Central London RSPB - July 2007 News

<BODY bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#000080" alink="#004000">  <font face="Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif"> <A NAME="Top"></A>    <CENTER><H1> July 2007 Newsletter </H1></CENTER> <HR> <font size=-1> <A NAME="info"></A> <P><center> Our Group produces a twice-yearly newsletter which is sent to all members. <BR> This is an extract from the previous edition. </center></P> </font> <HR>     <BR> <H4><font color="#0000A0"> Indoor meetings </font></H4> You may have read his books but have you heard him talk? Dominic Couzens, author of 'The Secret Lives of Garden Birds' and 'The Secret Lives of British Birds', is kicking off our new season of indoor meetings on Thursday 13 September 2007. He will talk about "Birds Across the Channel". This is his first visit to our Group in seven years, so make the most of the opportunity to see this excellent speaker in action. For more information see our Programme of Events. <P> RSPB Christmas cards will be on sale at meetings from September to December inclusive. Also, orders can be taken for non-bulky RSPB Christmas goods such as calendars, wrapping paper, napkins, etc. <P> As you will see, we have another excellent and varied programme of visiting speakers for the coming season. If you don't normally come to the indoor meetings, why not give it a try? And don't forget - friends and visitors are welcome, too. <P> <BR><BR clear=all> <HR WIDTH=60%>  <H4><font color="#0000A0"> Coach trips </font></H4> Our programme also includes another varied schedule of coach trips, with one or two new venues for the Group. Our coach trips continue to be popular and are very enjoyable, so do book early to avoid disappointment. <P> Please read carefully the information on the booking form about how to fill in your cheque, and about the circumstances in which refunds can be made if you cancel a booking. Anyone coming on coach trips also needs to be aware that a new law introduced this summer makes it a requirement that seatbelts are worn on the coach, and we are all individually responsible for making sure we do so. <P> <BR><BR clear=all> <HR WIDTH=60%>  <IMG WIDTH=60 HEIGHT=50 SRC="images/21jul-16sep.gif" alt="Peregrines at Tate Modern - daily viewing point until 16 September 2007" title="Peregrines at Tate Modern - daily viewing point until 16 September 2007" align=left> <H4><font color="#0000A0"> Peregrines at the Tate </font></H4> 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 16 September, and look through the telescopes which will be staffed by RSPB volunteers. There is a good chance of seeing one or more of the resident peregrines roosting on the chimney of the Tate building, or flying overhead. <P> Like many similar RSPB activities, this event relies 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. <P> <BR><BR clear=all> <HR WIDTH=60%>  <H4><font color="#0000A0"> Birdwatch report </font></H4> In February 2007 I created a BirdTrack account for the group. BirdTrack is a partnership between the RSPB, BirdWatch Ireland and the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). The website lets you keep a log of your sightings in the UK and Ireland. These sightings supply bird recorders with information which allows them to monitor migration and movement, and this in turn supports species and site conservation. After every coach trip and weekend trip and many local outings I transfer the information contained in the species book to our account. After 13 outings between February and June 2007 our group has seen or heard a total of 150 species. Below are the highlights from our coach trips: <P> <UL> <LI>17 February - Titchwell - 79 species seen or heard. Goldeneye; large flocks of golden plover on the wing; woodcock next to path; barn owl from coach on return journey. <LI>14 April - The Naze - 66 species seen or heard. Close views of sanderling and dunlin on beach. <LI>12 May - Fingringhoe Wick - 87 species seen or heard. Several nightingales singing; cuckoo heard; several warbler species in good song - whitethroat, blackcap, chiffchaff, willow warbler. <LI>16 June - Minsmere - 93 species seen or heard. Marsh harrier; spotted redshank and black-tailed godwit in breeding plumage; bittern; kittiwake; little tern; sandwich tern. </UL> If space permits and interest dictates I will produce a year list for 2007 for the next newsletter. <P> <DIV ALIGN=RIGHT><I>(Debbie Pledge)</I></DIV> <BR><BR clear=all> <HR WIDTH=60%>  <H4><font color="#0000A0"> Fundraising </font></H4> During the Financial Year 2006/07 the Group was able to donate a total of Ł3000.00 to the RSPB. Half of this went to last year's chosen project, New Wetlands in the South East, and the other half to Cliffe Pools which we chose to support this year. The Committee has agreed a target donation of Ł2,500.00 for the current Financial Year, although a specific project has not yet been identified as we have not yet received the list of official RSPB projects. <P> <DIV ALIGN=RIGHT><I>(Mark Cosgrove)</I></DIV> <BR><BR clear=all> <HR WIDTH=60%>  <H4><font color="#0000A0"> Group weekend - Gibraltar Point 21-23 April 2007 </font></H4> Twenty-four of us took over the Study Centre at Gibraltar Point Nature Reserve for two nights in April. The Reserve, situated about three miles south of Skegness on the Lincolnshire coast on the north side of the Wash, is an area of over 1,000 acres comprising sandy and muddy sea-shore, sand-dune, saltmarsh and freshwater habitats and is managed by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. The accommodation was bright, clean, modern and comfortable and we were looked after and fed very well (delicious home-cooked fare) by the manageress and her team. <P> On the afternoon of our arrival, most of us got our bearings on a walk led by Jill Aldred. The air was full of the cries of oystercatchers, the song of skylarks and the plaintive call of pheasants. Black-headed gulls were everywhere. We saw our first wheatears which were to become a feature over the course of the weekend. <P> With the reserve right on our doorstep, we were easily able to make four excursions a day: pre-breakfast, morning, afternoon and after dinner. On Sunday morning, the warden took us on a guided walk, in the course of which he showed us where a barn owl roosts; that evening many of the group took advantage of this hint and the owl obliged by flying along the creek just yards from the visitors centre. The warden also took us to a field where we were treated to superb views of five ring ouzels feeding - another highlight for me. <P> There are three hides overlooking the freshwater marsh and the Mere, which were productive for (amongst others) greylag, brent, Canada and pink-footed geese, lapwing, both black-tailed and bar-tailed godwit, little egret, curlew, little grebe, wigeon, shelduck, tufted duck, ruddy duck, avocet, cormorant, redshank, ringed and little ringed plover. The dunes (some built up over a period of 500 years) colonised by grassland and scrub, rewarded us with whitethroat, yellowhammer, blackcap, willow warbler, as well as the more common finches (gold-, green- and chaf-), robins, dunnocks, wren, blue and great tits. At the study centre, a couple of wagtails (one pied and one white), some meadow pipits and a group of five linnets came to feed on the lawn, as well as the ubiquitous pair of mallards which were well aware of the advantages of hanging around human eating spots. <P> By the end of our stay, we had clocked up 94 species of birds between us. The highlights were ring-necked duck, grasshopper warbler, hen harrier, green sandpiper, ring ouzel and whinchat. Seals, a muntjac and a hare had also been spotted. We had been lucky with dry and breezy weather until our last morning when it began to drizzle. We had all had a lovely time with plenty of birding opportunities and I know I shall endeavour to visit Gibraltar Point again. Our thanks to Jill Aldred for organising such a splendid weekend. <P> <DIV ALIGN=RIGHT><I>(Doreen Hutchings)</I></DIV> <BR><BR clear=all> <HR WIDTH=60%>  <H4><font color="#0000A0"> Future weekend trips </font></H4> The weekend trip to Portland in October (already fully booked) will be the last I will be arranging for the Group, as after five years I am hanging up my tour operator's hat. <P> All the weekends I have arranged have been fully booked, if not oversubscribed, and have been highly successful and enjoyable. The demand is certainly there and I have a ready-made list of interested customers. <P> What is now needed is someone to organise future trips. This involves finding a venue, arranging the weekend with the hotel or tour leader, handling applications and deposits, and keeping people informed about arrangements. If you think you could do this, do get in touch with me. <P> <DIV ALIGN=RIGHT><I>(Jill Aldred)</I></DIV> <BR><BR clear=all> <HR WIDTH=60%>  <H4><font color="#0000A0"> My garden list (in Dar es Salaam) </font></H4> On 2nd January I arrived at my accommodation for the next three months, while I volunteered at the Boona Baana Center (a small children's home). I was pleased to find a sturdy concrete bungalow in a shady garden, surrounded by a high wall. As my room was still being cleaned, I quickly explored, ignoring warnings of possible snakes from a fellow volunteer. There was a rough, muddy lawn and a few shrubs, plus several trees. I was delighted to see that we also had a coconut palm. In one corner was the rubbish heap; there is no refuse collection, so residents with gardens accumulate a heap and occasionally burn it. Everyone else burns it in the street. I also noticed two young cats - Frieda and Lola. <P> My immediate sightings were of Indian house crow and house sparrow. Both are introduced species, and the house crow is considered a serious pest, destroying the nests of smaller birds and competing with the resident pied crow. There have been unsuccessful attempts to eradicate it, and I was even asked for my ideas about the best way to kill them. They were immune to the cats' best efforts, but Graham and Fiona, long-term bird watching residents of Dar, use catapults to keep them out of their garden. I've also seen Fiona interrupt a glass of wine at a favourite ocean side bar to throw stones at them. After only a few days of the crows bouncing like basketballs across the corrugated metal roof above my bed, I nurtured similar inclinations. I think that the profusion of rubbish means that they will continue to thrive. <P> Later in that first week, with the help of my field guide, I identified singing cisticola. It has a greyish brown back and a rufous crown, and is fairly common in dense vegetation, gardens and other cultivated areas. The following week I added a striking little bird, the red-billed firefinch. With a scarlet bill and body, and brown back and rump, it was a pleasure to watch; the females are mainly brown with just a splash of red on the tail and by the eyes. A day later, an oriole flew across the corner of the garden; I think that it was an African black-headed oriole. This was followed by grey-headed sparrow, speckled mousebird and common bulbul. <P> In late January I spotted a peahen perched on the wall. Peacocks are also an introduced species, known locally as "Nyerere's Chickens", as they are descended from a few escaped birds that were a gift from the Indian Government to the first President, Julius Nyerere. It was gratifying to see that the house crows were thrown into a panic whenever a peacock visited. <P> The next sighting was of the charming red-cheeked cordon-bleu. It has a brown back and rump and sky blue body, and males also have a bright red cheek patch. A male and two females then visited the garden regularly. <P> I was also seeing several interesting waders from bars and beaches along the coast, especially at Slipway and the Yacht Club. These included crab plover, black egret, little egret, grey heron, black-crowned night-heron, greenshank, ringed plover, common sandpiper and whimbrel. There were a few terns, including lesser crested, Saunder's and sooty. I had also seen European bee-eater, swift, little swift, barn swallow and house martin. <P> Anyway, back to the garden... <P> The early part of February brought few new birds in the garden, but our wader count for the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania, at Bagamoyo, produced a list of over 50 waders, including lesser and greater flamingo. Then, on the 13th, I saw a brown-hooded kingfisher circling the garden. This is often seen near water, and there was a trickle of a stream in a wooded hollow a few yards away from our plot, where mosquitoes flourished. By the end of February, Lola had disappeared and we had given up hope of seeing her again. <P> After a fruitful safari in the north of Tanzania, March started with few new birds, and I then had a holiday on Zanzibar and Chumbe Island. On my return, small feathers in the kitchen suggested that Frieda was hunting sparrows, and my house mate said that she had seen a stork in the garden. I was doubtful about this, and I saw the likely bird a few days later, when a black-headed heron alighted from the rubbish heap. This was followed by a red-backed shrike on the telephone wire. <P> There were no more new birds in the garden, and I returned to London on 27th March. I saw several other birds around Dar and on trips to other parts of Tanzania, but the total for the garden was 13 species. <P> <DIV ALIGN=RIGHT><I>(Annette Warrick)</I></DIV> <BR><BR clear=all> <HR WIDTH=60%>  <H4><font color="#0000A0"> Isle of Wight Ornithology Group outing to Parkhurst Forest - 2 June 2007 </font></H4> I timed a weekend visit to my family on the Isle of Wight to coincide with this event. Weather conditions during the day were perfect (dry, clear skies, little wind) and those of us who attended were not disappointed. <P> I decided to walk from my mum's house to the Forest, a pleasant hour-long stroll across the fields except for the two barking dogs negotiated along the way (I'm sure they can smell the fear). <P> We gathered at 8.30pm in the car park and walked the long way round to the clearing north of the red squirrel hide. As we walked we heard several birds performing a 'dusk' chorus, including song thrush, blackcap, goldcrest and chaffinch. Somebody behind me spotted a hobby flying over the path but I missed it. I did not know hobbies could be seen in this area, and will look out for them in the future. <P> Gathered 'in position' next to the clearing, with the light gradually fading, we did not have to wait long before a woodcock flew over us, whistling as it went. It was joined by a couple of other 'roding' males. Soon after, the first nightjar started its 'churring' song. Hearing one in the field makes any CD recording pale by comparison. This bird came out of the distance and flew between some trees in the clearing. Despite the gloom it was possible to pick out the white spots on the wing tips and outer tail feathers, confirming that it was a male. This bird and another came within a few metres of us and landed in some nearby trees. They then flew back across the clearing and it was possible to pick one out perched in a tall tree, churring away as loud as before. <P> Sated by nightjars, and with the temperature dropping, we continued our circular walk back to the car park. En route we heard an adult long-eared owl calling. It was some distance away, and not possible to get any closer to it. Approaching the car park and the end of the walk, we heard three juvenile long-eared owls screeching. This sound has been compared to a squeaky gate, swinging on its hinge, and the comparison is a good one. Although we were only a few metres beneath the owls it was not possible to locate them as night had truly fallen. <P> To see or hear all three target birds on this outing (woodcock, nightjar and long-eared owl), and add the latter two to my life list, made this an evening not to forget. <P> <DIV ALIGN=RIGHT><I>(Debbie Pledge)</I></DIV> <BR><BR clear=all> <HR WIDTH=60%>  <H4><font color="#0000A0"> Bay of Biscay / Picos de Europa 26 May - 3 June 2007 </font></H4> The two day voyage out was stormy, reaching force 10 for a while: taking to my bunk seemed the most sensible option! When the storm had abated, we saw a few seabirds - gannets, Arctic skua, fulmar, Manx shearwater, storm petrel (in our wake), but no cetaceans. In Bilbao, we straightway saw a black kite soaring over the city. At the first 'comfort stop', by a river, we heard serin and common redstart singing, and had all the familiar hirundines, and swift, with - stunningly - two alpine swifts showing well. They are noticeably larger and have similar colour and markings to sand martins. In the Picos mountains we stopped in a river gorge, where we heard firecrest, and had good views of black redstart and crag martins. The standout however was a blue rock thrush feeding young on a nearby scree - what a stonker! <P> The hotel setting was stunning, at the foot of the Picos, on the edge of an alpine meadow, with woodland on two sides. We reached the mountain plateau by cable car, and soon found a wheatear, and water pipits doing their songflights. Next we had great views of alpine chough - some of them were 'city pigeon tame'. We walked along, scanning the mountain walls (and listening) for our star target bird, the wallcreeper, unfortunately they were not obliging. We did enjoy great views of alpine accentor (think sexed up dunnock), and black redstart, and heard snowfinch. We also saw a number of chamois, and a colony of alpine newts. On one occasion we found a rock bunting, which fed on the ground by the hotel car park, pretending it was a household bird. Raptors were a feature of our stay, but one morning stood out. From the minibuses we saw short-toed eagle, then on disembarking, in the space of half an hour, we had griffon and Egyptian vultures, booted eagle, honey buzzard and sparrowhawk. We heard and saw western Bonelli's warblers, a middle spotted woodpecker (fleetingly) and two short-toed treecreepers (identified by song -otherwise they're pretty impossible). Walking up the road we had a good views of black vulture, a honey buzzard flying over the road, red-backed shrike, and tree pipit. I finally had good views of firecrest (previously a bogey bird of mine) in conifers by the cable car depot. <P> The return voyage was still windy (about force seven) but our vigil on the viewing platform (above the Captain's Bridge) produced views of a shark, and two great views of small pods of Cuvier's beaked whale, and one of a small group of striped dolphins. <P> <DIV ALIGN=RIGHT><I>(Andrew Peel)</I></DIV> <BR><BR clear=all> <HR WIDTH=60%>  <H4><font color="#0000A0"> Oare Marshes - 22 March 2007 </font></H4> The walk by the river produced pied wagtail, meadow pipit, green woodpecker, redshank, with a marsh harrier quartering low over the fields in the near distance. From the hide, enjoying lunch, we had the usual good views of common waders such as redshank, ringed plover, dunlin on the islands. After a short while two little stints appeared, scurrying about. <P> Leaving the hide we walked up the road to look at, and over, the Swale. We found a small group of red-breasted mergansers, and had distant views of brent geese on the far bank. Walking up our side of the Swale, we spotted a medium-large raptor sitting in a tree on the far bank, with its back to us. It was a dark reddish brown, with a white rump, and white top to the tail. After a lot of discussion and reviewing of field guides, we agreed that it was a rough-legged buzzard. <P> Walking back down the road, a local birder put us onto a short-eared owl, which we watched for over twenty minutes, either sitting on a post, or flapping methodically over the marsh. It was magical, seeing the bird in bright sunlight, showing so well. At one point it flew over the road to hunt on the other side. Five pied wagtails immediately flew up, calling agitatedly, and chased it back: a stunning end to a great day. This was typical of the site in my experience: great birds, and (often) good views too. <P> <DIV ALIGN=RIGHT><I>(Andrew Peel)</I></DIV> <IMG WIDTH=33 HEIGHT=40 SRC="images/22sep.gif" alt="Oare Marshes - day trip on Saturday 22 September 2007" title="Oare Marshes - day trip on Saturday 22 September 2007" align=left> <font size=-1><I> ( Oare Marshes Nature Reserve is near Faversham, across the Swale from the Isle of Sheppey, and is run by <A HREF="http://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk" title="click to go to the website of the Kent Wildlife Trust" target="_top">Kent Wildlife Trust</A>. Why not join the Group visit which Andrew will be leading to this excellent site on 22 September (see our programme leaflet for details). ) </I></font> <BR>    <BR clear=all>       <HR>  <BR> <font size=-1>  <A HREF="http://www.janja.dircon.co.uk/rspb/index.html" target="_top" title="Home page of the RSPB Central London Local Group">[Home]</A> </font> <BR><BR> </font>  </BODY>