It is not often that snow and a Glossy Ibis feature in the same photograph. So spare a thought for this plucky avian visitor from the southern Mediterranean which has spent the first part of winter braving Arctic winds, ice and snow on the saltmarsh in Cleethorpes in North East Lincolnshire.
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| The RSPB is keen to see formation of a 'Friends of' group to help it to save on staff resources. (Photo: RSPB images) |
THE RSPB is keen to part-offload responsibilty for the upkeep of its Radipole and Lodmoor reserves, near Weymouth in Dorset, to volunteers.
The society has issued a statement in response to complaints from visitors about the deteriorating state of the wetland sites.
It states: "In 2024, we looked at all our nature reserves, including RSPB Radipole and Lodmoor, to identify improvements and efficiencies.
"Our nature reserves, and what we deliver for nature on them, make up the largest proportion of our financial expenditure each year.
"We recognise that RSPB Radipole and Lodmoor have a special place in the hearts of many, and the RSPB will continue to manage both reserves and they will remain open to the public.
"However, we need to focus our resources where they can have the most impact.
"This means that, at Radipole and Lodmoor, we are focusing on maintaining and improving the habitats for wildlife and making some changes to the way we manage both reserves’ visitor infrastructure.
"This will include the removal of a set of platforms at Radipole this winter because they have reached the end of their safe working life.
"While key paths will be maintained, we will no longer be maintaining all the paths and sightlines ourselves in order to save on the significant staff and volunteer time needed to cut back the vegetation.
"However we are looking at how we might support our volunteers or a local “Friends of” group who can take on responsibility for some path maintenance. "
The statement continues: "We have also invested in the sites over the last 12 months, including replacing the visitor footbridge at Radipole, installing a new water control structure at Lodmoor, carrying out channel clearance at Radipole, reed cutting at both reserves as well as exploring the feasibility of restoring Radipole Lake.
"Encouragingly, our 2024 full reserve survey recorded record numbers of Cettis Warblers (the second highest for any RSPB reserve) and Bearded Tits across both reserves.
“We are not scaling back or limiting our ambition to fight for nature and wildlife.
"Our nature reserves are fundamental to who we are and what we do.
"Our long-term aim is simply to focus on what we do best and where we can do this most effectively, and we are continuing to grow the area of land that we manage and conserve for nature year on year."
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| Study of Mealy Redpolls in John Gould's The Birds of Great Britain (1873) |
THE 2024 announcement by the International Ornithological Committee that there should only be one Redpoll species meant that two previously recognised separate species were to be lost from the British List.
In recent times, comprehensive bird field guides often referrred to:
* Arctic Redpoll Acanthis hornemanni, including two subspecies: 'Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll' A h hornemanni and 'Coues's Arctic Redpoll' A h exilipes;
* Common Redpoll Acanthis flammea, including three subspecies: 'Mealy Redpoll' A f flammea, 'Icelandic Redpoll' A f islandica and 'Greenland Redpoll' A f rostrata;
* Lesser Redpoll Acanthis cabaret.
However, the IOC decided to lump them together on the basis of genetic analysis which indicated that Redpolls "are almost completely undifferentiated except for a single chromosomal inversion that does not prevent interbreeding".
Turn back the page of ornithology to 1912 when four frontline ornithologists - Ernst Hartert, Francis Jourdain,Norman Ticehurst and H.F. Witherby - differentiated between no fewer than six Redpoll species in their publication, A Handlist of British Birds:
MEALY REDPOLL (Carduelis linaria linaria)
Distribution in British Isles: irregular autumn- winter visitor along whole east coast Great Britain; more common East Scotland and North-east England. Occasionally arrives in great numbers, as in 1829, 1847, 1855, 1861, 1863, 1873, 1885, 1897, 1910. More rarely recorded spring. Elsewhere in Great Britain rare winter-straggler, as it is in Ireland, where it appears chiefly in western islands.
GREENLAND REDPOLL (Carduelis linaria rostrata)
Distribution in British Isles: Rare vagrant:
* Barra (0uter. Hebrides):
* One, Oct. 8, 1896
* One, Nov. 10, 1898
One, Oct. 13, 1900;
* Two, Sept., 1901.
Fair Isle:
* A number in Sept and Oct, 1905
* Small party Sept. 21, 1907.
* Shetlands:
* Several Oct. and Nov., 1907.
It is said to nest in Orkneys, but rare at any time in Ireland.
Flocks are said to arrive on the Yorkshire coast in October, and it becomes more generally common on the East Coast in winter.
HOLBOLL'S REDPOLL (Carduelis linaria holboelli)
Distribution in British Isles: Vagrant:
* One, Aston Clinton (Bucks.), Dec. 14, 1895
* Flock in Yorks, 1881
* A number, Fair Isle autumn 1910.
* Two Shetlands, Oct. 28, 1910.
* One Isle of May (Forth) Oct. 23, 1910.
* A number Lothians, Oct., 1910.
* One Cambridge, Dec. 12, 1910.
LESSER REDPOLL (Carduelis linaria cabaret)
Distribution in England and Wales: Resident. Breeds most counties, but locally and especially so in southern England and Wales, and very sparingly in South-west England, while in extreme South-west it is rare even in autumn and winter when it becomes more generally distributed elsewhere. Scotland: Resident. More generally distributed in wooded districts than in England, but uncommon in NMorth-west, and appears not to breed in Caithness. Breeds sparingly in Inner Hebrides and has nested on Barra (Outer Hebrides).
HORNEMANN'S REDPOLL (Carduelis hornemannii hornemanni)
Distribution in Great Britain: Very rare vagrant. Specimens from Spurn (Yorks.), Oct., 1883, and Oct., 1893, have been assigned to this form. Also
* One near Whitburn (Durham), April 24
* Five Fair Isle, Sept. and Oct., 1905
* One Unst (Shetlands), Oct., 1905
COUES'S REDPOLL (Carduelis hornemanni exilipes)
Distribution in Great Britain: A very rare vagrant. A specimen assigned to this form occurred at Easington (Yorks.) in winter 1893-4, two others at Skeffling (Yorks.) on Dec. 30, 1898, and one on Fair Isle in autumn 1900.
However, did the birders of the day sort them all out?!
ONE of the most surprising features of the first bird book to be published in 2026 is the inclusion of the Black Woodpecker - a species not even on the British List.
