January 2008 Newsletter

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and good birdwatching throughout 2008.

Membership subscriptions...

Coach Trips

While on the subject of coach trips, please note the following points to remember:

• Please book early. Some coach trips can fill up quite quickly, others may attract fewer bookings, but either way we need to know the demand in good time. The committee has to keep bookings under review and to ensure that each trip is financially viable. As our regulars already know, the coach trips are extremely enjoyable and have resulted in some wonderful sightings. So, with an improved coach service and spring in the air, do use the enclosed booking form!
• When booking, please pay careful attention to the notes on the form about how to complete your cheque. Please date the cheque, insert "RSPB Central London Local Group" as the payee, and sign the cheque. Instead of entering an amount, write (in words) at the bottom of the amount space "not exceeding xxxx pounds" with xxxx being the total value of the trips/subscription/donations you have entered on your booking form. We will then insert the final total, taking account of any trips that are full or any refunds due to you from earlier trips, without the need to return your cheque and ask you to send another one for an adjusted amount.
• There are planned engineering works somewhere on the tube almost every weekend nowadays, so please allow plenty of time for your journey to Embankment as the coach needs to leave promptly at 8.00am.
• The trip leader will be happy to ask the driver if it is possible to have one or two drop-off points on the way back into London at the end of the day if people want these. Any request to be dropped off should be made via the leader who can then co-ordinate requests and discuss stops with the driver. The final decision has to rest with the driver - the coach company is contracted to collect and drop us at Embankment, and coaches are not allowed to stop just anywhere, although in practice drivers are usually very willing to stop at one or two pre-arranged safe stopping places.

Addition to the current programme

Lee Valley Birdwatching Fair

Group fundraising

Unfortunately, the list for this year did not become available until the autumn, which meant it was not possible to invite members to vote at the AGM for our Group's funding priorities. After careful consideration of the list, the committee has voted to donate funds to two areas - Lowland Heathland and Children & Education. The first includes work to restore and recreate heathland, and to protect existing heaths from the effects of housing developments. The second includes employment of RSPB field teachers to work with schools which visit reserves.

House sparrows - an update

Report on a visit to Two Tree Island, 29 November 2007

We retraced our steps to the station, then took the path that leads to Two Tree Island, part of which is an Essex Wildlife Trust reserve. The path was muddy in places, but navigable with care. Once on the island, we started by heading to the eastern part. We made a detour to a small hide where we believed there was a good chance of seeing a kingfisher. Our luck was in, as a female was sitting on a branch overhanging the far end of the water. The bird stayed in situ, allowing very good views. Also present were a group of about 10 teal. The light was kind, and showed up their delicate markings to good effect. A shoveler was loitering on the bank.

We left the hide and carried on to the island's eastern end. Lunch was taken at the seats, (or balanced on the concrete structure as I let the senior members of our gathering take the easy-seating options). Telescopes were required to identify the birds on the exposed mud and in the water: more brent geese, wigeon, shelduck, redshank, oystercatchers, dunlin, grey plover, curlew and knot were all present. Time was passing, and the tide was coming in (and fast) so we started the walk to the western end of the island. On the way we stopped at an inlet and saw some ringed plover, the first of the day. Lapwing were also 'ticked', together with a close and curious meadow pipit and a pied wagtail.

The walk ascended, and views of Canvey Island to the south were enlivened by the regular movements of large flocks of waders flying past, pushed off by the incoming tide and making their way downstream. There could have been a thousand birds in some of the flocks, making wonderful patterns in the sky. We reached the lagoon hide at the perfect time: high tide was about an hour away, and as we took our seats there was a continual incoming of waders and other birds. The most immediately eye-catching sight was a large flock of golden plover to the right. The sunlight caught their backs and revealed the golden 'threads' in their plumage in a way I had not seen before. Slightly further away, and in smaller groups, were flocks of grey plover and knot. Ringed plover were present in good numbers. More birds dropped down seemingly by the minute, and those that were present would occasionally take off and then land not much further away. A few avocets could be seen, along with black-tailed godwits, little egrets, and a grey heron.

Aware that the light was not going to last much longer we left the hide and made our way back along the road to the station, catching the train back to Fenchurch Street. Highlights of the day were the multitude of plovers from the lagoon hide, especially the golden plover in the low winter sun. I would recommend this day trip to everyone, but make sure you plan your trip around the tides to maximise your chance of seeing waders from the hide.

Griffon vultures galore in north-east Spain

We landed in Barcelona, where in the airport car park we spotted several feral monk parakeets, and on our four-hour drive to our first base, the village of Loarre in the foothills of the Pyrenees, we saw a number of red kites and caught a fleeting glimpse of a golden eagle. Loarre is famous for its magnificent Romanesque castle, where we had distant views of rock sparrows and a couple of crag martins flew over our heads. Even more excitingly, a lammergeier swooped briefly by ­ this is Europe's rarest vulture, with about 80 pairs in the Pyrenees, of which about 70% are found in Aragon. We also heard and had fleeting glimpses of crested tits, and inspected some pink stuff that we were authoritatively informed was beech marten excrement. During a coffee break in a local café we saw ravens, red kites and more griffon vultures - Spain is home to by far the largest griffon vulture population in Europe and we must have seen hundreds of them during our six days in Aragon. In the afternoon we visited the Vadiello reservoir in the Sierra de Guara national park, where we enjoyed superb views of a wallcreeper climbing up a dam wall as well as a couple of alpine accentors, a dipper and two more lammergeiers.

The following day we visited the magnificent red cliffs at Riglos, where we added cirl bunting and serin to our list as well as two more wallcreepers and a further lammergeier; in the afternoon we drove north to the monastery of San Juan de la Peña, where there were impressive views of the snow-capped Pyrenees, and recorded short-toed treecreepers, crested tits and an unexpected bat darting around a cliff face.

At the Laguna de Seriñena the following morning highlights included a great white egret and a fan-tailed warbler, not to speak of crested larks, southern grey shrikes and half a dozen hoopoes, after which we headed south into the Ebro valley in the hope of finding great bustards. After a bit of a search we weren't disappointed and came across a flock of over 30, as well as thousands of Calandra larks and one or two Thekla larks. That evening we reached the medieval town of Daroca where we stayed a further three nights. We spent the next morning at the Laguna de Gallocanta where we saw thousands of common cranes, as well as red-billed choughs, a little owl or two and a couple of foxes. Near the lake we saw a couple of golden eagles displaying and later came across a group of around 80 black-bellied sandgrouse.

On our last full day we visited the SEO's (Spanish Ornithological Society) reserve of El Planerón in an unsuccessful search for Dupont's lark, followed by a more rewarding stop in the ghost town of Belchite which was destroyed in the Spanish civil war. Among the somewhat surreal ochre ruins we had excellent views of black wheatear and blue rock thrush, while towards evening, in hills overlooking a reservoir, we spotted an ibex on a distant ridge silhouetted against the sky.

Our final day in Spain was taken up mainly by the drive back to Barcelona, but fortunately there's a small wetland nature reserve near the airport (I wonder how much longer it will last as the airport is expanding fast). There we spotted over 20 night herons and a couple of spoonbills, which were a nice addition to an outstanding six day holiday organised by The Travelling Naturalist. I should perhaps add that although I went in late November the weather was mild and dry - they haven't had rain in Aragon for weeks if not months - and the scenery is spectacular and the hotels and food were excellent. It was a bit frustrating not seeing Dupont's lark or Bonelli's eagle but that's an excellent reason for going back to Aragon.

Birds seen on Group trips in 2007

COMMON NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME Mute Swan Cygnus olor Bewick's Swan Cygnus columbianus Bean Goose Anser fabalis Pink-footed Goose Anser brachyrhynchus White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons albifrons Greylag Goose Anser anser Greater Canada Goose Branta canadensis Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis Brent Goose (Dark-bellied) Branta bernicla bernicla Egyptian Goose Alopochen aegyptiaca Shelduck Tadorna tadorna Wigeon Anas penelope Gadwall Anas strepera Teal Anas crecca Mallard Anas platyrhynchos Pintail Anas acuta Shoveler Anas clypeata Red-crested Pochard Netta rufina Pochard Aythya ferina Ring-necked Duck Aythya collaris Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula Eider Somateria mollissima Common Scoter Melanitta nigra Goldeneye Bucephala clangula Red-breasted Merganser Mergus serrator Ruddy Duck Oxyura jamaicensis Red-legged Partridge Alectoris rufa Pheasant Phasianus colchicus Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus Black-necked Grebe Podiceps nigricollis Gannet Morus bassanus Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo Bittern Botaurus stellaris Little Egret Egretta garzetta Grey Heron Ardea cinerea Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia Red Kite Milvus milvus Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus Buzzard Buteo buteo Rough-legged Buzzard Buteo lagopus Kestrel Falco tinnunculus Merlin Falco columbarius Hobby Falco subbuteo Peregrine Falco peregrinus Water Rail Rallus aquaticus Moorhen Gallinula chloropus Coot Fulica atra Great Bustard Otis tarda Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola Lapwing Vanellus vanellus Knot Calidris canutus Sanderling Calidris alba Little Stint Calidris minuta Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea Dunlin Calidris alpina Ruff Philomachus pugnax Snipe Gallinago gallinago Woodcock Scolopax rusticola Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus Curlew Numenius arquata Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus Redshank Tringa totanus Greenshank Tringa nebularia Green Sandpiper Tringa ochropus Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos Turnstone Arenaria interpres Mediterranean Gull Larus melanocephalus Little Gull Larus minutus Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus Common Gull Larus canus Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus Herring Gull Larus argentatus/argenteus continued ...

... continued COMMON NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME Yellow-legged Gull Larus michahellis Glaucous Gull Larus hyperboreus Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla Sandwich Tern Sterna sandvicensis Common Tern Sterna hirundo Little Tern Sternula albifrons Guillemot Uria aalge Stock Dove Columba oenas Woodpigeon Columba palumbus Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur Ring-necked Parakeet Psittacula krameri Cuckoo Cuculus canorus Barn Owl Tyto alba Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus Swift Apus apus Kingfisher Alcedo atthis Green Woodpecker Picus viridis Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major Skylark Alauda arvensis Sand Martin Riparia riparia Swallow Hirundo rustica House Martin Delichon urbicum Tree Pipit Anthus trivialis Meadow Pipit Anthus pratensis Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava flavissima Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea Pied Wagtail Motacilla alba yarrellii White Wagtail Motacilla alba alba Dipper Cinclus cinclus Wren Troglodytes troglodytes Dunnock Prunella modularis Robin Erithacus rubecula Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos Whinchat Saxicola rubetra Stonechat Saxicola torquatus Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus Blackbird Turdus merula Fieldfare Turdus pilaris Song Thrush Turdus philomelos Redwing Turdus iliacus Mistle Thrush Turdus viscivorus Cetti's Warbler Cettia cetti Grasshopper Warbler Locustella naevia Sedge Warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla Garden Warbler Sylvia borin Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia curruca Whitethroat Sylvia communis Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus Goldcrest Regulus regulus Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata Pied Flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca Bearded Tit Panurus biarmicus Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus Marsh Tit Poecile palustris Coal Tit Periparus ater Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus Great Tit Parus major Nuthatch Sitta europaea Treecreeper Certhia familiaris Jay Garrulus glandarius Magpie Pica pica Jackdaw Corvus monedula Rook Corvus frugilegus Carrion Crow Corvus corone Raven Corvus corax Starling Sturnus vulgaris House Sparrow Passer domesticus Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs Brambling Fringilla montifringilla Greenfinch Carduelis chloris Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis Siskin Carduelis spinus Linnet Carduelis cannabina Twite Carduelis flavirostris Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus

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