Category: Biology

Reports on Twitter of several thousand Black-tailed Godwit, Golden Plover, and Lapwing, several sightings of Short-eared Owl, Peregrines, Wigeon, and Cranes seemed sufficient enticement to take the relatively long drive up to Whittlesea on a bright and very breezy Thursday.

We ended up at not-the-car-park, thought we spotted an owl before we even got out of the car, but it was a Kestrel, and then walked for an hour and a bit along Long Drove towards the dyke that prevents you getting to the little coppice over which the official carpark near Coates looks. No matter we saw birds in large numbers on that walk and then braved the cold a second time at the official carpark where a dozen or more birders with various sizes of scope and lens, mostly green waterproof jackets, black walking trousers and muddy boots had gathered in case the Shorties appeared. None did before we left, although we did see a Barn Owl (Tyto alba) on our way back to Whittlesea

We did see lots of Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus, male in winter plumage in the top photo of this post), Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola, female above), Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris), Skylarks (Alauda arvensis), and more. And, if not thousands of the aforementioned waders, then certainly several hundred of each, but just three or four distant Cranes (Grus grus), Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus), Merlin (Falco columbarius), Peregrine (Falco peregrinus) (he’s on the fencing in the photo below, ringed, trust me), Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus).

Oh, and a closeup Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) or three.

UPDATE: I should’ve looked in the scientific literature first, but it seems that there really is no genetic basis for a taxonomic differentiation between Carduelis cabaret, C. flammea, and C. hornemanni, or any hybrids and sub-species. In other words, the three “species” of Redpoll (Lesser, common (mealy), and hoary, that we normally talk of as distinct are one in the same species. Lesser = Common = Hoary.

I bought a dedicated nijer feeder for the garden birds, filled it with the requisite seeds and hung it in our beech tree. It took no more than ten minutes for the Goldfinches (Carduelis carduelis) to spot it and start plucking the black seeds from the tiny holes in the metal feeder. This particular design has no perches common with others, perhaps to deter birds that need a perch, but not the Goldfinches one of which found he could be passerine on a nearby twig and easily reach across with his beak.

The Goldfinches will likely take the lion’s share, and these seeds are not cheap (pardon the pun), but not half an hour after I hung it a new visitor to the garden, a species I’d not seen anywhere before – Redpoll (Carduelis flammea (Common) or possibly the almost identical C. cabaret or the subspecies C. flammea cabaret is up for debate) another finch as you might have guessed from its scientific binomial. The bird doesn’t breed in the UK, it is a passage migrant and winter visitor; more commonly seen on the east coast.

Oh, and that red cap, apparently some don’t have red caps (it’s either a dietary or a genetic effect). Read about Goldpolls here.

My usual dog walk takes me along what is essentially a farm drainage ditch (sounds really picturesque, doesn’t it?) and into a local woodland known as Rampton Spinney. However, that drainage ditch, The Cottenham Lode, takes runoff from a vast area of farmland and ultimately follows managed watercourses and spills into The Wash and so is rather important and isn’t quite as municipal as it sounds.

The area supports no small number of birds. Sighted along there and in the woodland in recent weeks and reported by yours truly in these pages on occasion:

Grey Heron, Little Egret, Great White Egret, Green Sandpiper, Kingfisher, Mute Swan, Mallard, Moorhen, Magpie, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Eurasian Jay, Magpie, Tits (Great, Blue, Long-tailed), Buzzard (Buteo buteo, pictured above), Peregrine, Kestrel, Red Kite, Wood Pigeon,  Goldcrest (Regulus regulus, picture immediately below), Wren, Robin, Dunnock, Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris, below the Goldcrest), Starling, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Fieldfare, Redwing.

I’m sure there are a few more but that’s the birdlife I recall from the last few winter weeks of walks there. Many of those species, I see every time I walk the Lode and Rampton Spinney. Some not so often. And, of course, summer is a different matter altogether.

Oh, and on today’s walk, overhead, a female Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus, pictured below)

This winter the Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes), the UK’s biggest finch, with its hefty beak and mouthful of a scientific name has hit even the tabloid headlines as large numbers of countless flocks have made an appearance in various locations across the British Isles. They’re usually quite shy, scarce, and their traditional breeding areas have declined, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) reports, they’re really difficult to spot. In Autumn last year and into December, however, the papers were full of the “Hawfinch invasion” triggered by crop failures in mainland Europe. By November, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) was reporting record numbers. Additionally, the orange sky and the red sun that Storm Ophelia (and other factors) brought to the UK also coincided with the Hawfinch irruption.

Anyway, while the RSPB’s headquarters at The Lodge, in Sandy, Bedfordshire was reporting that all of their Hawfinch had departed their land, there was a small flock (maybe up to about ten) at the National Trust’s Wimpole Hall (West South West of Cambridge) and about 12 kilometres East of The Lodge (as the Hawfinch flies). So, a quick trip to the NT on the off chance that they might still be there on 4th February. A Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius) was hanging around the car park as were lots of Great and Blue Tits, a Greenfinch or two and what I assumed at a quick glance were merely chaffinches (they weren’t I now realise in retrospect).

Onwards and outwards we went with the dog in tow, skirting the periphery of the Hall’s extensive parkland hoping to catch sight of a Hawfinch or two on any berry-ridden trees that hadn’t been picked clean by Thrushes, Redwings, Fieldfares, and Blackbirds. A very refreshing two-hour circular walk, with Woodpeckers (green and great spotted, both heard but not seen), Treecreepers (lots seen) and a Nuthatch (and the usual range of Herons, waterfowl, Tits, Doves, Dunnocks, Thrushes, Corvids, and sheep etc) brought us back to the car park where a clutch of birders and photographers had gathered to photograph…you guessed…it Hawfinches.

There were two under a picnic table and one in a tree. So, at last, I got a shot at them. Still on the list though, those elusive Waxwings.

I have various bird feeders in the garden: a tube with nijer seeds, one with mixed seeds, another that usually has flavoured suet pellets and then the fat ball feeder. There’s also a plinth with a water dish. Now, the fat ball feeder attracts the House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) in droves (they also go for the nijer and the mixed seeds). Similarly, the Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), Great Tits (Parus major), and quite recently a Coal Tit (Periparus ater) will all peck at these agglomerations of fat and seeds.

Recently, an over-wintering pair of Blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) have also been dining at this feeder. The word on the wing is that Blackcaps from Eastern Europe and Germany have become disorientated en route to Iberia and Africa in the winter and fly a bit too much to the West and not enough to the South, and then finding a decent food supply in many British gardens they set up a winter home here. Interesting that this male is staring right at the camera, which I put on a tripod and operated wirelessly from indoors, well out of sight.

Meanwhile, Robins (Erithacus rubecula) tend to be ground-feeding birds, so it seems odd that they are on the fat balls too, but having watched their behaviour it seems they are not eating from the feeder, but simply breaking chunks off and then hopping on to the grass to pick up the pieces. A pair is in our garden at this very moment, doing just that.

Just when you imagine you’ve exhausted the supply of local birds, something new turns up in the neighbourhood. Spotted this juvenile female Peregrine (Falco peregrinus) perched in a tree at the edge of Rampton Spinney on the Cottenham Lode side. It startled and headed across fields North Eastwards…sat on a mound of earth about half a mile away and out of range of cameras and even Mrs Sciencebase’s snazzy new bins.

Anyway, I got a few snaps of the Peregrine in the tree. Brings my photographed total since buying this big zoom this time last year to 130 different species. Even if you’re not a birder, you can’t fail to be impressed by this species, surely? It can stoop on its prey at speeds well in excess of 350 kilometres per hour! The record is 389 km/h.

Just cribbing a bit about this bird of prey from Wiki:

The peregrine's breeding range includes land regions from the Arctic Tundra to the Tropics. It can be found nearly everywhere on Earth, except extreme polar regions, very high mountains, and most tropical rainforests; the only major ice-free landmass from which it is entirely absent is New Zealand. Nevertheless, it is the world's most widespread raptor.

Waded into Alan Partridge Country this week, North Norfolk (specifically RSPB Titchwell and on to Stiffkey Marshes). Here are a few of the bird snaps from Titchwell showing the various waders and waterfowl sighted there in their winter plumage.

Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa)

Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica)

Lapwing also known as a green plover, peewit etc (Vanellus vanellus)
Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
Dunlin (Calidris alpina)
Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)
Common Redshank (Tringa totanus)

Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis)

Knot (Calidris canutus)

Teal (Anas crecca)

Golden Eye (Bucephala clangula)

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)

 

Shoveler (Anas clypeata) [Background: Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)]

Merlin, female (Falco columbarius)

There were others, including my first sighting of a Merlin (above) perched on a post on the dunes and Common Scoter, out at sea and discernible only as black specks with my camera. There were also long-tailed duck out there too, apparently. Turnstone and various other wading seabirds visible but not clear on the shoreline. There was a big flock of linnet on the marshes and chaffinch, robin, dunnock, greenfinch, blue, great, longtailed, and coal tit, blackbird, wood pigeon, moorhen, wren on and around the feeders near the visitor centre. No waxwings were seen anywhere and no bramblings either.