Wryneck sighted with three Cuckoos in North Yorkshire town - alas, in a taxidermist's display case

Three Cuckoos and a Wryneck

                                                             

SPARE a thought for the ignominious fate of four  migrant birds that ended up - stuffed in a taxidermist's display case.

The three Cuckoos and their mate, a Wryneck, came up for auction on Wednesday at a sale conducted by Tennants of Leyland, North Yorkshire.

The hammer fell at £500 - well above the pre-sale estimate of  between £150 and £200.

The display is believed to date back to between 1880 and 1890 when shooting of birds of all species was commonplace.

The same sale included  other stuffed  birds, many of which sold at above estimate, reflecting the firm market for this aspect of ornithology which many birders probably find sad and distasteful.

A case display of Yellowhammers at their nest  realised a hammer price of £480 which was well above the £150-£250 estimate. 

Yellowhammers at their nest

American birder-author: 'Staying at Knepp felt like being dropped into an episode of Downtown Abbey.'

                                    

Lively and optimistic - the American birder's new book 

SHORTLY after publication of his book on the increasingly difficulties now  faced by many migratory birds, a pal of author American Scott Weidensaul threw down the gauntlet by putting it to him: "Why don't you write something about what's going right for birds?"

The former newspaper reporter responded to the challenge, and the result, published earlier this week, is his informative and highly entertaining The Return of The Oystercatcher.

For British, if not American readers, the title is unfortunate given that this species has always been relatively common on our shorelines. Since it never went away, it couldn't really return.

Another caveat is that the author regularly strays away from his brief, frequently making observations from which the only reasonable conclusion that can be drawn is that the long-term prospects for many of the globe's bird species has never been bleaker.

However, Weidensaul, of New Hampshire, is excellent in squeezing out positives from the gloom - namely in his accounts of the restoration, against the odds, of certain species all over the world.

He describes the efforts of dedicated conservationists to save them  in such a cheery, amusing  and conversational way that it is hard not to put the book down without feeling happy and optimistic.

For one of the chapters, the spotlight falls on his trip to the delta of the Danube River - focus of various rewilding initiatives.

But his location is the on Romanian border with Ukraine where peril beckons - not just from Russian explosives but also from the prospect of  imminent meltdown of  the degraded Saporihzhia nuclear power plant.

In advance of his expedition and aware of the concerns of his wife, Amy, Weidensaul  writes: "I made a quick online purchase - a couple weeks' supply of potassium iodide tablets which block the thyroid gland from taking up radioactive iodine in the air, water or food.

"No need to mention this to Amy, though; she was worried enough already."

For British readers, the book's chapter on the  rewilding activities at the Knepp estate in West Sussex is likely to be particular absorbing - not so much because of its account of the already well-documented breeding successes achieved with species as White Stork, Nightingale and Turtle Dove but because of the amusing way the visit is described.

Writes the American: "Staying at Knepp felt like being dropped into a Downtown Abbey episode, though with out the below stairs staff bustling all around, answering summoning bells and dressing the gentry for dinner."

He then goes on to describe his hosts, Charlie and Issy Tree, in the same way he might write about the plumage of birds.

"Charlie is a bluff man of 63 with an easy laugh, his hair a thicket of brown curls. Issy, a few years younger  is slender, her brown hair worn short and sensible."

Staying in descriptive mode, a few paragraphs later, his view of two Coots in combat is concluded thus: "While the Coots were raising hell, two Great Crested Grebes glided by  in elegant calm, paying no mind except to flare their rust cheek patches as if in polite disapproval."

This detailed and vibrant way of  writing characterises the text and somehow imbues it with integrity and honesty.

Subtitled Saving Birds to Save The Planet, The Return of The Oystercatcher is published at £20 in hardback by Picador. 

* See also previous blog.

RSPB spends an "estimated £375,000 a year" in its efforts to safeguard Britain's much persecuted Hen Harriers

                                               

                                                                  

A pair of Hen Harriers as depicted in Gould's Birds of Europe

THE RSPB spends "an estimated £375,000 a year" in striving to safeguard a breeding future for  Hen Harriers in Britain.

Frontline American birder-author Scott Weidensaul says this figure was given to him by the charity while he was researching raptor persecution for a new book

Most of the money goes on the costs of investigations, court expenses and satellite tracking tags to monitor the whereabouts of the birds.

Is it money effectively spent? Not necessarily so.

"Law enforcement has failed," says Weidensaul."Even when the RSPB and its allies obtain what  they would consider to be incontrovertible evidence of wrongdoing, up to and including videos and eyewitnesses, the official police response is often seen to be sluggish or non-existent.

"Even when prosecution is pursued, the penalties are often laughably slight."

On the subject of Britain's Hen Harriers, the author notes the strange case of two male birds that hatched from the same nest in the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire.

While one never flew more than 50 miles from Bowland, the other made two winter trips to Extremadura in south-western Spain (roughly 1,000 miles each way) - something only one in 10 British harriers do.

"Why?" he asks. "No one really knows." 

Since childhood, Weidensaul has had a particular love of raptors - despite once having been being knocked 15ft to the ground by an "unusually aggressive"  parent bird while shinnying up an oak tree to inspect the nest and chicks of a Great Horned Owl.

"I felt as though I'd been smacked on the back of the head with a piece of firewood," he recalls in his  book, The Return of The Oystercatcher, which is published today, April 23, by Picador.

"I fell in such a way that my head and neck lay cushioned in leaves between a couple of large rocks that might have ended my birding career before it had really started.

"I was wise enough not to tell my parents."

In the book, which will be reviewed in a forthcoming edition of The Wryneck, Weidensaul pays tribute to his friend, Ruth Tingay, of Raptor Persecution UK whom he describes as "easily one of the most tireless and ferocious advocates for raptor protection in Great Britain".

There is also a name-check for Mya Bambrick who showed him Ospreys in Dorset and mischievously - but falsely - claimed that it was criminal offence in Britain to encroach within 200 metres of one of their nests.

Presence of nesting Peregrines means no flags will fly above Yorkshire church at least until September

 

                                    

THE presence of a pair of nesting Peregrine Falcons means that no flag of St George is flying aloft the minster in Beverley, East Yorkshire today.

Because of the risk of disturbances to the birds - which are legally protected - no flags will be flying before the end of the nesting season in September.

Most residents have welcomed the arrival of the impressive raptors and enjoy watching them as they come and go with prey to feed their chicks.

A further benefit is that they deter feral pigeons whose droppings are said to cause damage to the stonework of the minster.

However, their presence has dismayed pigeon fanciers who fear that their birds, some of them valuable, could fall victim.

There have also been protests about the discarded remains of Golden Plover and other avian prey littering the lawns of the minster.

Swifts returning from Africa may find their ancestral nesting holes in railway viaduct brickwork are unvailable

                                     

The viaduct which is an ancestral nest site of Swifts (photo: Bill Boaden, via Wikimedia Commons)

INFRASTRUCTURE company Network Rail is under fire after blocking off  nest holes of Swifts.

According to wildlife watchers a minimum of nine holes  were filled with mortar during a £7.5-million project to renovate the 160-year-old Chapel Milton viaduct in Derbyshire.

Now campaigners such as Hannah Bourne-Taylor and and a pressure group called Protect the Wild have urged the company to remove the mortar in advance of the return of Swifts from Africa in the coming weeks.  

A letter from to Network Rail says: "We are writing to demand immediate action to address the blocking of known swift nesting sites at Chapel Milton viaduct in Derbyshire.

"Despite clear evidence being provided, including detailed identification of at least nine nesting sites, multiple swift nesting holes were filled with mortar during recent refurbishment works. 

"This decision has removed access to sites that have been used by returning swifts for generations.

"Swifts are a Red-listed species in the UK, having declined by 66 per cent since 1995, largely due to the loss of nesting habitat. 

"They are highly site-faithful birds that return to the same nesting entrance year after year. When that access point is blocked, breeding pairs often fail to relocate and may stop breeding altogether."

The letter continues: "This situation was entirely avoidable. The nesting sites were known. The information was shared. The solution was simple.

"There is still time to put this right. 

"Swifts are now returning to the UK, and the blocked nesting holes can and must be reopened immediately to allow access before the breeding season is lost.

"We are calling on Network Rail to:

* Reopen all blocked Swift nesting holes at Chapel Milton

* Ensure no further nesting sites are sealed during maintenance or repair works

* Work transparently with local wildlife groups to identify and protect nesting locations

* Commit to long-term protection of Swift nesting sites across all Network Rail infrastructure."

It is understood Network Rail bosses are considering the letter - plus a petition with as many as 30,000 signatures - but are reluctant to comply.

As a money-saving compromise, they would prefer to install nest boxes that would be less likely to compromise the viaduct's brickwork.

However, Swifts are very specific in their nest requirements, and this option, if adopted, may fail.  

Now all but forgotten, yet Lincolnshire artist born 400 years ago was pioneer of detailed bird depiction

                                  

Barlow's best known bird painting - An Owl Being Mobbed by Other Birds. (Spot the Redstart!)

IT would be a shame for this year's 400th anniversary of the birth of bird artist Francis Barlow to go unnoticed.

Very little is known about Barlow except that he was born somewhere in Lincolnshire before spending most of his working life in London. 

He is best known for designing 110 woodcuts for John Ogilby's 1665 edition of Aesop's Fables.

However, influenced by Dutch artists such as Breughel and Snyders, Barlow also painted landscapes populated by birds of diverse species.

It is possible that some of  his works housed in his studio-shop (called The Golden Eagle)  may have been destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.

In his book, Birds - Ornithology and the Great Bird Artists, art historian Dr Roger Lederer is less than generous in his assessment.

"Barlow was highly regarded for his technical skill, but it would be a stretch to consider many of his works a close representation of reality,"he writes.

"Some of his birds are misshapen or posed awkwardly, and detail is often lacking.

"Some of of his paintings lack the depth and vivid colours of Dutch works.

"Even composition was not a strong point. Creatures in his works tend to be cluttered together."

This assessment seems unduly harsh. Some of Barlow's depictions are remarkably precise - and, to his credit,  he did not exclude birds  often overlooked by other landscapes - for instance, little known summer migrants such as Redstart and Wheatear. 

It is thought that Barlow died in 1704.

This dramatic painting demonstrates that Barlow was familiar with Wheatears (upper right)

                                                                           

Barlow's The Decoy - said by art historian's to be an allegory on the alleged threat posed to England by Roman Catholicism. Note the Red Kite and Bittern. 

Gentle start on beautiful Cornish coast for 5 TV's new series on the ups and downs of birding

                                       

Firecrest - early star of the series

WITH its first setting being  on the stirring Cornish coast, the three-part 5 TV  series, Sam and Dave Go Birding, was off to a promising start.

As the bird on the county's emblem, it was inevitable that the Chough should feature, but there were also sightings of more familiar species such as Little Egret, Raven, Oystercatcher, Curlew, Wigeon and Kingfisher.

Because their friendship is still in its formative stage, the bind between Samuel West  (an actor) and Adam Edmondson (a comedian) is not yet fully forged, but there was still something touching and  engaging about  their light-hearted chit-chat during the 60 minutes of this first episode.

For viewers who are birders, Sam, as a birder himself for some 20 years, is the more interesting character. He uses Swarovski optics - binoculars and scope - the former carried on a cross-the-shoulders strap to ease strain on his neck. 

Although he never said anything particularly profound, or even new, about the hobby, he clearly knows his stuff.

                                            

Sam West - enthusiastic and determined

What is more, he is, unlike his colleague, prepared to rise at 6am, or earlier, in his quest to see interesting birds when they are likely to be at their most active and conspicuous.

Most importantly, he seems to have a kind and trusting, good-humoured and gentle nature - the sort of person who anyone would welcome as a companion.

Ade is the edgier of the duo and, for those who are not birders, perhaps the more interesting of the pair.

With his sardonic humour, he had the funnier lines, not infrequently at the expense of birders and birding.

This is a fellow who, in common with most people, likes his birds to be close-up and friendly-looking. Every sighting of a Robin delighted him.

He also warmed to the Redshank and the  Heron, but he seemed unmoved by a Firecrest - possibly because he struggled to get a glimpse of it  through his Leica binoculars (presumably bought or loaned to him for the length of the series).

At the start of the programme, Ade lamented - with a degree of shame - that, though he reckoned he could identify a penguin, the rest of the bird kingdom had mostly been a closed book for all his life.

Nor, at least in this first episode, did he seem particularly intent on changing his ways.

When, towards the end of the three-day trip to West Cornwall, Sam sought (unsuccessfully) to twitch a Yellow-browed Warbler - a relatively rare visitor from Siberia - Ade resented the amount of time spent lingering, more in hope than expectation, outside a sewage treatment works when there were far more congenial places in the county waiting to be visited.

                                                        

Ade Edmondson - curious but somewhat cynical

Clearly bored by the pursuit, he went on to describe it as "weird" to be "looking for something that doesn’t want to be seen or may not be there".

Later, there is another reported sighting of the same species, this time in a car park at Land’s End, but the duo’s quest to see it is cut to less than 20 minutes because Ade resents the prospect of outstaying the period of free parking

The series' next episode will see the duo visit the other side of the  country, Norfolk - sometimes described as "the birding capital of England".

The programme screens at 8pm on Tuesday April 21.