As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time
Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a
regular segment on On The Track... about out-of-place birds,
rare vagrants, and basically all things feathery and Fortean.
Because we live in strange times, there are more and more bird stories that
come her way, so she has now moved onto the main CFZ bloggo with a new column
with the same name as her aforementioned ones...
Rare gold bird back at reserve
Wintering in
sub-Saharan Africa and India and breeding in Europe and western Asia, the
golden oriole is a rare species of bird to our shores. However, RSPB Lakenheath Fen nature reserve
is the only known breeding site in Britain, and a male finally returned last
Friday. Golden orioles have been visiting the site yearly for over 40 years,
but the return date this year is amongst the latest on the reserve’s records.
Picture: RSPB
Interestingly,
however, although this is a rare visitor – the first record was made way back
in medieval times.
Serial egg thief Matthew Gonshaw jailed and
banned from Scotland
Police described Gonshaw's
collection as an "obsession"
Matthew
Gonshaw, 49, a serial egg thief from London has been jailed for six months and
banned from entering Scotland for the rest of his life during bird breeding
season. He admitted stealing the eggs of
several rare species on the Isle of Rum last year.
Jailing
Gonshaw, Sheriff Margaret Neilson described him as a "wildlife
destroyer".
Gonshaw
has been jailed for similar offences in the past, and later a large collection
of birds eggs, including were seven golden eagle eggs and eight osprey eggs,
were found when officers searched his London flat.
The head
of Scotland's wildlife and environmental crime unit at the Crown Office, Craig
Harris, said: "Our wildlife is part of our national character.
"It
improves our quality of life, underpins many livelihoods and supports the
growing nature tourism industry.
"Wildlife
crime is a blatant attack against all of these benefits."
Two red kites killed by poisoned carrion – appeal launched
THE RSPB has offered a £1,000 reward for information after two rare birds of prey were found poisoned. They were found dead in the Hexton area and toxicological tests showed they had been poisoned with a highly-toxic pesticide that is, in fact, banned. It is presumed that both the victims had been feeding off carrion illegal laced with the chemical and placed in the countryside.
Sgt Jamie Bartlett, rural wildlife and environmental crimes officer for Hertfordshire Police, said: ‘We are appealing to anybody who may have more information about the deaths of these birds.
“The use of poison in these circumstances is highly irresponsible and indiscriminate. The pesticide used is highly toxic and the potential for injury to members of the public or their pets could have been high.”
Red kites were saved from national extinction by one of the world’s longest running protection programmes, and have now been successfully re-introduced to England and Scotland.
Guy Shorrock, investigations officer with the RSPB, added: “The reintroduction of red kites has been a fantastic success story and the expansion of the population into Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire has allowed more people to see these amazing birds.
“Unfortunately, every year we get tragic incidents like this.
“Illegally placing poison in the countryside puts wildlife, domestic animals and potentially members of the public at risk.
“We would urge anyone with information about this or other wildlife crime to contact the police.”
Anyone with any information should contact Sgt Bartlett on the non-emergency number 101, or Crimestoppers 0800 555111.
http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/local/appeal-after-two-red-kites-killed-by-poisoned-carrion-1-3831160
Hotline
opens to report sightings of hen harriers
An adult female hen harrier
People are being encouraged to report sightings of
hen harriers, England’s rarest breeding bird of prey. The RSPB is re-launching The Hen Harrier
Hotline in the hope that they can discover more about where the birds are
potentially breeding in northern England.
United Utilities’ Bowland Estate is known to be one
of the bird’s few strongholds and it is thought that the heather moors of
England have the potential to hold 320 pairs at least of nesting hen
harriers. However, in 2011 there were only
four successful nests in this one area of Lancashire. The male hen harrier
performs magnificent aerobatic courtship displays in spring, known as skydancing,
and for also passing the female food in mid-air food passes. Unfortunately hen harriers are subjected to
illegal persecution and a review commissioned by the government concluded that
illegal killing and disturbance are the biggest factors limiting the population
in northern England.
The Harrier Hotline number is 0845 4600121 (calls
charged at local rate). Reports can also be e-mailed to
henharriers@rspb.org.uk. Reports of sightings should include the date and
location of sighting, with a six-figure grid reference where possible.
The Hen Harrier Hotline is part of Skydancer, a
four-year RSPB project aimed at protecting and conserving nesting hen harriers
in the English uplands. For more information visit www.rspb.org.uk/skydancer
Slimbridge welcomes back breeding avocets
Due to habitat destruction, egg collectors,
and skin collectors, the avocet was extinct in Britain for a long time. Soon after World War II, however, they began
breeding again on reclaimed land near The Wash.
The area had been returned to marshland as a defence against possible
German invaders. And since then, avocet
numbers have slowly increased in the UK.
Photo credit James Lees.
However it is the first time that the bird has
bred in Gloucestershire for some time, and a pair at WWT Slimbridge have
successfully hatched two young.
"The next few days and weeks will be critical as they are very
vulnerable before they grow a bit bigger. We will be keeping our fingers
crossed for them and following their progress."
To find out how they are getting on visit our wildlife sightings page at: www.wwt.org.uk/slimbridge-sightings or
come to Slimbridge to see the young family in person.
Wild cranes return to Slimbridge
Four
wild cranes that were reared in 2010 and 2011 at WWT Slimbridge have returned –
the first time they have done so since they were released into the wild on the
Somerset levels as part of the Great Crane Project.
Nigel
Jarrett, Head of Conservation Breeding, said: "Amy King, who is looking
after the baby cranes, did not believe her senses when she first heard, then
saw, four cranes flying overhead as she walked the youngsters. Time will tell
how long they stay here. It is natural for young adult birds to explore, so
even though we are 70 miles away from the release site in Somerset, it isn't a
great distance for them to fly. We are delighted that they appear to be finding
food easily and a safe place to sleep each evening."
The birds
are Monty, Sedge, Ruby and Beatrice. Three were released in 2010 and one in
2011.
The Great
Crane Project is a partnership between WWT, RSPB and Pensthorpe Conservation
Trust, with major funding from Viridor Credits Environmental Company. Our aim
is to restore healthy populations of wild cranes throughout the UK, so that
people can once again experience these beautiful birds.
Springwatch presenter Chris Packham accuses council of “murdering” rare
birds
After a council refused to remove all
the spikes put up to deter rare birds from a building, Chris Packham has
accused them of “murdering” them.
The BBC Springwatch star claimed swifts
and house martins were being killed by the spikes, and also nets.
The presenter tweeted: “This is a
disgrace. Swifts are being murdered and excluded from traditional nest sites.
“House martins need a clear approach to
secure eaves. They need to be rigorously looked after.”
New Forest District Council, which put
up nesting boxes, said: “We worked closely with ecological consultants.
“Spikes were erected to encourage birds
to breed in a safer place prior to the renovation.
"Where possible they were removed
and this will be continued as stages of the work progress.”
The tadpoles up at Huddisford woods seem to be taking an awful long time to mature. They really are star-crossed this year. Of all the dozens of clumps of frogspawn we noted this year, there are only tadpoles in two places (and I suspect that one of these were by dint of human agency).
Its sunday, regular readers know it,
He is - of course - perfectly correct. But we are not actually setting the trail cams predominantly to look for big cats. If we got a picture of one we would be overjoyed, but for starters we are trying to get a picture of what known species of animals are in the areas where we are carrying out investigations. This is partly so we can liaise with local landowners, and partly for a book project Wild Woolsery which will be aimed at the local kids.
We only have the four cameras at the moment, so are having to move them about. When we have more, some will be left in the field for three-six months...