Ornithology – Page 7 – Hoopoe

Author Interview with Sarah Gibson: Swifts and Us

Whirling swifts overhead are evocative of early summer, and their arrival to the UK brings joy to many. In Swifts and Us, Sarah Gibson explores what is currently known about swifts and their ancestry, while also addressing some of the contributing factors to their huge decline over the last few decades. She meets key experts and researchers as well as many determined individuals, all advocating for change to ensure the swifts’ survival.

Sarah Gibson is Press Officer for Shropshire Wildlife Trust, as well as Editor of the members’ magazine. She also regularly writes nature columns for her local magazines and newspapers. Sarah has kindly agreed to answer some of our questions below.

Firstly, could you tell us about where the motivation for your book came from?

I’d become passionate about swifts since moving into a town from the country. Then I had a long period of illness and would be exhausted after the briefest of conversations and couldn’t even walk up my street – I was so slow I would be overtaken by very old people on Zimmer frames. It seemed as though I’d hit 97 five decades prematurely.

Then I got better and decided it was time to do something new with my life – alongside my now part-time job at Shropshire Wildlife Trust. I knew I could string words together, so decided to research and write a book about swifts to try and inspire others to love and take action for them too.

During your research, did you discover anything especially interesting that you were previously unaware of about swifts?

That hummingbirds are the swift’s closest relatives! Fossil evidence from 52 million years ago found in Wyoming, USA, revealed a bird that is the forerunner of both. The characteristic common feature is a super-strong, stout humerus bone, that would enable the swift to endure and flourish in perpetual flight and the hummingbird to flap its wings 50 times per second as it hovers over flowers collecting nectar. Their shared ancestry seems less surprising when you think about the intense aerial demands of both birds.

Your book features exceptional and inspirational people that have fought to ensure nest spots are protected and accessible for returning swifts. Do you have any particular highlights or success stories that you’d like to talk about here?

The Crescent Art Centre in Belfast is a cross-community cultural hub, bringing people together from all backgrounds. It also has a thriving colony of swifts and when major renovation work began 12 years ago, the architects and builders worked with a local swift champion to ensure that access to the original nesting holes was retained and additional holes provided by integrating nest bricks into the walls. This is a great example of how renovation doesn’t have to lead to ruin for swifts. It can be achieved, if thoughtfully carried out. This swift colony is now a living emblem of the arts centre and its aspirations – uniting people across boundaries.

What role can citizen science play in surveying and monitoring swifts?

Local surveys to identify swift breeding sites are very valuable. Knowledge of swift colonies can at times make it possible to work with building owners when renovation works are planned, so that nesting holes can be retained. When the data is fed through to local biological records centres, the presence of swifts in particular areas will be flagged up to planners who will sometimes, but not always make it a condition for development that nest bricks should be integrated into buildings.

The RSPB’s SwiftMapper is a useful tool and you can find out about surveying with local swift groups from Action for Swifts or Swift Conservation.

Habitat destruction, climate change and a stark reduction in their food supply are just a few factors contributing to the decline of swifts over the past 20 years – the odds appear completely stacked against them. Post-research for your book, do you feel any optimism for the future of these incredible birds?

Contemplating the global crisis in nature can lead to despair. Our inability to prevent the destruction of wild habitats and the wild creatures that depend on it strikes deep into our souls, but worrying about the future cripples our ability to act, so I try to live in the present. It is what we do now that will shape the future and we need all of our energy to bring better times.

Climate change is inextricably linked to the degradation of nature. At last, there seems to be a glimmer of awakening at a political level to the fact that nurturing nature is essential for all our sakes. The campaign for 30% of land and sea to be protected by 2030 across the world brings hope but it needs a radical reset of values to be achieved. All of us though, can do something to help bring it to reality.

Do you have any current projects or plans for further books that you’d like to tell us about?

I’ve just been down to my local cemetery where there’s a project to turn the unmarked graves area into a wildflower meadow. The yellow rattle seed we sowed last August is coming up, along with cowslips and violets. It will be a living memorial for those buried beneath and will attract bees and other pollinators. I’m also keeping an eye on the eaves of a medieval building managed by the town council. Restoration work on the timbers last autumn included six bespoke swift nest boxes – fingers crossed!

There will be another book but I haven’t written it yet. It will explore the connectedness of people with nature but I can’t reveal more just now.

Swifts and Us
By: Sarah Gibson
Hardback | Published May 2021 | £16.99

We have a very limited number of bookplates signed by Sarah, available while stocks last.

All prices correct at the time of this article’s publication.

Seabirds, and a Short History of Illustrated Bird Guides

Seabirds by Peter Harrison, Martin Perrow and Hans Larsson represents the latest in a long history of exquisitely illustrated bird identification guides. An update of the original 1983 publication of Harrison’s, it covers all 437 known species of seabird, from seaducks and grebes to cormorants and pelicans. The publication of this beautiful and comprehensive book has prompted us to take a look at some of the history surrounding illustrated bird guides over the past century.

Title page of the History of the Birds of Europe

At the end of the 19th century, there existed only a few professional bird illustrators. These were usually employed by wealthy patrons, drawing and painting species as requested for private collections and portfolios, with subjects chosen to reflect their patron’s specific ornithological interests. By the turn of the 20th century there were a small number of illustrated bird guides available commercially, such as H.E. Dresser’s A History of the Birds of Europe, published in nine parts between 1871 and 1896. However, these were extremely expensive to purchase due to high production times and costs.

One of the first widely available bird books, The Observer’s Book of British Birds, was published in 1937. Illustrated by Archibald Thorburn, who was eager to embrace the new age of print, the book included plates that showed species in a natural setting and was incredibly popular with a post-war audience. This was closely followed by The Handbook of British Birds by H.F. & G. Witherby (1938-1941) which consisted of five volumes illustrated in colour. These were later combined into a single volume: The Popular Handbook of Birds (1962). At this time, most illustrations were based on museum specimens, as fieldwork was limited by poor optics and the cost of travel, and very few photographs of live specimens were available. Because of this, images, although technically accurate, often missed details of ‘jizz’ and other useful field characteristics as well as seasonal differences in plumage.

Tunnicliffe’s ‘What To Look For In…’ series was popular with both adults and children during the post-war years.

The years and decades following the second world war saw a growing interest in birds in Britain, helped considerably by the RSPB which encouraged the creation of bird art and viewed it as a useful tool for inspiring public interest. At this time, Charles Tunnicliffe’s two albums: Bird Portraits and Wild Birds of Britain, alongside his four What To Look For In Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter books were incredibly popular with both children and adults. Unusually for the time, Tunnicliffe only worked from real-life specimens which gave his illustrations a rare lifelike vibrancy. (Tunnicliffe is also well known for his illustrations of country life and the original wood engravings included in Tarka the Otter).

The late 1940s and 50s saw the publication of the first ‘modern’ field guides, in which much more attention was paid to identifying characteristsics, behavioural details and notes on confusion species. Of these, the Collins Pocket Guide to British Birds, illustrated by Richard Richardson and the Collins Field Guide, illustrated by American artist Roger Tory Peterson, were by far the most popular. While the Pocket Guide grouped birds by size and similarity, with no regard for taxonomic relatedness, Peterson’s book arranged birds taxonomically, a difference that split readers in their preference for each style.

Volume VIII of the ambition Birds of the Western Palearctic

The 1960s saw a huge ecological awakening in Britain, and an increased interest in the natural world. Popular bird art at this time also experienced a boom with the arrival on the scene of talented artists such as Basil Ede and Robert Gilmore, the latter of who was instrumental in forming the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) in 1964. The decades following were a wonderful period for illustrated bird guides and a number of key publishers now found that it was financially viable to produce these in much higher numbers and successfully market them to the general public. Notable publications from the 1970s include the Hamlyn Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe, The Collins Pocket Guide to Birds of Britain and Europe and the extremely ambitious Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, The Birds of the Western Palearctic.

The 1980s were notable for the arrival of the first modern family monographs, beginning with Seabirds in 1983, beautifully illustrated by Peter Harrison. Unlike general field guides, these focused exclusively on a single family of birds, and were incredibly popular. Seabirds was closely followed by Shorebirds, illustrated by Peter Hayman, and Wildfowl, illustrated by Hilary Burn. However, the most ambitious and well-known example of this format is the Handbook of the Birds of the World which stands at 16 volumes, published by Lynx over a period of 20 years.

Still, expectations continued to rise and the quest for the perfect field guide continued, until the Collins Bird Guide finally appeared in 1999. Renowned globally for the quality of the artwork – which is considered to be exceptional, both aesthetically and as an identification aid – this book has remained the stalwart companion for huge numbers of birders over the past two decades. The third edition, due to be published this year, features expanded text and additional colour illustrations.

More recently, a number of ambitious, large-format illustrated bird guides have been published. All the Birds of the World, published by Lynx in 2020, features more than 20,800 illustrations, covering 11,524 species. Collins Birds of the World, published a year later in 2021, is the complete collection of the Collins Field Guides’ incredibly detailed, accurate and beautiful bird paintings, brought together in one comprehensive volume. The all-encompassing guide featured 10,711 species, including 301 full-colour plates.

Seabirds is a wonderful continuation of the rich history of illustrated bird guides and is a shining example of a book which is both invaluable as an identification guide, and treasured as a work of art.

Author Interview with Mike Alexander: Skomer Island

Renowned for its incredible and diverse wildlife, it is no wonder that Skomer Island receives thousands of visitors year upon year. Famous for its thriving populations of seabirds, grey seals and its vast swathes of spring flowers, Skomer is a fantastic example of how carefully managed eco-tourism works alongside conservation.

Mike Alexander was Warden of Skomer for ten years, and has had links to the island for over six decades. He is now Chair of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales and the Pembrokeshire Islands Conservation Advisory Committee. Illustrated with his own stunning photographs of the flora and fauna, this book is a comprehensive history of the island and its inhabitants.

Could you tell us a bit about your background and where the motivation for your book came from?

I first visited as a schoolboy in 1962, just a couple of years into Skomer’s incarnation as a nature reserve, and it was a day that changed my life forever. The most overwhelming idea that stayed with me from that day was that eventually, whatever it took, I would become warden of Skomer. I finally fulfilled that long-held childhood dream in the spring of 1976. Following 10 wonderful years on Skomer I moved to North Wales where initially I was responsible for the management of 5 spectacular National Nature Reserves and in 1991, I became responsible for supervising the management of the entire series of NNRs in Wales, a position I held for over twenty years. In 2018 I became the chair of the Pembrokeshire islands conservation advisory committee and so my commitment to Skomer continues.

I had long dreamed of writing a book about Skomer, but in truth had little idea of how I might achieve that goal. Skomer is a cultural landscape shaped over thousands of years by people striving to make a living. I wanted to show how the island has evolved in response to changing human values, attitudes and interventions. I also wanted an opportunity to demonstrate what nature conservation means in practice. Reserves like Skomer are the most powerful advocate for nature that we could possibly have. The island gives visitors an almost magical insight into somewhere that transcends our ordinary world, where one close encounter with a puffin may speak more eloquently for conservation than a thousand words ever could.

Previous to the island becoming an NNR in 1959, you mention Skomer’s agricultural history. Could you tell us here a little about the island’s past?

Skomer’s time as a nature reserve spans barely a moment in its history. People have occupied Skomer for millennia, and archaeologist John Evans has described Skomer as possibly unique in the completeness of its archaeological remains. Present day visitors to the island can clearly pick out faint patterns of the distant past: field systems, lynchets, hut circles and more. Until recently, archaeologists and historians believed that apart from rabbit trapping and livestock grazing, the island had been abandoned after the Iron Age. However, new excavations in 2017 revealed the presence of medieval land clearance and ploughing.

During my ten years living on Skomer I became increasingly interested in the people who had lived there before me and most of all, the 19th century inhabitants who had farmed and made their living on the island. The people of the 19th century left the heaviest footprints as theirs was a time when people imposed their will on the island, shaping the land to meet their needs. This was a period of intense intervention and although it began to fade towards the end of the century, it was a time when people had the most impact on the island, its scenery and vegetation. How long will it be before the Victorian farmers’ footprints fade away? We, the later islanders, have become noninterventionists, and observers of nature’s progress. Ours should be the lightest of all footprints, and so perhaps the impact of the 19th century will, for now, be the most enduring of all human influences.

Recent news of Skomer’s thriving populations of seabirds like the puffin and Manx shearwater offer much hope. What major changes do you think are necessary to ensure species recovery and habitat restoration in Britain?

My generation has grown up with an almost subliminal pessimism about the fate of our wildlife to the point where decline seems inevitable and we can only hope to slow the rate of it. To have seen Skomer thrive throughout its time as a nature reserve is contrary to nearly everything I have grown up to believe, and yet it is important to remember that Skomer once had the potential for so much more. We know from photographs taken around the turn of the last century, that there was a minimum island population of around 100,000 Guillemots: four times the present number. The photographs also show the grassy slopes above the cliffs thick with Puffins, where now they only form a thin fringe. Perhaps these things will not be possible again, but it is a vital reminder never to set our sights too low and to hold on to that vision of what the future could be.

Species and habitat recovery will only happen when our policies and legislation are translated into action. Good intentions alone will achieve nothing. It is quite ironic that despite the enormous growth in public concern and protest about the fate of our natural environment, governments are failing to provide the essential resources.

The NNRs, along with all other protected areas, will be a central and essential component of any species and habitat recovery or restoration programme. They are the stepping stones, the vital reservoirs and the crucial resources that will enable landscape scale recovery in Britain.

With restricted movement during the Covid-19 pandemic that many are referring to as the ‘anthropause’, people across the globe have noticed changes to their local wildlife. How has the lack of eco-tourism affected the wildlife on Skomer during this time?

Skomer is an extremely fragile island with hundreds of thousands of seabirds. Puffins and Manx Shearwaters nest in shallow burrows, while the cliffs provide homes for thousands of Guillemots, Razorbills and Kittiwakes. As a consequence, all visitors to the island understand that they must keep to the system of marked footpaths at all times. This has made it possible for us to claim with confidence that visitors to Skomer have no impact on the wildlife that they come to enjoy. So apart from overgrown paths, there has been no significant discernible impact.

There are plenty of signs from elsewhere that wildlife has responded positively to the lack of human disturbance. It may well be that some species will gain a short-term advantage, but I am not convinced that the impact of Covid-19 on wildlife will be anything more than a very minor, and almost irrelevant, hiccup, unless of course we can learn from the experience. We must learn to change our behaviour and realise that we will not survive on this planet if we regard unfettered consumerism as our main purpose in life.

Do you have any other projects on the horizon you’d like to tell us about?

I will take a break from writing and concentrate on photography. I was recently elected Chair of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales and I am looking forward to devoting much of my time to working for the Trust.

Skomer Island
By: Mike Alexander
Hardback | Due April 2021 | £29.99

All prices correct at the time of this article’s publication.

NHBS In the Field – Song Meter Micro

The Song Meter Micro is the latest in Wildlife Acoustics’ passive recorder range. Building on the success of the Song Meter Mini, Wildlife Acoustics have gone one step further and managed to again reduce the size and cost of their fantastic acoustic recorder. These handy pocket sized recorders are now even more accessible to anybody looking to record wildlife.

The Micro is certainly a technical achievement. It boasts many of the same excellent features available in the Song Meter Mini while coming in at around half the width, 100g lighter and just over half the price. It utilises the same Bluetooth configuration and, with a complement of three AA Alkaline or NiMH batteries, it can continuously record for up to 150 hours. A full comparison of the differences is available from the manufacturer’s website; however, beyond its much smaller dimensions there are a few key ones to note. Chiefly among these is that it has a single built-in microphone and is unable to take an additional microphone, meaning recordings will always be in mono. Another few considerations are that it utilises microSD cards to store recordings and it is recommended when deploying the detector to always include a small amount of fresh desiccant for humidity control within the casing.

We took a Song Meter Micro and deployed it for several nights in early April to gather some recordings and gauge its overall ease of use.

Setting Up

The Song Meter Micro utilises the exact same configuration system as the Song Meter Mini via the free “Mini Configurator” companion app. This app allows you to easily configure the detector’s recording settings before deployment as well as check the status of the detector while it’s in the field, as long as you’re within range.

When powered on, the Micro emits a constant Bluetooth beacon, and when you are within range of this beacon the Configurator app will automatically detect the recorder and display it in the recorders screen of the app. You can then press the status icon on the app and view the current status of the detector, including SD card capacity, battery life, recording mode and number of recordings taken.

For our tests, we decided to choose a preset recording schedule to capture the dawn chorus. This calculates the sunrise and sunset times using your phone’s location data and sets a schedule accordingly. For more information about setting up your Song Meter Micro, watch our set up video below.

What we found

The Micro was quick and simple to set up within the app and the included quickstart guide and tutorial videos on Wildlife Acoustics’ website were useful if we were unsure of anything. The unit itself doesn’t come with a strap, but has various slots and holes that a cable lock, trail camera strap, rope or screw could fit through. Once mounted, and with batteries/SD card inserted, we could check through the configuration on the app, read off the LEDs to check everything was armed and ready for recording, then snap the lid on and walk away.

Upon collecting the unit, very little battery had drained. Once back in the office, we removed the microSD card and loaded the recordings into Kaleidoscope to view the sonograms and listen to the recording quality.

Examples of our recordings can be heard or sonograms viewed below.

Geese flying overhead and calling over songbirds

Our opinion

The Song Meter Micro is an impressive single channel acoustic recorder for its size and price. It was easy to carry into the field in a rucksack – or even a pocket! The set up was simple using the configurator app and we found the array of scheduling options to be thorough. We especially liked the preset recording schedules which offer several commonly required options that are available at the tap of a button. It was useful to be able to see the status of the recorder using the LED lights within the unit itself, especially when we wanted to check the recorder was armed and ready to record still while our phone was out of charge.

The sound quality was impressive considering the tiny size of the in-built microphone. Bird calls were loud and clear and even the sound of the morning trains could be heard from the train line through the woodland over half a kilometre away. The sonograms above demonstrate the low noise of the recordings and the quality is good enough for both sound and visual analysis.

The Song Meter Micro is an excellent addition to the Song Meter range and is ideal for those looking to start recording or audio monitoring. It is particularly useful for researchers looking for a convenient unit that is suitable for wide-scale deployments in remote locations where size and weight are important factors to consider.

We really enjoyed recording the dawn chorus and hearing our local bird song, which is especially spectacular this time of year. With International Dawn Chorus Day (Sunday 2nd May) fast approaching, we would encourage everyone to set up a recorder or get out early to hear their local dawn chorus for themselves.

The Song Meter Micro is available on the NHBS website.
To view the full range of sound recorders, along with other survey equipment, visit nhbs.com. If you have any questions or would like some advice on choosing the right product then please contact us via email at customer.services@nhbs.com or phone on 01803 865913.

Author Interview with Charles Foster: The Screaming Sky

A summer visitor, the common swift appears suddenly with the change in season, swooping overhead with its unmistakeable call. From their travels to Africa, to their short breeding season in the UK, swifts appear to defy gravity with their extraordinary migratory feats, with some in flight for ten months of the year. In The Screaming Sky, Charles Foster follows the swifts across the world, recounting his travels and the lives of these remarkable creatures.

Charles Foster, author of the New York Times bestseller, Being a Beast, is a writer, barrister and a Fellow of Green Templeton College, University of Oxford. With publication of his latest book due soon, Charles has very kindly agreed to answer some of our questions.

Firstly, could you tell us a little bit about your background and how you came to write The Screaming Sky?

I’m originally from Sheffield, and as a small boy I was obsessed with natural history. One summer I was sitting in a field watching and counting the house martins. Suddenly there was something else there: it was a completely different kind of creature, and it inhabited the air while other birds just visited it. I was immediately drunk on its power and its mastery and its swashbucklingness. It could have ended badly: it might have made me worship power. But (that’s another story) I was spared that fate, and instead started to wonder whether I could know anything at all about something as different from me as that. So I followed them in every way that I could: through books that taught me about their biology, through poems that taught me how impossible it is for human language to tie swifts down, by gazing up into summer skies, by playing recordings of their calls when I was missing them like crazy in the winter, and by travelling along their migration routes, hoping to catch up with them in Africa and everywhere en route. How could I not write about birds that have taught me so much about what it means to be alive?

During your travels, were there any encounters that particularly stood out for you?

Three:

Sitting at the foot of a tower in Greece with the swifts diving so near to my head that I could feel the air from their fluttering on my face, knowing that they were about to leave for Africa, and wondering what the bereavement would do to me.
Sitting at the top of a tree in Oxford amongst a group of swifts which were grazing on the aerial plankton being wafted up from the ground. And seeing the grey triangular tongue of a swift as it snapped at a ballooning spider near my ear.
Being asleep under a bush in Africa, and being suddenly awake, knowing that the swifts that I’d been searching for for so long were going to be there. And they were! It wasn’t that I’d heard them coming (swifts are generally thought to be silent in Africa). It wasn’t that I’d been told to expect them: I’d been told that we probably wouldn’t see them at all. So how did it happen? If I told you my speculations you’d think I was mad.

What were the major challenges you faced while writing your book?

I’m a fat, lumpen, middle-aged man. It’s hard to think of any organism that’s less like a swift. And, as I’ve said already, language (which is pretty inadequate at the best of times) fails particularly obviously when it comes to swifts. That’s bad news for a writer on swifts. And then there were snakes and elephants and rabid dogs and torrential diarrhoea and bush fires and soldiers and downright laziness and roads washed away and guilt at leaving the family behind.

Wildlife has suffered a substantial decline over the last few decades, and swifts have been no exception with a loss of over half of the breeding population. Has your recent experience writing The Screaming Sky left you more optimistic or more pessimistic regarding the future of the common swift?

They watched the continents shuffle to their present positions, and the mammals evolve. They’ll be screaming through the sky long after our own race has been and gone.

Do you have any new projects in the pipeline that you’d like to tell us about?

In August a book of mine called Being a Human: Adventures in Forty Thousand Years of Consciousness will be published. It’s an attempt to imagine how it would have felt to be around at three pivotal moments in the history of human consciousness: the Upper Palaeolithic (when modern consciousness ignited), the Neolithic (when we first started to see ourselves as distinct from the wild world, and started to tame ourselves and other animals), and the Enlightenment (when the universe, which had always been seen as alive, was reconceived as a machine – with disastrous consequences). And at the moment I’m writing a book called The Siege – to be published in 2022 – which is a collection of stories illustrating the challenges of living alongside you and me if you’re a wild thing with all your senses switched on.

The Screaming Sky
By: Charles Foster

Author interview with Roy Dennis: Restoring the Wild

Reintroducing lost species has had a huge part to play in restoring natural processes and enriching biodiversity in Britain. In Restoring the Wild, Roy Dennis MBE documents the painstaking journey to reintroduce some of Britain’s lost apex predators, and the subsequent enormous benefits to our ecosystem.

Leading up to the book’s publication, Roy kindly agreed to answer some questions.

As is made clear from the title of your book, you have a long and amazing history of involvement with conservation projects. Could you begin by sharing what inspired you to pursue a career as a field ornithologist and wildlife consultant?

It really started as a youngster keen on wildlife and living in the Hampshire countryside. Becoming really good at birds and bird ringing which led to a summer job as an assistant warden at Lundy Bird Observatory, instead of going to work at Harwell Atomic Research Station. The following year I was a field ornithologist at the prestigious Fair Isle Bird Observatory, which was fantastic training. There I met George Waterston, the famous Scottish ornithologist, who persuaded me to join him the following year wardening the ospreys at Loch Garten. There I made so many friends in wildlife conservation and became totally convinced that my life was going to be about birds and conservation, restoring species and subsequently ecological restoration.

Of course the obvious aim of a reintroduction project is to bring back a species that has been lost. But in your experience what subsequent benefits are there to reintroductions?

I think in a very damaged world reintroduction projects show there is a chance to bring species back and give people hope. Some species are more important than others from an ecological point of view with beavers being the ecosystem engineer par excellence. My book explains the many advantages of restoring beavers. Other species such as red kites and white-tailed eagle are iconic species, which demonstrate that rare birds can live in the general countryside, not only in nature reserves. Then people can see and enjoy them on the way to work, school or the shops. My whole ethos has been to make rare birds more common and secure for the future.

According to the latest 2019 State of Nature report, about 162 species have thought to have become extinct since the 1500s. How is it decided what species should be prioritised for reintroduction?

It’s more a question of our ability to successfully restore a species, is there enough habitat and food, can we find birds to translocate and what is the likelihood of success. I think the most important action is to take action and not be bogged down by procedures.

You spoke in your book about the opposition to reintroduction projects – what would your response be to address these concerns and opposing views?

The opposition can come from many quarters but the most important thing is to listen to all the concerns and address them. It’s essential to know the species on its home patch and to be able to present a clear message. Usually people’s concerns can be allayed; for example I write in my book about making a special recce to the Netherlands to speak to the experts about white-tailed eagles and agriculture, so that we could give considered views before starting the Isle of Wight project. We have had complaints from some birders that the translocated ospreys at Rutland Water or the sea eagles are not ‘real’ birds and they cannot count them on their lists. But they forget capercaillies were brought back from Scandinavia long ago. But the recent sea eagles flying in southern England have shown that birders just love to know they are back, and hopefully will breed in England again.

In the final chapter of your book you look forward to focus on newer projects, such as White-tailed Eagle reintroductions on the Isle of Wight and the South Coast Osprey Project. But what else would you like to see reintroduced to Britain in the near future?

In my last chapter of the book I’m really talking about handing over the baton to others to take projects forward. I’m very fortunate that Tim Mackrill joined me a few years ago and I love working with our small team. We are always assessing possible projects but would rather do it in a quiet way, really get to know the species on mainland Europe and talk to all the people that are likely to be involved before we go public with an idea.

White-tailed Eagles, Ospreys, Red Kites and Goldeneyes are a few of the species you have helped to successfully restore to Britain. What has been your personal highlight and why?

“What is your favourite?” is a question I’ve been asked all my life. But I do not have one – or rather it is the one we are working with at the time. I can recall personal highlights like the first osprey breeding pair at Rutland Water, seeing the young white-tailed eagles fly free on the Isle of Wight was exciting just like when I released the first young sea eagle on Fair Isle in 1968. Seeing red kites, the length and breadth of Scotland and England has been special, made more so when you see them soaring over motorways. During lockdown it’s been marvellous to hear from so many people who have seen a sea eagle fly high over them as they sit in their garden. Bringing wonder back.

The Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation has achieved a great deal over the years since it was formed in 1995, not just in the UK but across Europe too. Can you share what the Foundation has planned for the future?

We want to carry on with our work with wildlife conservation, there are still many things to do and the return of the Lynx is high in my thoughts. We have others in mind for the future so keep an eye on our website and see what’s coming next. You will get a great insight to how these projects evolve and work in Restoring the Wild.

Restoring the Wild: Sixty Years of Rewilding Our Skies, Woods and Waterways
By: Roy Dennis
Hardback | Due April 2021 | £16.99 ~~£18.99~~

All prices correct at the time of this article’s publication.

The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2021

The 29th-31st January marked the 42nd Big Garden Birdwatch. This citizen science survey asks members of the public across the UK to count the numbers and species of birds that land in their gardens in a one hour period. In 2020 almost half a million people took part and 7.8 million birds were counted.

This year, the RSPB launched the Big Garden Birdwatch Live to run alongside the counts. A full weekend of live events including interviews and Q&As with Nick Baker, Chris Packham and a host of RSPB staff members. Bird feeders from nature reserves around the country were live streamed throughout.

At NHBS more of us than ever decided to take part and record the species that visited our gardens. Some of us were luckier than others; with weather warnings across Devon it was a wet and windy weekend. Despite the conditions we were treated to some wonderful sightings and as a group spotted 23 different species.

Overall a much higher number of pigeons and corvids visited our gardens than in previous years, as it seemed these larger birds were the least phased by the rain. Long-tailed tits and blue tits were the most highly spotted passerines.

See our results below:

Nigel

Nigel’s three children assisted with his survey and helped identify a great range of species.

3 Blue tits
3 Tree sparrows
2 Carrion crows
2 Blackbirds
2 Dunnocks
2 Long-tailed tits
1 Coal tit
1 Great tit
1 Robin
1 Wren
1 Magpie
1 Woodpigeon

Catherine

Catherine had a quieter hour, but still counted 3 species, all of which were in last year’s top 10!

1 Blackbird
1 Great tit
1 Woodpigeon

Angeline

Angeline’s dog Freya must have brought her some good luck! She was treated to 12 species including a nuthatch and firecrest, two fantastic sightings.

4 Long-tailed tits
3 House sparrows
2 Magpies
2 Great tits
1 Firecrest
1 Robin
1 Blue tit
1 Nuthatch
1 Carrion Crow
1 Blackbird
1 Dunnock
1 Chaffinch

Rachel

Rachel had the highest number of house sparrows – the species that took last year’s national top spot

8 House sparrows
2 Feral pigeons
1 Common gull
1 Magpie

Phoebe

Phoebe’s family had the highest quantity of birds visit their garden, an impressive 26 individuals. Her sister Amabel even managed to take this beautiful photo of a Great spotted woodpecker.

2 Blackbirds
8 Long-tailed tits
5 Blue tits
2 Chaffinches
2 Coal tits
2 Nuthatches
2 Great tits
1 Woodpigeon
1 Dunnock
1 Great spotted woodpecker

Oli

Oli’s garden seems to reliably attract corvids and pigeons, as he counted very similar numbers to his 2020 survey.

3 Woodpigeons
2 Carrion crows
2 Jackdaws
1 Robin

Antonia

Antonia was treated to a large flock of jackdaws. She also saw a grey wagtail – a species more fond of riverside habitats, although they do tend to venture further during the winter.

10 Jackdaws
2 Blue tits
2 Magpies
1 Robin
1 Goldcrest
1 Grey Wagtail
1 Blackbird

Gemma

Living in the centre of town led to my own list being dominated by relatively urban species.

11 Feral pigeons
5 Herring gulls
2 Carrion crows
2 Jackdaws

Across our 8 gardens we counted a total of 117 birds across 23 different species.

Have you taken part in the Big Garden Birdwatch? Don’t forget to submit your results by the 19th of February here.

The NHBS ID Guide to UK Garden Birds

In this addition to our UK Identification Guide series, we are taking a look at some of our most common garden birds.

Very little is required by way of equipment to watch birds. However, a decent pair of binoculars or scope and a good field guide can go a long way to enhancing the experience and improving your skills. (If you’re looking for suggestions, we’ve included a few of our most popular field guides at the end of this post.)

If you’d like to contribute to the understanding of birds and research into garden wildlife, why not take part in either the BTO’s Garden BirdWatch (all year round) or the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch (annually in January).

Where and when to look for birds

One of the things that makes birdwatching such a great activity is that birds can be found all year round. Although their numbers may fluctuate at various times of year, due to the arrival and departure of various migrants, it is a rare day that you will venture outdoors and fail to see even one of our winged neighbours.

Autumn and winter are particularly good times for garden birdwatching, as this is the time that birds will benefit most from extra nuts and seeds provided in bird feeders; many will flock to gardens to take advantage of this additional source of food. A well positioned bird feeder also allows you to watch birds from the comfort of an armchair, accompanied by a hot cup of tea!

Twelve common garden birds to look for

Great Tit (Parus major)

Identification: The Great Tit is the UK’s largest tit species. It has a yellow breast with a central black stripe, a green back, black head and prominent white cheeks.

Measurements: Length 14cm, wingspan 24cm.

Preferred food: Insects, seeds, nuts.

Example call:

Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)

Identification: An incredibly colourful bird, the Blue Tit has a yellow breast, green back, blue wings and a blue patch on its head. The face is white and a slim black stripe runs horizontally through the eye.

Measurements: Length 12cm, wingspan 18cm.

Preferred food: Insects, caterpillars, seeds, nuts.

Example call:

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)

Great Spotted Woodpecker by Airwolfhound via Flickr

Identification: The Great Spotted Woodpecker has a striking black and white body and wings and is roughly the size of a blackbird. Males have a red patch on the back of the head, and juveniles also have a red crown. They fly with a distinctive swooping up and down style and can often be heard drumming while clinging to a tree trunk.

Measurements: Length 22-23cm, wingspan 34-39cm.

Preferred food: Insects, seeds, nuts.

Example of drumming sound:

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)

Identification: The cheeks and breast of the Chaffinch are rust-red (male) or buff-grey (female) coloured and the wings have two distinctive white bars on a dark background. Although they don’t regularly feed openly on bird feeders, they can often be found on the ground beneath and elsewhere in the garden.

Measurements: Length 14.5cm, wingspan 24.5-28.5cm.

Preferred food: Insects, seeds.

Example call:

Nuthatch (Sitta europaea)

Identification: The Nuthatch has a blue-grey back, chestnut sides and a distinctive black eye stripe. It often perches head-down on feeders and tree trunks.

Measurements: Length 14cm, wingspan 22.5-27cm.

Preferred food: Insects, nuts, seeds.

Example call:

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

Identification: This brightly coloured finch has a vibrant red face and a yellow wing bar. The black tail has white spots and the rump (visible when in flight) is white.

Measurements: Length 12cm, wingspan 21-25.5cm.

Preferred food: Seeds, insects.

Example call:

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Male House Sparrow by hedera.baltica via Flickr

Identification: A robust looking bird with a bushy plumage. Feathers are streaked brown and black. Male sparrows have a black bib and eye region and the bill is black during breeding. Females often have a buff-coloured ‘eyebrow’.

Measurements: Length 14-15cm, wingspan 21-25.5cm.

Preferred food: Seeds, scraps.

Example call:

Blackbird (Turdus merula)

Male Blackbird by hedera.baltica via Flickr

Identification: Male blackbirds are incredibly striking and have black feathers with a bright orange beak and eye ring. Females are brown and often have spots or streaks on their breast.

Measurements: Length 24-25cm, wingspan 34-38.5cm

Preferred food: Insects, worms, berries, fruit.

Example call:

Coal Tit (Periparus ater)

Identification: The Coal Tit has a black head, white cheek patches and a white wing bar. The back of the head features an oval white patch. Its back is blue-grey and the underside is buff in colour.

Measurements: Length 11.5cm, wingspan, 17-21cm.

Preferred food: Insects, seeds, nuts.

Example call:

Siskin (Carduelis spinus)

Identification: The Siskin is a small finch which has a black and yellow streaked body and a distinctly forked tail. The male has a black crown and a lot of black in the wing.

Measurements: Length 12cm, wingspan 20-23cm.

Preferred food: Seeds, insects.

Example call:

Dunnock (Prunella modularis)

Identification: Fairly similar to a House Sparrow, the Dunnock has brown, streaked upper parts and a blue-grey head and breast. This shy bird is often seen creeping around near cover such as bushes or flower beds.

Measurements: Length 14cm, wingspan 19-21cm.

Preferred food: Insects, spiders, worms, seeds.

Example call:

Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus)

Identification: This small raptor has short, broad wings and a long tail. Adult males are smaller than females and have grey upper parts and rust coloured cheeks and breast. The larger female has grey upper parts and greyish brown breast.

Measurements: Length 28-38cm, wingspan 55-70cm.

Preferred food: Small to medium birds, occasionally bats.

Example call:

Recommended field guides

Collins Bird Guide
#170498

Covering Britain and Europe, this beautifully illustrated book provides all the information needed to identify any species at any time of year, with detailed text on size, habitat, range, identification and voice.

Britain’s Birds
#248886

A bestselling guide since it was first published, Britain’s Birds has established itself as the go-to photographic identification guide to the birds of Great Britain and Ireland – the most comprehensive, up-to-date, practical and user-friendly book of its kind.

RSPB Handbook of British Birds
#250580

This revised and updated edition is the definitive guide to British and Irish birds, featuring comprehensive species accounts, stunning artwork, up-to-date distribution maps, and detailed conservation information for each species.

The RSPB Everyday Guide to British Birds
#262889

A beginner-friendly guide to 80 common British birds, featuring updated photos, distribution, conservation status, and tips for attracting birds to your garden. Discover fascinating facts about each species and learn what makes them unique, whether in your backyard or the countryside.

BES Summer School Guest Blog: Part One

This year, NHBS was proud to sponsor the BES Undergraduate Summer School.

This annual event is open to undergraduate students studying in their 1st or 2nd year at a UK or Irish university. The week-long programme provides training in a range of practical, ecological skills alongside networking events and career workshops.

Due to Covid-19 the 2020 Summer School was conducted online. As one of their tasks, students were asked to write a blog article on a subject of their choice. We are pleased to feature a number of their submissions here on the NHBS blog. The first, by Hannah Coburn, looks at the timing of breeding and migration in birds and how the changing climate can impact this.

Hannah Coburn

Changing Times

Phenology refers to the timing of key life events in organisms, which play an important part in every species’ ecology [1]. The phenology of birds, including the timing of breeding and migration, is a well-studied field due to its popularity and ease with which it can be studied [2]. Many bird species have evolved to court, nest, mate and, in some cases, migrate at precise times of the year, in order to coincide with ideal conditions and the height of availability of crucial food sources [1]. However, the changing climate is beginning to disrupt these intricate balances.

Different organisms are acclimatising at different rates to the changing climatic conditions, and this dissonance can be catastrophic for breeding birds, particularly migratory species [3]. For example, if trees begin to produce leaves earlier, the invertebrates that feed on their leaves begin to emerge sooner, and if birds relying on these invertebrates do not lay their eggs earlier in the season, they may miss the peak of the insect abundance and be unable to feed their chicks [1].

Figure by Hannah Coburn. Caterpillar image: animalsake.com, Blue Tit image: RSPB.

The loss of synchrony between the phenology of birds and the species they interact with is already having a variety of consequences. A study in the Netherlands examining the potential impact of climate change on two woodland bird species [3] found that Great Tits, a resident species, respond to temperature changes faster than Pied Flycatchers, a migratory species. This is due to the Tits being able to respond to local temperatures and food availability while the Flycatchers are restricted by the time at which they arrive in spring. It was also predicted that migratory birds may suffer as a result of heightened interspecific competition caused by higher numbers of resident birds surviving milder winters.

Some bird species have already been proven to have advanced the times at which they migrate, in response to increasing global temperatures. A large study of migration data from European and North American bird observatories [4] discovered that birds now migrate on average a week earlier than they did in the late 1950s. While some birds have remained relatively consistent in the times in which they migrate, some species such as the Goldeneye, a diving duck, are now migrating as much as two weeks earlier than they did just forty years ago. Juvenile birds, under less pressure to reproduce, showed little change in migration timing. Another study [5] that analysed global migration data covering almost three centuries and over 400 species found that, on average, birds had migrated two days earlier (in spring) per decade and 1.2 days per degree (Celcius) of global temperature rise. They also noted that generalist species had responded faster to climatic shifts than species that had more specialist niches.

Even in my home town, I have noticed migrants such as Swallows and Swifts arrive earlier and earlier. Is it because the birds migrate in response to certain temperatures, which are coming earlier in the season? Is it because individuals that migrate sooner are now more likely to survive and so this trait or behaviour is becoming more common? We are yet to uncover all the intricacies of bird migration. Like any other aspect of biology affected by climate change, it is the species that adapt fastest that will survive. Sadly, if we fail to prevent runaway climate change, the birds that are unable to synchronise their phenology to the new normal may be lost forever.

References

Rubenstein, M. (2017). When timing is everything: migratory bird phenology in a changing climate. S. Geographical Survey.
Gordo, O. & Sanz, J. J. (2006). Climate change and bird phenology: a long-term study in the Iberian Peninsula. Global Change Biology.
Samplonius, J. M. & Both, C. (2019). Climate Change May Affect Fatal Competition between Two Bird Species. Current Biology, 29(2):327-331.
Learn, J R. (2019). Climate change has birds migrating earlier. The Wildlife Society.
Usui, T., Butchart, S. H. M. & Phillimore, A. B. (2016). Temporal shifts and temperature sensitivity of avian spring migratory phenology: a phylogenetic meta?analysis. Journal of Animal Ecology, 86(2).

Author Interview with Ian Parsons, A Vulture Landscape: Twelve Months in Extremadura

Vultures are a crucial part of many of the world’s ecosystems, and without these specialist environmental cleansers many ecosystems wouldn’t function. In A Vulture Landscape we share a calendar year in the lives of these gargantuan raptors as they live, breed, feed and fly with effortless ease across the skies of the vulture landscape that is Extremadura in central Spain.

Author, Ian Parsons visited us at NHBS to answer some questions about these often maligned birds and also *signed a limited amount of copies of his new book.

*All signed copies have now sold

Could you tell us a little about your background?

I was born and grew up in Devon in south west England, as I grew up I became more and more interested in the natural world, I can remember becoming fascinated by slow worms when I was around seven years old, although I also remember my mum’s slightly horrified reaction when I happily brought one into the house to show her. I wanted to be a Ranger from an early age and after a countryside management course at college I became one for twenty years. When the time was right for a change, myself and my wife moved to Extremadura in Spain where we set up Griffon Holidays, running specialist bird tours in this amazing region that I had first discovered almost twenty years before.

Why did you chose to write about vultures?

Because they are brilliant! I am a massive natural history fan and geek and I’m passionate about all types of wildlife, I would say that trees and birds are my two main interests and when it comes to birds there is nothing like a vulture. Watching birds with a nigh on three metre wingspan gliding right past you is an amazing experience, they are masters of the air and take flight efficiency to the extreme, they can read the air and its movements and to watch them is mesmerising. In the book I mention several times how my favourite past time is Vulture Gazing, just sitting back and watching them drift across the blue sky above you, it is a great way to declutter your mind, everyone should vulture gaze!

What’s special about Extremadura and its fauna and flora?

Extremadura is a region in western Spain, it is roughly twice the size of Wales, but with only one third of the human population, it is relatively empty of people and full of amazing wildlife. It has long been known as a bit of a destination for birders and rightly so. There are Great and Little Bustards, two species of Sandgrouse, colourful stars such as the Blue Rock Thrush, Roller and Bee-eater, NHBS’s very own Hoopoe is abundant and then there are the birds of prey, five species of eagle, three species of kite, falcons, harriers etc. And of course there are the vultures, the Griffon Vulture, Black Vulture and Egyptian Vulture, the skies always have something interesting in them.

Spending time on the flower rich plains in the spring listening to the wall to wall surround sound song track of abundant larks whilst raptors drift by overhead is one of life’s pleasures.

What were the major challenges you faced while writing your book?

I think the biggest difficulty is knowing when to stop! When you are passionate about something it is very easy to get carried away.

What impact has Covid had and will continue to have on eco-tourism?

It has had a massive impact. I had to cancel the tours for 2020 which were fully booked, personally it is heart breaking to have to tell people that their trip which they had been really looking forward to is off. But everybody knew why the decision had to be made. I always put the clients up in a lovely Spanish town in a local family run hotel, they are lovely people and they are having to endure a really bad situation. As to the future? Who knows, the situation is so unclear at the moment, it is impossible to make any real plans.

Is it fair to say that vultures have a bit of an unfair reputation?

Vultures are associated with death, it’s what they do, they are scavengers and they eat dead things. We humans don’t like the subject of death, we actively avoid it and therefore anything that is associated with it tends to be seen in a negative light. But vultures need to be seen in a positive light, many of the world’s vulture species are critically endangered, the last category before extinction, they are in that position because of us. Vultures do an incredible job, they are nature’s environmental cleansers and they help keep ecosystems healthy and functioning, they can deal with diseases like bovine TB, rabies and even anthrax, they remove these diseases before they can become a threat to us, they help keep people safe. We should celebrate them and most certainly enjoy them, I hope my book will go some way to helping improve the image of these brilliant birds.

Recently a Bearded Vulture has had an extended stay in Britain, is this normal?

It’s not normal, it is only the second time that one of these majestic birds has been recorded in Britain (in 2016 one briefly visited Devon and South Wales). Vultures are not native to Britain, the climate for one thing is not conducive to them and it is noticeable that after an extended stay in the Peak District the bird has started moving south and east again now that the seasons are changing. Their appearance is the result of some fantastic conservation work carried out in the Alps where the bird has been successfully reintroduced after being persecuted to extinction over one hundred years ago. The new population is absolutely booming, and wild born young are being born in good numbers each year, in 2019 39 young successfully fledged. Vultures like the Bearded don’t breed until they are around five years old and after they become independent the young birds like to wander. For a vulture, distance is rather irrelevant, they often fly several hundred kilometres in a day’s foraging, and it is one of these young birds that has turned up in Britain this year, but the bird is just an avian sightseer and hopefully it will return safely to its natural range before very long. Whilst it will remain unusual for these birds to turn up in Britain on their travels, the continued success of the conservation work in the Alps means that there will be a chance that other wandering young will follow in the future.

After a well-earned rest, are there any plans or works-in-progress that you can tell us about?

I am currently involved in a great new project that aims to rewild your inbox! Purple Crow sends out a mixture of great photography and great writing to your inbox throughout the week, the idea is to inspire people with stunning images and inspiring words, see purplecrow.co.uk for more details. Book wise I am working on a book looking at the wildlife of Britain through the seasons.

A Vulture Landscape: Twelve Months in Extremadura
By: Ian Parsons
Paperback | October 2020| £15.99 ~~£17.99~~

Readers can enter the world of the vulture, get to know these amazing birds and learn how they control diseases that threaten us, why some species have bald necks, as well as how they have mastered the art of flying without expending any energy.

All prices correct at the time of this article’s publication.