amazed at the response, considering we only launched Global Birding in August. Being able to unite a worldwide community for Global Bird Weekend by asking them to ‘Go Birding Together for Conservation’ went beyond my wildest dreams and has already produced significant scientific data and inspired new networks of communication”. An incredible 50,383 photographs of birds and 1,101 audio recordings were submitted to the Macaulay Library in one day, making the event one of the greatest citizen science projects ever undertaken. In the UK, 236 species of bird were recorded, including rarities such as Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin, Wilson’s Phalarope and Masked Shrike. Global Birding is working in association with Swarovski Optik and the eBird Team, and Tim Appleton MBE Pacific Golden Plover supported BirdLife International’s Stop Illegal Bird Trade campaign and encouraged donations towards this critical project. To date the total has exceeded the £20,000 target. As part of that, Naturetrek Wildlife Holidays and their supporters raised a £4,650. Full results are at: ebird.org/octoberbigday but some highlights were: Country Species recorded Colombia 1,289 Peru 1,148 Ecuador 1,125 Brazil 1,107 Kenya 815 India 726 Australia 516 Spain 301 UK 236 Iran 203 Myanmar 163 Russia 103 Vanuatu 57 NEWS IN BRIEF App success The BTO’s Marsh Award for Local Ornithology has been awarded to the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club (SOC), for its Where to Watch birds in Scotland app. The app encourages users to record their observations to assist conservation and is free to download and use. With content provided entirely by an army of 150 volunteers, it launched in April 2019 with details of 400 of the best birdwatching sites and has since increased by 40% to over 560 sites. For more information about the app visit: the-soc.org.uk/about-us/app Reserve grant A grant from the Sheringham Shoal Community Fund has enabled the Hawk and Owl Trust at Sculthorpe Moor in North Norfolk to implement three new projects on its journey to becoming a carbon neutral nature reserve. One is the installation of an off-grid solar photovoltaic system to supply the new Dragonfly Hide and Education Centre, the second is the installation of four electric vehicle charging points in the nature reserve’s car park, and the third the air-source heating system which serves this new eco-friendly timber building in which staff and volunteers have their offices. Tern chick success Chichester Harbour Conservancy has recorded the fledging of 48 Common Tern chicks this season. A project was launched to install artificial tern rafts in Thorney Deeps. The rafts, designed to support the terns’ breeding efforts, were created to help reverse the issues the population has suffered following tidal flooding, human disturbance and predators. Three species of tern breed in Chichester and Langstone Harbour: Common Tern, Sandwich Tern and Little Tern. All three species have fared poorly in Chichester Harbour. KUMAR SRISKANDAN/ALAMY* Bo wants us all to refamiliarise ourselves with the Country Code… Given that the majority of people think that access to the countryside is a necessity, and that many more people started needing nature in their lives in the time of the Coronavirus, I think that the ‘Country Code’ needs reiterating. In pre-decimal times everything was by the dozen and so it was with the code. Back then you could get it in booklet form and it was considered on a par with the Highway Code. As we have urbanised, so have we lost contact with the natural world and its rules of use. l Enjoy the countryside and respect its life and work l Guard against all risk of fire l Leave all gates as you found them l Keep your pets under close control l Keep to public paths across farmland l Use gates and stiles to cross fences, hedges and walls l Leave livestock, crops and machinery alone l Take your litter home l Help to keep all water clean l Protect wildlife, plants and trees l Take special care on country roads l Make no unnecessary noise Seemingly, back then it was OK for your pooch to poo, so long as it wasn’t in a pond. For some reason, in 2004 the code was revised and, I think, dumbed down and made more commercially oriented. Nature is mentioned once, and the rest is more about not rocking the boat of country life. No mention is made of fire or water, strange considering how global warming makes wildfires more likely and water shortages more common. l Be safe – plan ahead and follow any signs l Leave gates and property as you find them l Protect plants and animals, and take your litter home l Keep dogs under close control l Consider other people The pandemic (anagram of ‘dem panic’) seems to have made Government think in threes, Enjoying nature safely and responsibly is second nature to many, but not all NEWS & OPINION GRUMPYOLDBIRDER dumbing down the latest version even further. Along with “hands, face & space” we have “Respect, Protect & Enjoy”, or the longer version of “Respect other people, Protect the natural environment and Enjoy the outdoors”. The trouble with dumbing down is that they then had to explain it all, so the ‘shortened’ COVID-19 Version code ends up even longer than in the 1960s and the 2004 version! But, then, anything pertaining to the pandemic is full of contradiction and confusion! l Respect other people l Consider the local community and other people enjoying the outdoors l Park carefully so access to gateways and driveways is clear l Leave gates and property as you find them l Follow paths but give way to others where it’s narrow l Protect the natural environment l Leave no trace of your visit, take all your litter home l Don’t have BBQs or fires l Keep dogs under effective control l Dog poo – bag it and bin it l Enjoy the outdoors l Plan ahead, check what facilities are open, be prepared l Follow advice and local signs and obey social distancing measures The trouble is, regulations are announced as diktat and ordinary people don’t get to discuss their meanings, let alone whether they are safe, sensible and satisfactory. Most of us want a greening of policy, as we emerge from the virus, with environmental factors outweighing economics. That needs a national debate, not diktat, and, if we want to use the countryside more without ruining it, we need to mark, learn and inwardly digest the country code. Bo Beolens runs fatbirder.com and other websites. He has written a number of books. GET IN TOUCH Do you agree – or disagree – with Bo’s comments? Email us at birdwatching@ bauermedia.co.uk 18 December 2020 birdwatching.co.uk 19
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Bird Watching Dec 20 mini-mag

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