Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2023 i Birdwatch

THE 17th annual Oriole Birding pelagic weekend with Scilly Pelagics ran over the dates Friday 4 to Monday 7 August. The Friday evening trip to the south found four Wilson’s Storm Petrels and about 60 Cory’s and 40 Great Shearwaters, all giving fantastic views. Pressure was off with the ‘big three’ secured that first evening. Overnight, a short, severe storm hit Scilly and at the departure time of 9 am, waves were breaching the walls of St Mary’s Quay. Scilly Pelagics never cancels, but we gave Oriole the choice of a wet and windy Saturday, or deferring Saturday to a calmer Monday. The latter was the obvious choice. The scheduled Sunday daytime pelagic steamed eastwards to Seven Stones Reef where we nailed a classic Scopoli’s Shearwater at close range. The…

ON 27 August, during a family holiday on South Uist, a morning of rain and westerlies had cleared up by early afternoon. My dad, Roger, and I headed out to the beaches of North Boisdale. Upon reaching the beach we immediately picked up an interesting-looking wader overhead and identified it as a Pectoral Sandpiper from my flight shots. We were happy with that, but wanted to see it on the deck, so we headed north and inland to the machair where we hoped to relocate it. Upon our arrival, dad picked up a small juvenile Ruff. However, while watching it fly around, a small, dark dove flew in out of nowhere and landed in front of us, in front of some silage bales. Initially, Stock Dove seemed the only explanation…

Most active birders will be familiar with Schedule 1, or to use its Sunday name, ‘Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981’. While all birds are protected, Schedule 1 lists more than 80 species for which ‘special penalties’ allegedly offer additional protection. This means that it is an offence to intentionally disturb these birds while they are building, in, on or near a nest containing eggs or young, or to disturb dependent young even if not in the nest. The BTO is responsible for the issue of licences to enable the disturbance of a Schedule 1 species during the breeding season in order to monitor breeding performance, ring adults or young, or simply visit the nest during the breeding season to record its contents. It has been 42…

THE Atlas of Early Modern Wildlife is a deep dive into the state of nature in Britain during the early modern era, and precisely the years 1519-1772. This was a different world to today – long before agricultural intensification and a swiftly warming planet. Unsurprisingly the flora and fauna of our isles was very different – think Corncrakes in Greater London, Wolves and Eurasian Lynx in Scotland and Golden Eagle in the Midlands. The book begins with an introductory section before running through mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, amphibians and finally invertebrates, before a conclusion. More than 10,000 records for 153 species are used – a mighty number – and author Lee Raye’s smooth writing and clearly interpretable maps make for an enjoyable read, which is all the more impressive given the…

I was a little astonished to see this near 300-page annual report thump onto the doormat in July. It’s a huge achievement to publish such a comprehensive report only six-and-a-half months after the year has ended. Despite this, Chris Hind and his Cumbrian team haven’t skimped on quality. As well as the full systematic list, there are several papers including survey summaries of breeding Ringed Plovers and the county’s rookeries. Along with short sections on beetles, spiders, moths, dragonflies, butterflies and many others (even the county’s fungi), there’s something of interest to naturalists across the county. A good number of images are supported by some excellent field sketches from a couple of talented Cumbrian artists, these bringing the species accounts to life. Add to the above a ringing report and…

WITH wildfires becoming a more frequent event in many places around the world, including in the UK, there is great concern about how they might affect birds and other wildlife. Milder and wetter winters encourage the growth of vegetation which then dries out in hotter and drier summers, making the risk of wildfires greater, and with accompanying winds which can lead to uncontrollable blazes. The immediate damage caused by recent wildfires in the UK has been obvious. Reedbeds in Scotland and north-west England were burned, heathland and peat bogs damaged and woodland destroyed. This year in Scotland, a fire at Cannich, Highland, was probably the largest ever in the UK, burning 7,780 ha of habitat. Birds, of course, are able to flee from fires, but damage to habitat can be…

OCTOBER’S digital edition has bonus content, including: • Sound recordings and footage of Bramblings; • Footage and calls of rare robins; • Video of North Ronaldsay rarities; • Sound recordings of Antioquia cloudforest species; • Film of recent rarities and scarcities. The digital edition is available for PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad and Android. Sample issues are free, and subscriptions or single copies can be purchased. Visit www.pktmags.com/bw-digital to find out more.…

AS autumn and skua migration approaches I regularly visit Hound Point, Lothian, and occasionally check Cramond Island. On the morning of 17 August I decided to go to Cramond as the tides for crossing the causeway were favourable. My plan was to stay as long as the tide allowed and, if there was any skua activity, I would then head to Hound Point. I arrived at the northern end of the Island at 9.30 am. At approximately 11 am, while scanning eastwards, I picked up a single dark bird flying westwards. As it approached I was puzzled as to its identity. The flight was gannet-like but it was lighter with slightly quicker wingbeats. Apart from immature Northern Gannet I quickly eliminated any of the ‘normal’ species I would have expected…

It has been a simply staggering summer of seabird action, with El Niño impacts and a marine heatwave in the north-east Atlantic Ocean creating unprecedented conditions for seawatchers and pelagic birding – although one can’t help but wonder about the long-term repercussions of these extreme temperatures. The South-West Approaches proved particularly fruitful for mega-rare visitors during August, though it is the sensational Cory’s Shearwater totals that will be remembered by many, alongside smaller numbers of Great Shearwaters. The month’s highest total saw 5,536 Cory’s past Porthgwarra, Cornwall, on 2nd, though this was just one of several counts numbering into the thousands. In the Outer Hebrides, 17 past Brevig, Barra, in 140 minutes on 11th shattered the previous Hebridean day record of two, with the most seen in any one year…

Hello! The Political Birder column is back, every other month, as we head towards a UK general election in 2024. At the time of my last column, we were getting used to Boris Johnson as a relatively new Prime Minister, Nicola Sturgeon looked well established in Scotland, Northern Ireland had no proper administration and Wales was a Labour bastion. Two years on and we have seen Liz Truss come and go, Rishi Sunak arrive, Sturgeon fall from power and our finest environmental parliamentarian, Caroline Lucas, is calling it a day. Zac Goldsmith resigned as a minister saying that Sunak has no interest in the environment and Nadine Dorries echoed those criticisms when she eventually remembered to resign. Had you noticed that UK politics was in turmoil or did you steadfastly…

It is a sad truth that as we age we might become less mobile and can sometimes suffer serious illnesses or injuries, but we can still enjoy the hobby we love albeit in a reduced capacity. I was only 49 when I got ill. The doctors would later put my illness down to “sheer bad luck” and my survival down to “pure bloody-mindedness.” The day everything changed On a fine morning in May 2016 I kissed my wife Sarah goodbye and went off to work. I told Sarah I might be home a little late as I wanted to try and see a European Bee-eater that had been found at Winterton in east Norfolk. I could not have foreseen that I wouldn’t return home for seven months. I had always…

THE Earth today is a planet drastically altered by human activity. Although what we think of as wildernesses do still remain in some regions, even many of these have been impacted by our behaviours. Unfortunately, in the great majority of cases, these impacts have made things worse – at least from the perspective of functioning ecosystems and the biodiversity they support. In fact, it is quite difficult to wrap one’s head around just how far-reaching our actions have been over the millennia – from megafauna hunted to extinction by our ancestors to fossil fuel-driven climate change of the 21st century and the chaos it is now delivering. In An Irish Atlantic Rainforest, author Eoghan Daltun considers many of the issues that our malfunctioning planet faces and how these have manifested…

SEED-EATING birds play an important role in the dispersal of seeds from a wide range of plants. It is estimated that almost 4,000 bird species eat fruits containing seeds and that at least 68,000 plant species benefit from this. For resident birds much of this takes place within a relatively small area, but migrant birds can spread the seeds considerable distances. One study, looking at the prey of Eleonora’s Falcons in the Canary Islands, was able to look at the stomach contents of the prey items – small migrating birds – stored around their nests. Prey included Common Quail, Common Redstart and Pied Flycatcher, with the latter two containing the fewest seeds. They found that most of the seeds in the stomachs belonged to plants found many hundreds of kilometres…

Pre-order your copy online now – see www.birdguides.com for details of how to subscribe and save more than 30% a year! ■ The changing kit of birders In the not-too-distant past, ornithologists spent time in the field with little more than a pair of binoculars, something barely recognisable to the well-equipped birders of the modern day. Mike Alibone charts how our gear has vastly diversified over recent decades. ■ Fighting for birdlife Andy Short introduces the work of Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS), an organisation striving to protect migratory birds from illegal poaching and over-exploitation right across Europe. ■ Regional exotica Sam Viles provides a comprehensive summary of the Western Palearctic’s numerous introduced (‘Category C’) bird species and their populations. ■ Plover time As autumn advances, flocks of European Golden Plover…

“And don’t forget the booby!” Thus, my favourite birding notification ever. Summer 2023 has been a triumphant season for Scilly Pelagics, the best in 23 years. I remember chatting to birders in the Scillonian Club years ago about rarities, with someone confidently suggesting that the biggest leaps would come from aboard MV Sapphire. So followed a handful of Fea’s-type petrels, the odd Scopoli’s Shearwater and the 2020 Zino’s Petrel. There was always a sense of intrepid excitement on board – the worse the weather, the higher the tension (and risk of seasickness). This constant enthusiasm and anticipation are always led from the front by Bob Flood and Joe Pender: with Scilly Pelagic magic, you never know what might happen. But the Zino’s Petrel (at least I saw that one) pales…

Iceland is one of the Western Palearctic’s hot-spots for Nearctic vagrancy and the nation experienced an exceptional influx of American Cliff Swallows as the month drew to a close, alongside up to three American Barn Swallows. An incredible flock of seven at Keflavík on 31st was the largest single tally, with a further four found resting on the deck of the ship Gunilla between Reykjavík and Belfast on 28th. The overall Icelandic total for the month reached 21 – compare that to only five previous national records. Two more were on Terceira, Azores, on 22nd. These followed an unprecedented influx into Newfoundland and Greenland over the preceding week involving many hundreds of birds. Additional Azorean finds included Least and White-rumped Sandpipers on Terceira and Lesser Yellowlegs on Pico. On the…

Bordered by Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and Venezuela to the south and east, and the Pacific Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Panama to the north and west, Colombia lies at the meeting point of South and Central America. It thus harbours the biodiversity and cultural diversity of both regions. With landscapes ranging from the glaciated and snow-capped mountains of the northern High Andes to large reaches of the Amazon Basin, along with deserts, mangroves, cold páramos, dry forests and cloudforests, it is nearly impossible to categorise the country other than to highlight the range of different Colombias that are present inside it. Colombia is one of the world’s most biodiversity-rich nations, being one of the 17 megadiverse countries as defined by Conservation International in 1998. These are of key importance for global…

THESE two new field guides cover some of the most popular birding locations in Central America. Costa Rica has been a firm favourite with UK birders for decades while Belize has taken longer to catch on, although it is now receiving more attention. Costa Rica is more than twice the size of Belize and has a well-advanced road network, while the latter still has huge swathes of unexplored forest with no road access. Costa Rica offers easier access in other ways too, with direct flights from London to San José, while to reach Belize you must change planes at least once and flight prices are not quite as competitive. Both countries have large bird lists, and in an average year around 850 species are recorded in Costa Rica compared to…

NEVER mind Christmas – the most wonderful time of the year for British birders is October! Rare and scarce visitors will be arriving on our shores from all points of the compass this month, and there can also be spectacular arrivals of more routine winter visitors and passage migrants. While most of the action will be at the coast or on islands, there will always be something of interest closer to home. Photography and large crowds can be a challenging mix, but it’s a tremendous thrill to take a photo of a new bird, and October offers a great chance to add some different species to your gallery. It’s always important to watch a bird and work out its routine and this is no different with rarities. There may be…