Thirty-minute twitch: Harbour and Promenade, City of Douglas, Isle of Man

                                              

Douglas on a crisp morning in early autumn

Date: October 13, 2024

Time: 8.30am - 9.00am

Weather: Bright and dry 

Target species: Purple Sandpiper

Star species: Mediterranean Gull

Other species seen:

Eider

Shag

Heron

Little Egret

Sparrowhawk

Curlew

Turnstone

Oystercatcher

Black Guillemot

Gannet

Black-headed Gull

Herring Gull

Carrion Crow

Hooded Crow

House Sparrow

Pied Wagtail

Rock Pipit

Robin

Woodpigeon

Feral Pigeon

     

Mediterranean Gull

                                                        

Drake Eider

Shag

Heron amid the  Herring Gulls 

Juvenile Black Guillemot

                                                 

Gannet glimpsed from afar

                                              

Street art in Douglas

Offshore castle - or submarine?

          

Art imitating life - majestic and motionless, this Heron stands watch over Isle of Man harbour town

                                                   

The 8-3-metre sculpture towers over the harbour in Castletown

A STRUCTURAL engineer had to be called in to ensure the stability of  a magnificent 26ft-tall sculpture of a Heron that was installed earlier this month  in Castletown on the Isle of Man.

Weighing 10 tonnes, it is the work of Stephanie Quayle and Darren Jackson, and  was a year in the making.

Even before the duo started, it took some five years to conceive the project, to secure planning permission and to raise funds, predominantly through the Manx Lottery and the year of Our Island Fund.

It was also necessary to pay a seven-year licence fee for occupying space on harbour land.

Herons (and Little Egrets) are common on the Isle of Man where some older residents refer to them as 'Cranes'.   

Indeed this bird has been named 'Coar Ny Hastan' which means 'Crane of the eels'.

Spurn Observatory volunteeer Richard Boon celebrates the Little Tern with study of this much-loved seabird

The new book casts the spotlight on the colony near Spurn

ADMIRERS of the Little Tern (who isn't?)  will welcome Clinging To the Edge - to be released this week by Pelagic Publishing.

It is described as an exploration of the ecology of the species and the history of its conservation.

The main focus is a single colony - the one at Beacon Ponds between Kilnsea and Easington, near Spurn on the Yorkshire Coast.

The author is Richard Boon, a retired academic and volunteer at the Spurn Observatory Trust.

Publication day is tomorrow October 15.

More at https://pelagicpublishing.com

 

Richard Boon - diligent student of a delightful species

Signed copy of Wild Geese and Eskimos by Peter Scott sells for £30 at auction in Lincolnshire today

                                          

A SOMEWHAT battered-looking copy of Peter Scott's Wild Geese and Eskimos sold for £30 at a sale held by John Taylors of Louth in Lincolnshire earlier today.

This was in line with the pre-sale estimate of £20 to £40.

Its value was doubtless increased by the fact that it had been signed by the author, Peter Scott.

                                                                 

                      

What am I bid for Eric Ennion pen-and-ink study of two Rosy-coloured Starlings strutting their stuff?

 

This intriguing pen-and-ink study of Rosy-coloured Starlings by Eric Ennion (1900-81) is tomorrow (October 9) due to go under the hammer at a saleroom in Gloucestershire. According to auction house Dominic Winter, the pre-sale estimate is that it will fetch between £100 and £150.

Discovery of these six 'mega-rare' birds will bring British List to 641 when it is published in January 2025

                                                         

Canada Warbler - photo William Majoros via Wikimedia

 

A FURTHER six species are to be  added to the British List, bringing it to no fewer than 641.

Following deliberation, the rarities committee of the British Ornithologists' Union has accepted records  of the following six species:

* Canada Warbler (Stack Rocks Pembrokeshire, September 23, 2023)

* Soft-plumaged Petrel (Flamborough Head, Yorkshire,  July 1, 2021)

 * Band-rumped/ Madeiran Storm-petrel (off Bishop’s Rock, Scilly Isles, November 16, 2021)

* Grey-headed Lapwing ( Low Newton-by-the-Sea, May 1, 2023)

* Black-winged Kite (Glan-Mule, Montgomeryshire April 18, 2023)

* Western Olivaceous Warbler  (Skibberhoull, Whalsay, Shetland, October 20, 2023)

The most curious of these records is that of  the Band-rumped/ Madeiran Storm-petrel.

It was not actually seen in British waters, but was located off the Scillies by virtue of having been logged via a GPS tag attached to it on the island of Tenerife in the Canaries earlier that month.

The additions are due be published by the BOU in its journal, Ibis, in January next year.

                                                                

Grey-headed Lapwing - photo Alpsdake via Wikimedia Commons

Is it time for Church of England to repent of its 'sinful' ways by rewilding its farmland? Chris Packham thinks so.

 

CELEBRITY naturalist Chris Packham is calling for the Church of England to rewild 30 per cent of its landholdings by 2030.

Along with fellow-supporters of the Wild Card campaign group, the popular TV presenter, dressed in medieval-style costume,  made his appeal on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral at the weekend.

Managed on the CoE's behalf by the Church Commissioners, much of its 105,000-acre estate is thought to be intensively farmed, with plentiful use of chemicals and not much space allocated for trees and shrubs.

According to the BBC Springwatch host, the Church is failing the "all things bright and beautiful" which the good Lord made.

The Church Commissioners says its agricultural holdings are entirely  let to tenant farmers, many with long leaseholds.

It believes rewilding would be inappropriate to sacrifice highly productive farmland for rewilding.