Welcome to a new season of events, and a special welcome to any new members who have joined us since the last newsletter.
If you haven't been to one of our monthly indoor meetings recently, then why not come along to the first one of the new season on Thursday 11 September? Our guest speaker will be Dr Rob Fuller, Director of Habitats Research at the BTO, who will talk to us about nightingales and some possible reasons for the worrying decline in their numbers.
See our programme of indoor evening meetings for details.
RSPB Christmas cards will be on sale at each meeting from September to December, and RSPB pin badges will usually be available, too.
This summer, the RSPB is once again running a Peregrine Watchpoint outside Tate Modern on the South Bank, next to the Millennium Bridge. Anyone can come along, between 12 noon and 7pm (8pm on Fridays) any day until 14 September, and learn about the peregrines and other London birds, and view them through the telescopes which will be staffed by RSPB volunteers.
This is just one of many "Aren't Birds Brilliant" events run by the RSPB all over the country, including London, which rely heavily on the help of volunteers. If you would like to know more about volunteering for the RSPB in London, contact the RSPB London Office on 020 7808 1260.
Could you spare a little time to help the RSPB with a street collection that will be held on Friday 12 September between 10am and 2pm at Cabot Place East, Canary Wharf? Collection boxes and t-shirts will be provided, and there is the possibility of free parking if needed. All money raised will go towards the RSPB's valuable work in the UK and towards international projects such as the conservation work going on in Sumatra.
If you think you may be able to help please contact the Community Fundraising Officer at the RSPB South East Regional Office, on 01273 763614.
You can support the RSPB campaign to stop the killing of birds of prey by adding your name to the online pledge and/or making a donation. You can find all the information on the RSPB's "Birds of prey" page
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our fundraising, whether by individual donation or by supporting the raffle and sale of jams and donated goods at the indoor meetings.
"Amazing Rare Things" which runs at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace until 28 September, deals with the art of natural history in the Age of Discovery and is a fascinating record of the development of our knowledge about animals and plants over a period of 500 years. Highlights for me included a beautiful 1720s painting of an ivory-billed woodpecker, and a picture of a three-toed sloth walking upright on its back legs, which reminds us how many creatures had to be drawn from dead specimens so a lot had to be left to the artist's imagination! There are also some wonderfully detailed botanical paintings, and we learn that when the pitcher plants, now known to be carnivorous, were painted it was assumed that the insects frequently found inside them had gone there to take refuge from animal predators, such as frogs. The idea that the plant itself was the predator would probably have defied belief. It is also sobering to think that some of the plants and animals depicted in the exhibition are now extinct.
All are welcome at a retrospective exhibition of watercolours, depicting landscapes and flowers, by RSPB Group member John Eason and the late Ursula Molly Eason, also a former member. The exhibition will take place at St Matthew's Church, St Petersburgh Place, Bayswater, W2 from Thursday 18 - Sunday 21 September, 10am to 5pm (4pm on Sunday). Admission is free.
At the Mall Galleries, this year's Society of Wildlife Artists exhibition will run from 24 September to 5 October. The exhibition usually includes a number of beautiful bird paintings, many at familiar habitats in the UK, as well as paintings and sculptures of other wild creatures.
Our group of four visited an old limestone quarry on several evenings to look for eagle owls. A female was sitting on the nest - a scrape in the ground, on a ledge, in a crevice. The top half of her body was visible, including the head and ear tufts: a huge bird, and very dark. These enigmatic views suited such a wonderful bird. Once we heard the male calling, which panicked a small dog. Its owners were interested in 'bubo', and shared our scopes and then insisted that we accompany them to their house for home-made wine and food! (it's a hard life).
We visited a small Jewish cemetery looking for a winter long-eared owl roost. Numerous droppings and pellets underneath a number of the conifers showed the birds had been around. Closer examination yielded great views of at least six birds, all looking down at us from distances of as little as 15 feet. We were thrilled, though the locals, cleaning up after the birds, seemed less so. Our Celtic Bird Tours leader was an expert on woodpeckers, and he duly found us seven of the 11 European species (we were too early for the eighth, wryneck). He called them up to us by imitating their calls, and we got some stunning views. Best were the black woodpeckers. First we saw a medium-sized tree peppered with massive holes that you could lose a large fist in. Then, in response to his calls, a female flew overhead, about 20 feet above us, wing-clapping and calling: jet black, crow-sized, with a red 'mohican' on the back of her head - stunning. Later, in the open, another bird flew low towards our calls, then fifty feet away it saw us and realised its mistake, veering off at a right angle. A lesser spotted woodpecker showed very well, flying over our path then quietly searching for, and finding, a large grub within thirty feet of us. The grey-headed woodpeckers were also striking, like a more elegant green, but with a small red forehead on the grey. Hawfinches appeared widespread, calling and showing well on several occasions.
We saw a number of white-tailed eagles, once watching four circling next to a large reservoir. One landed in an adjacent field and was set upon by a buzzard, which was small in comparison - you can see why they are nicknamed 'flying barn doors'. An immature (eastern) imperial eagle was spotted flying overhead: it circled high above us, enjoying the mild, sunny conditions. Twice we came across large flocks of grey geese (about 2000 birds), one was mostly bean geese, the other (greater) white fronts. Searching through them we found four red-breasted geese, birds to warm the cockles.
Several good birds were seen outside or near the guesthouse: black redstarts on the roofs, and a brambling in a nearby garden; Syrian woodpeckers and hawfinches were obliging in the town park. Sadly, the wallcreeper did not appear on the chateau walls (or limestone cliffs), but you can't have it all - and it's something more to look forward to next time!
Highlights of the week (May 3-10) included a group of four golden eagles soaring close by in the sun, majestic in their size and effortless command of the air. At one point a hunting merlin dashed underneath a low-flying adult. Using the car as a hide, we had close views of a group of three dotterel (two males and a female) en route to their mountain-top breeding grounds. These jewel-like birds were very confiding, feeding in typical plover fashion: run 3-4 steps, stop, search. At one point they all crouched down suddenly, having sighted a buzzard soaring into view; their camouflage was stunningly effective.
While watching two distant white-tailed eagles that were perched, a third soared towards us, then overhead. A huge bird, it dwarfed (and mostly ignored) a buzzard that mobbed it, but twice rolled over swiftly to emphasise its power and superiority. Another giant was the female snowy owl (60 cm) that we located at the RSPB Balranald reserve. Crouching in a dip in the distant dunes, she was trying to avoid being harried by oystercatchers and assorted gulls. She then flew right and we were lucky enough to relocate her sitting in plain view about 80 metres distant. We stood watching her for at least 20 minutes, swivelling her head constantly to look at us and at the birds mobbing her, and visibly calling her defiance - though we couldn't hear the call.
We enjoyed good views of otters on several occasions: swimming, resting on their backs and scratching, and out feeding on seaweed covered rocks. There were also plenty of grey and common seals around, but they were far more evident! At one site we found a number of female belted beauty moths sitting on top of small posts. The females are flightless, a fascinating evolutionary quirk.
Many male corncrakes had arrived back from Africa, and were repeatedly making their harsh, repetitive 'crex crex' calls in ventriloquist-fashion from beds of irises. After patient searching we achieved several partial views. A 6am start at Balranald hit the jackpot as we enjoyed views of three different birds walking about in the open. When they call they stretch their necks up and the head jerks up with the effort, and the call seemed to resonate through to the bird's feet, as well as our own!
There were many other highlights: a male hen harrier dashing over the road in front of us as we drove along, close seashore views of purple sandpiper, dunlin, turnstone and sanderling. Also numbers of wheatear, eider, and divers (red-throated and great northern), hearing the mechanical reeling of a grasshopper warbler, and seeing it. In a sense, however, the place itself was the star, wild and beautiful, with 'big skies', wide vistas, and blue and turquoise shallow seas and brilliant white sand beaches that I associate with the Caribbean rather than the north west fringes of Scotland.
The first footpath to the reserve passes a small sewage works. We were told that the filter beds are worth checking as interesting birds are often recorded there. On this occasion I just missed a grey wagtail. On entering the reserve we first noticed the large number of swallows, house martins and swifts hawking for insects. Whitethroats, blackcaps and chiffchaff could all be heard. A reed bunting showed well. Both sedge and reed warblers were heard in the reedbeds, but only a distant glimpse of one of these (I'll never know which species) was available.
Skylarks and Cetti's warblers were vocal at various places.
We got as close as we were allowed to one of the marshes. Some shelduck were visible, and a common sandpiper dropped in, presumably on migration. Several lapwing were calling and displaying in a nearby field: this species is encouraged to breed on the reserve, with reasonable success.
The reserve is good for raptors. Buzzards and hobbies could both be seen in the same patch of sky at the same time. This gave beginners a good chance to compare and contrast the size and shape. The leader glimpsed a distant marsh harrier, but nobody else could get onto this bird.
Booking for the walk was not essential, and 30 people turned up, at least half without binoculars. While it is encouraging that lots of people are interested, the pace was often slow as a long time was spent showing people fairly common birds. Birdwatching on the Isle of Wight is an underdeveloped activity (there is no local RSPB group, for example), but perhaps this will change as the reserve gains more prominence in the local media.
The morning was not without amusement. A group of curious cows, which are used to graze the fields, came to check us out. One woman let a cow approach her and poked out her tongue. The cow did likewise and a kiss occurred. There was a murmuring of emotion it is hard to define: part surprise, part horror, part bewilderment.
Brading Station (which is open from 10am to 4pm every day) is considered the gateway to the reserve and has a wall display, leaflets and a small snack bar. A series of guided walks has been arranged for the summer months: there are about three a month on weekend mornings. For more details see the RSPB website. At the time of writing it is unclear when and if the RSPB will open any parts of the reserve to the public, so a guided walk is the only option for getting up close to some of the wildlife.