Archive – Page 2 – Hoopoe

The NHBS Guide to UK Rails

Rails, from the family Rallidae, are small- to medium-sized birds and include crakes, coots and gallinules. They can be found in most terrestrial habitats, but the most common are marshland and dense forests. They are present on every continent except Antarctica and are generally omnivores, consuming invertebrates, fruits and seedlings. Typically, they prefer dense vegetation near bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers or swamps.

This is a large family with around 130 species. We have several resident species in the UK, as well as a number of migrants and occasional visitors. Identification of rail species relies on plumage, leg and frontal shield colouration (if present), and their calls. Binoculars and scopes are useful for spotting these features from a distance. Juveniles and chicks will often differ in appearance from adults, therefore a guide covering these life stages is also helpful.

How are rails faring?

Due to hunting, egg collection and habitat loss, many rail species have become extinct and others are endangered. The corncrake and the spotted crake, for example, are classified as Red and Amber under the Birds of Conservation Concern 4. Due to their general flightlessness, they are often heavily impacted by introduced species such as domestic cats. American mink, a nonnative and invasive species in the UK, are a particular threat to moorhen as they can be a main prey item.

Corncrakes are the focus of several conservation projects due to their Europe-wide population declines. Research has shown that increasing the areas of suitable tall vegetation, particularly in spring, autumn and mid-winter, delaying mowing and using certain mowing methods can be effective conservation measures. Up to 60% of chicks are killed by standard mowing practices, due to their flightlessness and reluctance to escape to areas already cut. Since 1992, conservation measures have been implemented on a large scale and have resulted in a partial recovery, from 480 calling males in 1993 in the UK to 1,284 in 2014. However, since 2014, numbers are declining again in Scotland, down by 30% to 870 males in 2019.

Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra)

Distribution: Widespread in England and Wales, rarer in Scotland and Ireland. Numbers are boosted by migrants during winter.
BoCC4 status: Green
Wingspan: 70–80cm
What to look for: The coot is an all-black bird with a distinctive white bill and ‘shield’ on its forehead. They have yellow and white legs with large white feet that have lobed flaps of skin, which act similarly to webbed feet to aid their swimming.

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)

Distribution: Widespread in England, Wales, and Ireland, but less common in Scotland.
BoCC4 status: Amber
Wingspan: 50–55cm
What to look for: Moorhens have a similar appearance to the Eurasian coot, with a blackish plumage, which, when viewed close up, is actually dark brown on its back and wings with a bluer underside. However, they have a red and yellow bill, long green legs and white stripes on their flanks

Corncrake (Crex crex)

Distribution: Scarce summer breeding population, recorded in the Western Isles, coastal parts of northern Scotland, parts of Ireland and a few key areas in England.
BoCC4 status: Red
Wingspan: 46–53cm
What to look for: Corncrakes are small birds, slightly larger than a blackbird, with chestnut and dark brown wings and back, a mottled grey to buff underside and reddish-brown and white flanks. Its head is grey, with chestnut eyestripes and a chestnut and dark brown crown. Its legs and bill are pale pink.

Spotted Crake (Porzana porzana)

Distribution: Scarce, scattered pairs across Scotland and England.
BoCC4 status: Amber
Wingspan: 37–42cm
What to look for: The spotted crake is similar to the corncrake, with chestnut and dark brown wings and back and a greyer underside, but this species is speckled with white throughout and has a buff undertail. It has a similar grey head, chestnut and dark brown crown and chestnut eyestripe. Its legs are yellowish-green and its bill is a mix of orange, yellow and grey.

Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus)

Distribution: Widespread but thinly distributed throughout England, parts of Wales and Ireland. More scarce in Scotland and absent from upland areas.
BoCC4 status: Green
Wingspan: 38–45cm
What to look for: Their back and wings are chestnut and dark brown, with a grey underside and face. They have black-and-white barred flanks, a chestnut and dark brown crown, a long, red bill with a darker upper part and greyish-pink legs.

Sora (Porzana carolina)

Distribution: Occasional visitors, small number of records around England.
Global status: Least concern
Wingspan: 38cm
What to look for: The sora has a brown back marked with small black and white lines, a blue-grey underside and face, a short yellow bill with black markings at the base and yellow legs. Their flanks are barred with white and black.

Recommended books and equipment

The Corncrake: An Ecology of an Enigma

The detailed ecology of the corncrake, including many important facts about its lifestyle and behaviour, remains mysterious, even among ornithologists. This is the first full-length book to capture all the aspects of corncrake ecology and present this information to non-specialists.

Collins Bird Guide: The Most Complete Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe

With expanded text and additional colour illustrations, the third edition of the hugely successful Collins Bird Guide is a must for every birdwatcher. The new edition has an extra 32 pages allowing several groups more space and completely or partly new plates with more detailed text.

Britain’s Birds: An Identification Guide to the Birds of Great Britain and Ireland

A bestselling guide since it was first published, Britain’s Birds has quickly established itself as the go-to photographic identification guide – the most comprehensive, up-to-date, practical and user-friendly book of its kind. Acclaimed by birdwatchers of all kinds, from the beginner to the most experienced, the guide has now been thoroughly revised and updated to make it even better than before.

Rite in the Rain Side Spiral Notebook (Small)

This is an environmentally responsible, all-weather paper which will survive anything from torrential rain to extreme heat and humidity. Perfect for making notes when birdwatching.

Kowa TSN-500 Series Compact Spotting Scope

Durable, lightweight and with excellent image quality, the TSN-500 series 20-40x spotting scopes are ideal for beginners or experienced birders looking for a portable alternative to heavier scopes.

Opticron Discovery WP PC Binoculars

These have an ultra-compact design to make them among the smallest waterproof roof prism binoculars available on the market today. Great for travelling and fantastic for children as young as seven.

Bird-Spot Laser Pointer

This is a pocket-sized green laser designed for use on birding trips. Its green beam will allow you to easily point out the location of a bird to fellow observers whilst remaining safe for both the birds and the user.

Please see nhbs.com for up to date pricing and availability.

Shipping Britain’s Treasure Islands to all UK secondary schools in three and a half weeks – phew!

NHBS have worked with Redfern Natural History Productions for many years now and we were delighted to help out with this special project when Stewart McPherson approached us about it.

Thanks to the very generous sponsorship of Lord Ashcroft, Redfern were recently able to donate one copy of Stewart McPherson’s latest book Britain’s Treasure Islands: A Journey to the UK Overseas Territories to every secondary school in the UK and across the overseas territories. At NHBS we organised the packing and delivery of each of these books, which in total was 5250 copies.

The UK Overseas Territories are home to thousands of species of animals and plants in habitats ranging from coral reefs to tropical rainforests, polar landscapes and deserts.

Albatross: still from YouTube video "Shipping 5350 books - one copy for every secondary school in the UK" — Albatross: still from YouTube video “Shipping 5350 books – one copy for every secondary school in the UK” – see below

In Britain’s Treasure Islands (aired as a three-part documentary on BBC4 in April, with the book accompanying the series), Stewart McPherson showcases this incredible variety of wildlife, explores the human culture and history of the islands, and documents his adventures in these remarkable lands.

Britain's Treasure Islands freshly unwrapped in the NHBS warehouse — Britain’s Treasure Islands freshly unwrapped in the NHBS warehouse

This is a monumental work of over 700 pages, with more than 1,150 full colour images and 17 specially-commissioned gatefold maps on parchment paper showing the geography of each territory.

You can find out more about the project by visiting www.britainstreasureislands.com.

To send a copy of this wonderful book to every school, NHBS received 47 pallets of books directly from the printers, used seven pallets of specially designed cardboard boxes and 6039 metres of bubble wrap!

Unloading the pallets - all 47 of them! — Unloading the pallets – all 47 of them!

Eventually when all the books were packed the couriers took away 53 pallets of books from NHBS’ warehouse in Totnes, Devon over the course of a week.

One down, five thousand to go... — One down, five thousand to go…

The packing process took six people three and a half weeks to complete! You can watch the video below for a behind the scenes look at how this all happened.

Coming up in 2016: NHBS Bat Survey Training Course with Volker Runkel of EcoObs

UPDATE 7th MARCH 2016 – The Bat Survey Training Course has now been cancelled.

The use of passive monitoring to assess bat activity has important implications for how we work with the vast amounts of accumulated data, and automation now plays a crucial role in dealing with datasets which often contain thousands of recordings.

This bat survey training course has been designed to give you insights into the how-to of passive acoustic bat detection and call analysis, including its pitfalls. It will give you the skills to conduct passive acoustic bat surveys with confidence and to analyse your results in the most efficient and accurate way.

Topics covered will include: Why and where do we listen for bats, how to detect bats, signal analysis, bat call identification and working with large datasets. It will also include a short introduction to the Batcorder system.

The course will be held at the Preston Montford FSC Centre in Shropshire on 9th-10th April 2016.

It will involve a combination of classroom-based learning and fieldwork and will be led by Volker Runkel from the German company ecoObs, manufacturers of the Batcorder system.

Book your place on this course today

Introducing the new SM4BAT from Wildlife Acoustics

The new SM4BAT range of passive bat detectors from Wildlife Acoustics was announced at the 2015 Bat Conservation Trust AGM.

The Full Spectrum (FS) version will allow you to record bat calls in 16-bit resolution at a sample rate of up to 500kHz on a single channel. The Zero Crossing (ZC) version is also single channel and will record zero crossing files. Both are weatherproof, come with a three year warranty and will record for up to 30 (10 hour) nights when powered with four high quality d-cell batteries.

The SM4BAT FS and SM4BAT ZC are now available to order.

John Wilkinson, Science Programme Manager with ARC Trust, on amphibian conservation

The Amphibian Survey and Monitoring Handbook is the latest volume in the Conservation Handbooks series, tackling all aspects of amphibian survey. Author John Wilkinson is Science Programme Manager with The Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust (ARC Trust).

What is your background in herpetology and what have been some of the highlights of your work?

After university, where my undergraduate dissertation was on amphibian diversity in Northern Italy, I worked on some short-term academic contracts before getting a job coordinating the international response to global amphibian declines with the IUCN SSC Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force (now the Amphibian Specialist Group). I learnt a lot there about the complexities of amphibian declines and the importance of systematic surveys.

A recent highlight of my conservation work was the discovery, building on my PhD research, that toads on the Channel Island of Jersey are a completely different species than those in mainland Britain – they’re actually Bufo spinosus, a species that evolved in Iberia millions of years ago whilst English toads were spreading out of the Balkans. Most importantly, their ecology is very different and they therefore require different conservation measures!

Could you tell us about any major trends that have been discovered by the monitoring schemes you have been involved with?

Part of my work is coordinating the UK National Amphibian and Reptile Recording Scheme (NARRS), which has so far highlighted the serious declines of British adders and changes in the relative abundance of our smaller newts (palmate newts seem relatively more widespread than in former national surveys, possibly indicating a change in quality in Britain’s ponds).

How does a decline in amphibian and reptile biodiversity affect ecosystems?

These creatures are hugely important for many ecosystems as they occupy key niches in the middle of the food chain: as well as being important prey for a wide range of species from otters to marsh harriers, they are themselves important predators, consuming millions of pest invertebrates every year. Healthy amphibian populations in particular are therefore important to human food production and population losses have economic implications as well as resulting in more pesticide use.

What can be done to reverse this decline which is pervasive worldwide?

Though numerous factors cause declines, habitat loss and fragmentation is still the most significant problem. Local planning must take into account the need to keep breeding and foraging habitats connected to boost population resilience – as well as incorporating habitat into landscape-level schemes. At ARC, we’re leading the way on using predictive modelling and GIS techniques to model the effects of development and produce the best outcomes for amphibians (and other species).

If you were given the chance to implement one policy, today, in support of amphibian & reptile conservation, anywhere in the world, what would it be?

It would be easiest to come up with a list! I will, however, highlight a problem in the UK: our widespread amphibians have NO real protection under the law – though the NERC act outlines a “duty to consider” declining species like toads in development. ALL our amphibians and reptiles need full legal protection which is enforced, and which includes their habitats – otherwise developers can continue to fill in ponds and disconnect populations at will. Our widespread species are really a lot more threatened than the most highly-protected ones (the effects of this can already be seen with recent declines in the adder and toad)!

How can the general public get involved with projects to help their local herpetofauna?

Join a local Amphibian and Reptile Group (ARG) and ask them if they can participate in NARRS, as a group, to ensure their local information is considered nationally.
Build a pond and make a compost heap.
Volunteer to help create and manage habitats through ARC and/or other bodies such as local wildlife trusts.
Always report sightings of amphibians and reptiles (see www.recordpool.org.uk) – this will help their conservation.
Take local councils, conservation bodies (or anyone else!) to task when any local sites are planned for development or disconnection!

Find out more about the Amphibian Survey and Monitoring Handbook

Announcing the Batlogger A – new from Elekon

Using customer feedback, Elekon have developed the latest addition to their family of detectors, the Batlogger A. This compact detector records bat calls in full spectrum with 16-bit resolution directly onto a microSD card.

This entry-level passive bat monitoring system is fully waterproof (except the microphone capsule), with adjustable trigger functions and options for delayed recording, and it is fully compatible with the free BatExplorer software.

Here’s some spec:

Real-time recording and storage of ultrasonic calls on micro SD card
Free analysis software BatExplorer
All components waterproof, IP67 (except microphone capsule)
Microphone extension cable with the new protective tube
Uses the proven FG-black microphone
30 hour recording time using good quality AA batteries or rechargeable batteries

Find out more about the Elekon Batlogger A

Supplier Interview: Jack Skuse of Ambios Ltd

Ambios are an educational charity based a mile or so down the river Dart from NHBS at a tenant farm on the historic Sharpham Estate. They provide conservation education, inspiration and training to a wide range of people at their farm, Lower Sharpham Barton. Over the last few years Ambios and NHBS have worked together on a range of products including the NHBS Kent Bat Box and reptile survey felts. The Lower Sharpham Barton site is managed by Jack Skuse.

Tell us a little about your organisation and how you got started.

Ambios Ltd are a nature conservation training organisation established in 2001. We aim to offer inspirational education, practical action, science and technology training and volunteering opportunities in the UK and EU. In partnership with Robert Owen Communities (ROC), a charity based in South West England supporting adults with learning disabilities, we run a farm on the stunning Sharpham estate outside Totnes, Devon. The aim of Lower Sharpham Farm is to use farming as a way of improving biodiversity, whilst offering people the chance to engage with wildlife and the outdoors – the farm runs as a care farm and base for our residential training activities. In partnership with UK and EU nature conservation organisations people can stay and learn at our farm, or in one of five EU countries including Norway, Hungary and Portugal. The people who engage with our farm (EU trainees, adults with learning disabilities) produce wildlife boxes for sale by NHBS.

What challenges do you face as an organisation working in the ecology/natural history sector?

There are a number of challenges we face, primarily relating to funding. We have historically accessed funding to run training for the next generation of wildlife professionals, as well as engaging and stimulating nature conservation-related provision for disabled people. This funding is proving harder to access, and we are aiming to diversify into a number of areas that generate revenue: training and volunteering placements where the learner pays, or is part subsidised by grant funding; wildlife experiences where learners can stay in our yurts for a number of days and gain employability skills and experience hands-on nature conservation projects, including bumble bee research, bird and badger surveys and practical habitat management; and producing, adding value to, and selling the products of the farm including organic beef, lamb, and eggs along with the wildlife boxes (typically made from wood sourced from the Sharpham Estate!).

What do you consider the most important achievement of your organisation in recent years?

To still be here 15 years later! We are proud of our legacy, and of the number and range of people who have benefited from our training, along with the wide and diverse network we have established here in UK and across EU. The farm tenancy is a leap of faith and grounds us in place and we are proud of the partnership with ROC and of the opportunities created here, and the potential available to us over the coming years.

What is your most memorable wildlife/natural history encounter?

I have seen wildlife around the world, and have strong memories of orca whales in Patagonia, and cobra snakes in Thailand (a close encounter whilst riding a bike). I was lucky enough to work with the Barn Owl Trust here in Devon, radio tracking barn owls whilst they fledged the nest for the first time. This close observation and appreciation of an enigmatic creature that is found here in UK was profound.

Ecology gifts raise money for key UK conservation charities

Lizzie Barker is a working ecological consultant, and the creator of gift and homeware design company, Creature Candy. This newly-launched enterprise produces quality British-made products featuring hand-drawn illustrations of wildlife. As well as raising profits for the Bat Conservation Trust, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, and Butterfly Conservation, Creature Candy also intends to raise awareness around the conservation of our endangered and protected wildlife. We asked Lizzie how it all came about:

What are your background and current interests as an ecologist?

I studied Zoology between 2007 and 2010 at Aberystwyth University and graduated with a first degree. I then went on to work at Darwin Ecology in September 2010 as a consultant ecologist and have been there ever since. It’s a great company to work for and my job is very varied, although I specialise in bats. I hold a Natural England bat and great crested newt survey licence, but I also survey for dormice, badgers and reptiles. I love the spring and summer months so I can get outdoors and explore the English countryside for wildlife.

What’s the story behind Creature Candy?

I wanted to take more of a proactive role in wildlife conservation and raise money for the charities that I work so closely with as a consultant. Two years ago (whilst sitting on my sun lounger in Portugal) I came up with the idea of Creature Candy. I not only wanted to raise money for the charities, but also raise awareness of Britain’s declining & protected wildlife species, and to inspire people to take active roles in conservation. It was also incredibly important to me to change perceptions of bats, which is why my first design was a beautiful, charismatic brown long-eared bat illustrated in its true form, not a typical black silhouette with red eyes and fangs! It was also a priority to produce all our products with a “Made in England” stamp on them, which I think is very appealing in today’s market dominated by mass produced imported products.

How do you find the time to be an ecologist and an entrepreneur?

It’s a very hard balance to achieve. On a typical day, I switch off from the ecological consultancy world at 5pm, make myself a cup of tea and re-enter my office as the Director of Creature Candy. I then usually work for a few hours each night on marketing, processing orders and accounting, before spending some time with my husband before bed. It’s very important to find time for a social life and to relax, and I’m sometime guilty of over-working. However my husband is very supportive and I couldn’t manage the business without that support.

Can you tell us more about the artwork, and what’s to come for the range?

Our illustrations are hand drawn by my friend Jo Medlicott. Jo is a very talented artist and draws inspiration for our designs from photography and the natural world. Our next design is likely to be a red squirrel or a bird and we would like to introduce aprons and fine bone china jugs into the product range. The rest is top secret!

Browse Creature Candy products at NHBS

Collecting visual evidence of bats at roost entrances

Aim
Recording bats and their behaviour around roost entrances can be extremely useful for a number of reasons: as evidence to present to a client, to demonstrate or test for a change in behaviour during or after mitigation, and as a back-up system to record the presence of the quieter bats like the brown long-eared. We tested two night vision systems at a lesser horseshoe maternity roost.

Methods

We set up two very different night vision video recorders on tripods near the entrance of a large lesser horseshoe roost near Totnes, Devon. The first was the Yukon Stringer 5 x 50 Night Vision Monocular, a very reasonably priced Generation One night vision device with a built-in video recorder. The second was the Pulsar Quantum HD38S Thermal Imaging Scope, a thermal imaging camera with a 30 Hz refresh rate coupled with a Yukon MPR Mobile Player / Recorder. Both were used to film bats as they emerged from the roost entrance and as they flew around the garage within which the roost entrance is sited.

Results
The two videos below demonstrate close-up and distance footage from both the Yukon Stringer and the Pulsar Quantum:

Discussion

Image Quality: The Pulsar Quantum produced some very high quality video that was clear and easy to interpret. The results from the Yukon Stringer are slightly less clear but are still of sufficiently high quality for most purposes.

Usability: The Yukon Stringer does have a much narrower depth of field and due to the fixed zoom it proved very hard to get any decent footage of the bats flying around within the garage space.

Battery Life: The only drawback was the short battery life of both the Quantum and the Yukon MPR Mobile Recorder. To get round this we used the EPS5 External Battery on the Pulsar Quantum and changed the batteries of the Yukon MPR regularly – not the ideal solution but the cheapest way we know of to get some really impressive thermal imaging video.

Six eponymous bird name facts

This month sees the publication of Bo Beolens’, Michael Watkins’ and Michael Grayson’s The Eponym Dictionary of Birds – a major publication with over 4,000 entries to fascinate the curious-minded birder. Each entry explains the biography behind the people commemorated in bird names, from lesser-known but dedicated collectors to officers, dignitaries and royals. Such as:

Passerini’s Tanager and Salmon’s Jacamar

Professor Carlo Passerini (1793-1857), an Italian entomologist and an early enthusiast of scientific photography, and Colonel Thomas Knight Salmon (1840-1878), a British railway engineer whose lung disease forced him into retirement and to opening a naturalist’s shop, are perfect examples of the hundreds of entries concerning those dedicated relative unknowns whose efforts have added rich threads to the natural history of birds and beyond. Salmon’s health deteriorated and he travelled to Colombia for the better climate where he spent seven years. He died in England leaving a collection of 3,500 bird skins.

Adelie Penguin

This entry exemplifies a theme of dedicating the naming to one’s spouse, in this instance Adelie Dumont d’Urville (1798-1842), the wife of Admiral Jules-Sebastien-Cesar Dumont d’Urville, who first found this penguin. Various places in and around Antarctica were similarly honoured, including the Adelie Coast.

It is not only the eponymous common names that are included. So many latin names contain dedications too, for instance:

The Red-headed Parrotfinch, Erythrura cyaneovirens gaughrani was named after American waterpolo player Dr James ‘Jim’ Alan Gaughran – who, apart from appearing at the 1956 Olympic Games and acting as head coach of Stanford University’s waterpolo team from 1969-1973 – was with duPont on the 1970 expedition to Western Samoa during which the parrotfinch holotype was collected.

Dig around and it won’t be long before you discover some familiar territory:

Lewis’s Woodpecker is named after Captain Merriweather Lewis (1774-1809), one half of famous explorers, Lewis and Clarke. Their expedition of over 4,000 miles across the North American continent was rich in discoveries, not least the collection of the holotype of this woodpecker. It was collected in near Helena, Montana, and is now in Harvard, perhaps the only bird specimen left from the expedition.

Finally, it must be worth mentioning that the Great Egret has been known as Queen Victoria’s Egret. Victoria was opposed to the feather trade and ordered her regiments to stop wearing plumes in their uniform, giving her a royal place in bird conservation.