Innehållsförteckning för January 2025 från Birdwatch

I’D like to wish Birdwatch readers a Happy New Year. Have you set yourself any birding goals for 2025? Perhaps it’s a year-list target or a green birding challenge – it’d be great to hear what you’ve got planned. Personally, after a big year-list effort in 2024 that saw me pass 200 species in my local area, I’m looking forward to a more relaxed 12 months ahead with a view to targeting potential rare breeders that may (or may not!) reside unseen locally. Eurasian Goshawk, European Honey Buzzard and Hawfinch are among those that will be on the agenda – I’ll be revisiting the Field ID Notes articles that we’ve published on these species over the past couple of years to stand me in good stead. Which leads me on…

I work for a large engineering company and we are allowed to use a few days each year to support ‘social value’ activities. One of my colleagues had previously volunteered at Warburg NR in Oxfordshire, so knew we could arrange a day there. After exchanging emails with the warden, the date was agreed as 31 October. It was a beautiful, sunny day and, just after 10 am, an hour or so into scrub clearance work, I walked back to my rucksack for a drink. As I took a swig, I looked up to see a few Red Kites drifting overhead when I noticed a smaller, very dark raptor join the group. It didn’t have the jizz of a Common Buzzard and seemed too uniformly dark, so I grabbed my bins. The…

IF you’re looking to expand your knowledge of Western Palearctic (WP) birds then Ray Reedman’s recently published book will be right up your street. The Vanishing Mew Gull is an amalgamation of Reedman’s vast expertise on bird nomenclature, focusing on some 1,100 species that have been recorded in the WP (including a few in a non-wild state). So complete is this work that even left-field Category C species such as Erckel’s Spurfowl have been addressed. Presented in taxonomic order, the book offers short synopses for every treated species, in which relevant detail and facts are presented. This importantly includes an explanation of or reasoning behind their names, of which both English and scientific are covered, but also provides some background to the species in question, such as range, distribution and…

JANUARY is month of new beginnings: resolutions and commitments to either give up a vice or take up a new hobby. In the garden and the wider natural environment, January marks the true middle of winter, and it can feel as though everything is at its most lifeless as we start the new year, with spring an awfully long way away. I prefer to think of it as a fresh start; the year returning full circle, as the festival of new life begins to stir its cogs beneath the surface. Hopefully you have heeded my advice from previous columns in this magazine and not tidied up too much around your flowerbeds and the corners of your garden. If so, don’t be tempted to do anything major just yet, but do…

I haven’t twitched for what seems like an age now. Life, the universe and everything have intervened. To protect myself from the grip factor, I’ve even temporarily stopped getting bird news to my phone. I’m reliant on my boyfriend and social media for rarity news, and that’s how the Scarlet Tanager in West Yorkshire flickered through my consciousness. My interest was piqued. I could potentially go in a few days’ time, but as the horror stories rolled in, I realised that there was little I would like to do less than drive two hours to stand, bored and self-conscious in a cul-de-sac, staring at the treetops while hoping for a split-second view. I would have missed it anyway; I am impatient and restless. I like to prowl, scan, wander, search.…

Asatirical quip that has started doing the rounds in recent years states that ‘November is the new October’. Legitimate or not, it cannot be ignored that autumn seems to get later every year and November now reliably produces major national rarities on an annual basis. Late autumn megas The sleepy West Yorkshire village of Shelf was the location for one of the most out-of-place vagrants of the year, hosting a five-day Scarlet Tanager mid-month (see page 8). Attracting media attention from as far afield as Australia and Canada, the bird’s presence sparked a huge twitch, with few perturbed by spirited social-media debate regarding the status of Scarlet Tanager in captivity. North Ronaldsay’s excellent autumn continued in style with a first-winter Eyebrowed Thrush from 7-9th. The island has enjoyed a special…

Birding is booming in popularity. A combination of the pandemic indirectly opening new eyes to the natural world and the well-timed advances in bird-identification apps has seen our pursuit go mainstream. The countless new enthusiasts have unwittingly breathed fresh life into birding, bringing more diversity and more joy, while dialling down perceptions of birding being stuffy and elitist. With more people than ever now keeping an eye out, another pleasing result of this proliferation is that more birds are being observed and recorded, with new birders taking readily to recording platforms such as eBird and BirdTrack. This eagerness to contribute to citizen science and our collective knowledge of bird populations (and finding extra rarities!) is to be celebrated, but it doesn’t come without complications for record-keepers. County recorders and bird…

BIRDING with a healthy dose of curiosity takes you into unexpected areas. Many questions are simple but most answers become complex. Who knows where they may lead? We know, more or less, what a bird is – but what is a tree? There is no easy definition. Trees and birds have been co-existing for millions of years, to the benefit of one or the other or both, and sometimes to the detriment of the tree. Who knew that trees send chemical messages to their neighbours if they are under attack by parasitic larvae, and that birds might intercept these and home in on the feast? That African tree species can warn others that giraffes are about, so they should quickly produce distasteful chemicals to protect themselves, is another story. This…

OWLS are among the most popular of all birds. Europe is lucky to boast 14 species, many of which are among the most celebrated in the world – Great Grey and Snowy Owls and Northern Hawk-Owl, for example. Owls of Europe by Heimo Mikkola, published in 1983, was a seminal work and is one of the finest titles that graces my bookshelf, so I was intrigued to see how this latest (unrelated) Owls of Europe stacked up. The early sections of the book introduce owls as a family, touching on their features, shared characteristics, various adaptations, behaviour, biology and conservation. These pages are nicely laid out, with a welcome mix of copy, tables and charts and imagery. Some of the tables, such as the pellet comparison one on page 46, are…

VOCAL interactions between Tawny and Ural Owls have been recorded in Russia. Owls have generally far-carrying advertising calls used to attract a mate and communicate the boundaries of territories. In some cases, owls deliver calls in interactions with other species. Tawny Owl is a rare species in the Russian Republic of Mordovia in the Middle Volga region, where small numbers are found in deciduous and mixed forests. In recent years, the larger Ural Owl has become established in the area. This species can outcompete Tawny Owl for prey items and has even been known to predate the smaller owl. Sound recorders were used in various locations in Mordovia from 2009 in an effort to analyse owl vocalisations and interactions between the two species. Analysis revealed co-vocalisation between Ural Owl and…

Global Birdfair and climate LIKE Stephen Moss, I am a long-standing fan of the Birdfair and recognise many of its benefits that he identified in his recent column (Birdwatch 389: 55). However, the sad fact is that the support that some wildlife tours provide for local ecolodges and guides pales into insignificance when compared to the threats from the dangerous climate change that we are currently heading towards. Air travel is a major and growing contributor to this, and is not significantly diminished by carbon-offsetting schemes. Besides, we are on shaky and potentially hypocritical ground to justify environmental damage on the basis of livelihoods and raising money for conservation. It’s time for the Global Birdfair to fully acknowledge the climate emergency, take sustainability issues seriously and diversify further. This will…

EARLY on Saturday 9 November, as I sat in my conservatory, a strange bright yellow bird caught my eye. I didn’t have time to look at it properly, however. It was forgotten about until the next morning when the bird was again flitting around the garden. It was solitary and immediately stood out due to its vibrant yellow plumage and unusual, quick movements. It reminded me of a flycatcher, darting from one tree or shrub to another, but always staying within the confines of the garden. As I watched it, I began to notice other features, including the black legs, black wings and a pinkish bill. I am familiar with British birds and knew that it was something unusual. My daughter, Joanne, came over a short while later and was…

A late flurry of Nearctic passerines in Fennoscandia provided plenty of excitement for the region’s birders. Unexpectedly, Sweden’s first Red-eyed Vireo was photographed at Djurgården on 13th, while an Indigo Bunting visited feeders in Hedmark, Norway, on 15th – although its identification as an adult male and the region’s propensity for past escapes means that it is unlikely to be accepted. A White-throated Sparrow that toured the Norwegian coast on RMS Queen Mary 2 between Ålesund and Stavanger mid-month likely arrived onboard before the cruise ship departed North America during October. Continuing this autumn’s Black-faced Bunting influx was a first-winter at Simrishamn, Sweden, on 7-8th. It was the country’s second of the autumn and was widely twitched. A female White-winged Scoter was an excellent find off Hemmeslöv, while an Amur…

Are environmentalists jumping for joy after six months of Labour government? No, we are not, but I’d say the general tenor of the response is ‘this lot is better than the last lot, although that isn’t saying very much’. I would agree. It is clear that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has very little clout. It’s almost always near the bottom of the pile but it was obvious from the Labour manifesto that there wasn’t a lot to expect from the first few months of the new government as far as wildlife is concerned. Whereas the manifesto was choc-a-bloc with ambitious ideas to tackle climate change there was very little on wildlife or, more generally, rural issues. The promise of nine new river walks felt like…

MOST British birders rarely get to see storm petrels, yet some species are among the most numerous birds in the world. It is a fascinating group, some taxa of which are only just revealing their secrets to us – such as Ringed Storm Petrel, whose breeding grounds were found in Chile’s Atacama Desert in 2017. This book comes when interest in these birds is at an all-time high, with new species being described and swelling the number of family members to 28. Indeed, more are likely to be split as DNA lifts the lid on their taxonomy. Dr Rob Thomas specialises on the behavioural responses of birds to changing environments and has been involved in storm-petrel studies since the age of 16. Although there are many books on seabirds, this is…

CYPRUS covers an area that is slightly smaller than Devon and Cornwall combined and constitutes the third-largest island in the Mediterranean. At its closest it is 70 km from Turkey and 100 km from Israel. Its position in the eastern Mediterranean makes it an ideal stop-over location for migrants, and as such it has been popular with visiting birders for many years. It supports some 90 breeding species, of which three are endemic. Cyprus Wheatear is absent in the winter, moving to north-east Africa. Some Cyprus Warblers are known to winter along the Red Sea coast, but the species can be seen on the island in any month, as can Cyprus Scops Owl. The last species is suspected to be a partial migrant, although evidence to confirm this is thin.…

■ New world order With the recent news that a unified global bird taxonomy is planned, Alex Berryman takes a look at what changes birders can expect in the months and years ahead. ■ Smart money Revelations that the RSPB is to cut spending through the closure of some reserve facilities came as a surprise. Lucy McRobert investigates what is going on at the UK’s leading bird-conservation charity. ■ 2024 in review It was another year of extreme rarities and fascinating influxes, not least involving huge numbers of seabirds. Sam Viles looks back on an action-packed 12 months for British and Irish birders. ■ Birders’ Choice Awards: the results We reveal the winners of this year’s awards, including your conservation heroes, rarity of the year and top birding products. ■…