Spare a thought for our winter visitors

Many people are well aware that the British Isles welcomes a lot of summer visitors – the cuckoos, swifts, swallows, house martins, and many other migratory species that head north in the spring from their season in the sub-Saharan sun. But, there are also visitors in the winter, birds that head south from the cold to catch a little of the warmth of the Gulf Stream. As far as we know many birds adopted migratory behaviour in response to the Ice Age and having evolved to cope with that are locked into that pattern, at least until climate changes in a significant way once more.

Fieldfare

I wrote about a winter visitor that reaches our shores some time ago in this newsletter – the starlings. While we have lots of starlings all year round, those vast flocks we know as murmurations occur when the starling forces are bolstered by visitors. If you head out to the local nature reserves and even just the outskirts of the villages you are likely to see many other visitors among the flocks of gulls and crows, for instance. Among the grey and white clouds of the more well-known gulls, there might be something a little less common, an ivory gull for instance or perhaps even a glaucous gull and we did have a hooded crow on the outskirts of our village, Cottenham, last year.

Redwing

Among the other winter visitors that turn up in greater numbers are a couple of thrush-type species, related to the blackbird and the song thrush, namely the fieldfare and the redwing. Both species will make a winter home on farmland and use the hedgerows and bordering trees and woodland. Both eat a lot of berries and will attempt to out-compete the resident blackbirds and thrushes for supplies. Should the weather turn foul, as happened when we had the so-called “Beast from the East”.

These birds headed for the relative shelter of our gardens and began stripping firethorn and rowan trees of any remaining berries. Another reason not to be too tidy in pruning back your bushes in the autumn. Incidentally, there were still fieldfares to be seen in the trees that border the allotments and the recreation ground as recently as April, despite most winter visitors having departed for their northern summer homes.

waxwing benton 2 e1523904354898
Waxwing

Of course, having some vast wet spaces and in being so close to Norfolk, we have plenty of waterfowl visitors in winter – geese, ducks, swans. These head south from Scandinavia and elsewhere to take advantage of the relative warmth here when the chills really do set in up north. Many readers will no doubt have visited WWT Welney to see the large numbers of Whooper and Bewick’s swans and other waterfowl that arrive each autumn there.

Goldcrest

Among the less common birds you might see around the village and in local woodland that turn up for the winter are goldcrests. This species holds joint first place with the firecrest as our smallest bird species, far smaller than the resident wren, which is our most common resident. That said, you can see goldcrests and firecrests at any time of year.

Whooper Swan

Another relative rarity to watch out for, especially around trading estates and supermarket car parks where there are often lots of berry-laden trees is the waxwing. This elegant and bohemian species spends the summer in the far north, but is peripatetic, rather than migratory, in the winter, and often turns up unannounced in large flocks to those berry-rich sites when food is short in the north. Watch out for huddles of people in olive green and beige with thinly insulated hats hanging around The Beehive Centre or the guided busway parking areas with binoculars and ‘scopes pointing them hopefully at rowan trees and the like and you might just spot an elegant visitor.

Mistle Thrush and Mistletoe

Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus) in our mistletoe-infected rowan tree. I was poking the camera out of the bedroom window hoping to catch sight of the Goldcrest (Regulus regulus) calling from our bushes when a male Blackbird and this Mistle Thrush had an altercation and the Thrush ended up perched in the tree right in front of me.

He’s been around for a couple of weeks now, but spends his time hiding in a neighbour’s tree which has lots of berries and lots more female mistletoe (with berries), our rowan has already had all of its offspring predated by birds and the mistletoe growing on our  tree, as you can presumably see, is male, so no berries.

Mistle Thrush and mistletoe

We are assuming it’s the same Mistle Thrush that roosted in their tree last winter; life expectancy is three years, but can be much longer, and, of course, much shorter. They are a resident species and territorial they will scream their cackling call and fend off other thrush-type birds that try to feed on their berries. We hadn’t seen nor heard the bird since last winter, so presumably it was active elsewhere in the area through Spring and Summer and into the Autumn.

Aside from the more raucous call and song that sets it apart from the dulcet tones of the Song Thrush and even the Blackbird, the bold, brown spots on the cream breast of the Mistle Thrush do not have the “heart” or “arrow” shape of those on Song Thrush. The BTO has a nice video describing the distinctions between Song and Mistle.

Developing murmurations in Cottenham

For those of you intrigued by such things, you might like to know that the scale of the Starling flock murmurating into the reed bed at the Broad Lane balancing pond in Cottenham has increased by an order of magnitude since I last took a look.

On my first visit this year, I estimated 3-4 flocks of 200-300 birds. This evening just as the sunset, there were 3-4 much bigger flocks each of three times those number and several smaller flocks of 100+ thereafter. Estimate the total number of birds roosting there at 2000-3000 at the moment, which is about 1000-1500 fewer than the peak last winter. More will arrive from Europe as winter chills come on I suspect.

At the moment, they’re bedding down in quick succession. If there were raptors around, mainly Peregrine falcons or perhaps owls, they’d murmurate longer before going to roost to avoid being taken on the wing or caught just before hitting their reed bed.

Short-eared Owls at Burwell Fen

Short-eared Owl with prey, Burwell
Short-eared Owl with prey, NT Burwell Fen, 10th November 2019

We went looking for Short-eared Owls again at Burwell Fen having heard from a friend that there were “twitchers” huddled together spotting them earlier in the week. We have been to the Fen a few times this year, but not seen the owls since February. However, I learn from local birding expert Hedley Wright that one of last winter’s “flock” (we had more than six there last Winter) had spent its summer on the Fen too presumably having decided not to return to Scandinavia for the breeding season for some reason.

Two Short-eared Owls, NT Burwell Fen, 10 Nov 19
Two Short-eared Owls, NT Burwell Fen, Sunday, 10th November 2019

Anyway, we saw a Kingfisher dart back and forth along the almost dry ditch in the middle of the Fen and then Mrs Sciencebase was first to spot one in the distance close to the electric power installation on the edge of Burwell. And, then a second. There were several bird photographers around, but I wouldn’t describe any of them as “twitchers” and maybe not even “birders” as such, there is a distinction (see my birding glossary).

Same two SEOs

There have been sightings of more than one SEO since the end of October 2019, and yesterday (10th November), it seemed that there were perhaps three or maybe four. We never saw two at a time, but were aware of two in the air while another was out of sight in the scrub a few hundred metres in front of us.

Short-eared Owl,, NT Burwell Fen, Sunday, 10th November 2019
Possibly a third or fourth SEO at Burwell

Two of the owls were forced aloft by Rooks at different times. Rooks really don’t like raptors and owls in their territory and will harangue, harry, and harass them endlessly to get them to move on. One of the SEOs has a very apparent feather injury to one wing.

 

 

Ponies and Shorties, Burwell Fen, Cambridgeshire

I’ve mentioned Burwell and Tubney Fens previously, depending how you approach them, they are the back end of the NT Wicken Fen area. The semi-feral Konik ponies (Equus ferus caballus) of Polish descent there along with longhorn cattle (Bos primigenius) and European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), are natural managers of the scrub.

Konik stallion

The area is almost perfect roosting and hunting for Short-eared Owls, which have once again returned from Scandinavia to the Fen for their winter break.

Starlings seem to find rich pickings around and on the Konik ponies of Burwell Fen

There were three to four showing quite well and being harried and harangued by Rooks on the wing high above the fen.

Short-eared Owl with prey

I don’t think any of the clutch of photographers (Homo sapiens phoographiensis) photographing the birds got any particularly close views, but there’s the rest of the winter to try before the birds fly back to their summer breeding grounds next March.

Throwaway capture of a Kingfisher at Burwell Fen
Bored labrador

Murmuration beginnings

Pleasant enough evening and as we didn’t get to North Norfolk as originally planned to see the Red Knot on the high tide, I headed to our local housing estate balancing pond hoping to see a few Starlings bedding down at dusk in the reed beds there. And, they were, not quite murmuration numbers as there had been at this time last year, maybe half a dozen small flocks of 25-50 birds.

Broad Lane Balancing Pond, Cottenham, at dusk, 7th November 2019
Dog Rosehips, Broad Lane Pond, Cottenham
Hardly a murmur, half a dozen flocks of about 25-50 Starlings bedding down. 60-70 in this particular group.

Druridge Bay before the rains

Visiting our daughter in the North East will usually find us dragging her somewhere coastal. This time it was Druridge Bay in my home county of Northumberland. One of the most glorious places and one that has special childhood memories for not least family caravan holidays in Amble at the north end and Cresswell and Cambois at the south.

A very bold male Stonechat came in close to have a look at my camera

Also, first demo/festival/benefit I attended (aged 10) was to protest against plans to build a nuclear power station there. We blocked that, but I see now that they’re hoping to exploit this beautiful and wild place by opening an open-cast coalmine. FFS.

Four of the six Common Scoter we saw off Druridge Bay, 25 Oct 2019

Meanwhile, the birds are blissful in their ignorance of the mankind’s machinations: Bar tailed Godwit, Barnacle Goose, Blackbird, Black-headed Gull, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Eider, Goldfinch, Great-crested Grebe, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Magpie, Marsh Tit, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pink-footed Goose, Red-throated Diver, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Rook, Sanderling, Shelduck, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stonechat, Turnstone, Wren…it’s possible I’ve overlooked a couple of others.

Sanderling

Fighting hard against low light levels the whole time, we departed just as the rain started and trip to St Mary’s Island and Lighthouse was scuppered by weather and high tide.

Red-throated Diver in winter plumage, I believe
Barnacle Geese over Druridge Bay
Distant Eider Duck off Druridge Bay
A couple of Bar-tailed Godwit off the Northumberland coast
Skeins of Pink-footed Geese
Turnstone on the Druridge sand
Redshank

Every drop counts at Grafham Water

Had a short visit, via a circuitous A14 diversion to Grafham Water reservoir while the sun was shining, drove home in the rain. Intriguingly, there was a warning sign about not swimming and needed higher-spec buoyancy aids because the water is aerated and so, presumably, of lower, less buoyant density than normal water. Anyway, a few photos. Not of the sign.

Control Tower at Grafham Water
Starling in a tree
Waders
Boat anglers

Birdlife ticked on the morning; Tufted Duck, Great Black-backed Gull, Greylag Goose, Mandarin, Shelduck, Linnet, Robin, Wren, Starling, Stonechat, Meadow Pippet, Yellowhammer, Redwing, Goldfinch, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Rook, Mute Swan, Common Buzzard (9 together!), Pied Wagtail, Kestrel, Red Kite, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Cormorant…Swallows (two, still actively feeding/drinking!)

Yellowhammer shaking off the drips after its bath
Perched Yellowhammer
Wren on fence
Female Stonechat
Male Stonechat
One of a couple of Great Black-backed Gulls
One of nine Common Buzzards in a whirl
A handful of dozen of Meadow Pippit
Even when they’re not watching, they can see you. Eurasian Blue Tit, Cyanistes caeruleus
Red Kite
Optimistic female House Sparrow at the picnic tables
Even more optimistic male House Sparrow at the picnic tables

Three species of butterfly: Small Tortoiseshell, European Peacock, Large White.

Box-tree Moth, Cydalima perspectalis

The Box-tree Moth, Cydalima perspectalis, is an Asian species of moth (usually seen in Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, and India), that is gradually spreading, presumably with the advent of box hedges on new housing estates, across the South East of England, and in East Anglia.

Box-tree Moth, Cydalima perspectalis (Walker, 1859), to actinic light Jul 2019, VC29

It would most likely have arrived as eggs/larvae on imported box plants(Buxus), and it was first recorded in the UK in 2007. Its larvae can rapidly eat their way through a box hedge. Another reason to go native when it comes to planting…although it is probably too late for native box now though.

Box-tree Moth larva
Box-tree Moth larva, blurry record shot, 10 May 2023

I recorded my first Box-tree moth in July of 2019 and have seen dozens since. It is a quite beautiful, exotic-seeming moth. There is a dark melanistic, form, which is a common genetic aberration in lots of animals; see also the Industrial Evolution of the Peppered Moth.

Melanistic form of the Box-tree Moth to actinic light 13 Oct 2019, VC29

Wiki has more details on its recordings: first seen in Germany 2006, then Switzerland and The Netherlands in 2007, France and Austria in 2009, Hungary 2011, Romania, Spain, and Turkey. Also now in Slovakia, Belgium, and Croatia, and by 2016 Bosnia and Hercegovina. During the preparation to the 2014 Olympics in 2012 it was introduced from Italy to Sochi with the planting stock of Buxus sempervirens. A year later it was seen to be defoliating Buxus colchica. Now present in Toronto, Canada as of 2019.

Recently, I’ve seen a lot of pheromone traps hanging in trees close to a garden box hedge and even at a National Trust property. These traps are commonly used by moth-ers who place a pheromone lure in the trap, and draw in a target species for recording, examination, and photographing. All in the name of citizen science.

Unfortunately, this is not the way to deal with what box gardeners perceive as a pest. Indeed, hanging a lure in your garden will have the exact opposite effect of what you hoped. The females if they are in your area will be drawn to the box plants because that’s the food plant for their larvae. In the meantime, they will be pumping out sex pheromone into the air and drawing in the males who will mate as soon as they encounter the female. If you put out a pheromone lure, you are likely to be amplifying the sex signal and will draw in more males. You will trap some males but it really only takes one pairing on your box hedge for it to be devastated by box-tree moth larvae.

So, how do you deal with an infestation of Box-tree Moth larvae on your bushes? Well, you could go the nasty route and spray pesticide, but that will harm other beneficial invertebrate species. You could make a solution of washing-up liquid, but that’s unlikely to work well. You could pick off the caterpillar and…dispose of them. But, in this area, at least, I’d say your Box are doomed, perhaps better to find another native plant species to replace it for hedging.

If you see this species, there is a major project to record their spread and changing colour forms through the UK. You can record details here.