BOOK OF THE YEAR: MRS MOREAU'S WARBLER BY STEPHEN MOSS

                                                

SHOULD naming rights to endangered bird species be offered to businesses in return for cash to help fund  their survival?

When the idea was first floated a few years ago in the magazine, Birdwatch, twitchers came up with various lighthearted suggestions.

They included  Kellogs corncrakes, Gillette razorbill, Johnsons waxwing, Dulux roller, Burger king eider, Playtex booby and, less tastefully, Durex shag.

The initiative flopped, but now the idea has been given fresh wings by former BBC TV producer and author Stephen Moss in his latest book, Mrs Moreau's Warbler - How Birds Got Their Names.
                                                         

Stephen Moss - authoritative and entertaining

He asks "Why shouldn't the global corporations who claim to want a sustainable future  put hand in pocket and donate proper amounts of money to bird and wildlife conservation?

"In exchange, they could have a bird named - or renamed - after them."

Moss acknowleges a potential downside - that of multinational companies seeking to 'greenwash' their misdeeds by 'appearing' to care about conservation.

But he notes that a precedent has already been set - for instance, the scientific name for a recently-discovered Peruvian species, the choco vireo, is Vireo masteri after Ohio birder and retired doctor Dr Bernard Master whose aim is to see every one of the world's birds.

The naming rights came after bidding reached some £50,000-plus at  an auction.

Despite its somewhat clunky title, Moss has written an authoritative and highly entertaining book - one full of insights.

For instance, 'finch' derives from the Old English 'finc' after the callnote of the chaffinch.

He notes that there are regional variations in the  song of this species which is known in Dundee as the 'ginger beer bird' because it is by sounding  the name of the drink that the song seems to conclude.

The author acknowledges the importance, in the late 14th Century, of Geoffrey Chaucer not just as a poet but as an ornithologist who knew the names of at least 40 of the 100 or so species
known in Britain at that time.

Many birds are named after the colour of their plumage, or parts of it, and the author is amused by reddish egret, yellowish flycatcher and greenish warbler.

Quoting fellow-author and ornithithologist Jeremy Mynott, he says these titles carry "a nice note of ruminative hesitation".

Another name to come under Moss' scrutiny is that of a group of seaducks, the scoter family.
The author goes with the theory that the name  might once have been 'sooter' because of the
predominantly  black plumage.

The author reveals his fondness for the 19th Century poet. John Clare, who later came to be
described by broadcaster James Fisher as "the finest poet of Britain's minor naturalists and the finest naturalist  of Britain's major poets"

When he was studying English Literature at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in the early
1980s, Moss  wrote a dissertation (unpublished) on the verse structure of Clare's bird poems
noting how their structure and rhythms "somehow seemed to mimic the movements and
behaviour of the bird itself".

Iincidentally, Clare would sometimes refer to the blackcap as the 'March nightingale' on account
both of its early return to Britain from its winter home and its richly melodious song.

Somewhat like a mystery thriller, Moss has cleverly topped and tail his narrative with a quest - not just to establish how Mrs Moreau's  warbler came to be named but also actually  to see what is an extremely rare species.

In conclusion, a word or two for the appendix which sets out different categories of bird names.

'Positive and upbeat' examples bird include: gorgeous bushshrike, magificent antbird, qand marvellous spatuletail, while downbeat ones include sombre tit and sad flycatcher.

Species with the shortest name is ou while the longest (31 letters) is Prigogine's double-collared sunbird.

A bird named after a US states is Florida scrub jay, while those named after gems include
amethyst sunbird and , emerald cuckoo.

Then there are the birds with religious names - cardinals, friarbirds, and bishops

Moss has even found a few names which he reckons  might now be deemed politically incorrect - negrofinch, dwarf bittern, hottentot teal, midget flowerpecke and pygmy falcon.

Finally, he lists some names which are real zingers - the likes of scaly-throated leaftosser, shining sunbeam, teardrop white-eye and some 30 more.

Fascinating stuff!

Mrs Moreau's Warbler is published at  £16.99 by Guardian Faber and is available wherever books are sold.

TWENTY-MINUTE TWITCH: MEDIA CITY UK/ SALFORD QUAYS

                                                     
Location:Media City UK, Salford Quays, Greater Manchester
Date: December 26, 2018
Time: 9.30am
Weather: Mild and overcast

Target species: Peregrine, waxwing, firecrest, black guillemot, black-throated diver, Slavonian grebe, glaucous gull, long-tailed duck, black redstart, siskin, lesser redpoll, long-eared owl  (everyone's allowed to dream at Christmas!)

Star species seen: None

Species seen: Mute swan, Canada goose, Cormorant, mallard, carrion crow, magpie, coot, herring gull, lesser black-backed gull, black-headed gull, goldfinch, pied wagtail, blue tit, great tit, robin (singing)

Verdict: Unimpressive festive season birding location




 

                                                 

                                                

STORY ABOUT THREATENED MARSH HELPED LAUNCH MEDIA CAREER OF TV PRESENTER MARK AUSTIN

 

Remembering the birds - Mark Austin

FOLLOWING a long career with the BBC, ITV and now Sky TV, Mark Austin is a well-known face on TV screens in the UK.

Less well-known is that his reporting career began - modestly - with a bird-related story when he was a teenage cub reporter on the Bournemouth Evening Echo back in 1977.

He had been briefed by deputy editor Pat Palmer to track down - on his own initiative - a subject about which he could knock out an  800-word feature in the quiet Dorset village of Stanpit.

After conversations with several residents failed to produce any leads, Austin was feeling despondent as he climbed a turnstile and walked for a while alongside Stanpit Marsh.

As he was doing so, chance decreed that he was approached by a dog-walking woman who asked him if he had "signed the petition".

When Austin asked her to clarify, she revealed that the woman had launched the petition herself  in a bid to persuade the council to turn down a proposed housing development on part of the marsh - "an area of astonishing natural beauty and a haven for birds and other wildlife".

The encounter was all that Austin needed. When he returned to the Echo office, he made a series of phone calls to interested parties, including the council planning officer.

"A few more angry quotes and my first double-page spread for the paper was taking shape," he recalls. "My career as a journalist was up-and-running."

The tale is recounted by Austin in his newly-published book, And Thank You for Watching.

“The key to local newspaper reporting,” he continued, “was to find  an issue, make calls to  people you know will be upset and  - bingo! - a controversy in the making."

Since he transferred, many years ago, from the newspaper world to TV, Austin’s career has prospered - he has covered numerous of the world's top sporting events as well as stories from war zones in Iraq, Libya, Mogadishu and beyond.

But he also remembers another bird yarn from his Bournemouth days - one which ran under the headline Cormorant Beak Bounty Scandal.

                                       

Cormorant - loathed by anglers

It involved a bust-up between the Dorset branch of the RSPB, anglers and Wessex Water over a claim that the authority was offering "£1 a beak in an attempt to cull cormorants who were  being blamed for killing trout, salmon and other fish".

Full of plenty more anecdotes about his colourful career, And Thank You for Watching is published by Atlantic Books at £20 and available where ever books are sold.

* See also:
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7177922854270515462#editor/target=post;postID=4474645478934836773

FIVE- MINUTE TWITCH: CROSBY COASTAL PARK

                                                  

Location: Crosby Coastal Park, Waterloo, Merseyside
Date: December 1, 2018
Time: 9.26am
Weather: Overcast with intermittent drizzle

Target species: Ducks, grebes, wild swans - the more exotic, the better.

Star species seen: Black-tailed godwit - two feeding on amenity grassland area in company of gulls.

Other species seen: Cormorant, mallard, tufted duck, coot, herring gull, lesser-black-backed gull, black-headed gull, oystercatcher.
 

These tufted duck and coot were on the adjacent pond

Two mallard - the only birds on the main water

A cormorant surveys the scene

 

Amid the murk, this black-tailed godwit was feeding alongside the gulls

 

THE WORLD'S FIRST 'BIRD-FRIENDLY' SPORTS STADIUM

The new arena: Photo courtesy of Kenny Yoo (Milwaukee  Bucks) 

 A NEW sports stadium in the USA has been hailed as the first of its kind that is 'bird-friendly'.

The Fiserv Forum in Wisconsin - home to the Milwakee Bucks basketball team - has been built using a type of non-reflective glass that reduces the prospect of  bird collisions.

Up to 1 billion birds are believed to die annually after colliding with glass in the United States.

Scientists reckon  that this total probably  accounts for 5 to 10 percent of North Amerca’s  birds and contributes to ongoing declines in their populations.

Says the American Bird Conservancy: "Addressing collisions is vitally important, not only because of the inherent value of birds, but also because they  reduce pest populations, pollinate plants, disperse seeds and captivate tens of millions of Americans with their beauty and fascinating behaviour."

ABC's collisions campaign manager  Bryan Lenz comments: "“The Milwaukee Bucks' decision to build the world's first bird-friendly arena speaks volumes about the ownership's character, concern for the environment and desire to be a part of a green community.

“The Bucks stepped up for birds in a way that no sports franchise ever has. 

"Hopefully the team's message, that designing with birds in mind is an achievable goal, will become a model for arenas, stadiums, and all other buildings for years to come.”

The American robin is Wisconsin's state bird and a member of the thrush family. 
                                                      

American robin - Milwaukee's state bird

Species such as wood thrush and Swainson's  thrush, are frequent victims of glass collisions.

Conventional  reflective and see-through glass and lighting disorients birds during their nocturnal spring and autumn  migrations.

 “When glass or other glass-like materials are employed in venue design, it is vital to balance insulation and reflectivity to create an ideal environment both inside and out, both for people and for local wildlife,” says Heather Stewart of  Populous, the architectural design firm involved.

 “We are proud to hear that other sports venues are looking toward Fiserv Forum as the new standard for bird-friendly design around the globe.”
.
The initiative has delighted the president of the ABC,Michael Parr who comments: “So many sports teams use animals and birds as mascots; this approach just makes perfect sense for them.

“Surely no sports teams want to kill wild birds at their facilities?

"The Bucks are showing the way. I am betting some good karma will head their way for this and coming seasons!”


More at:

https://abcbirds.org
https://birdcitywisconsin.org
https://populous.com/fiservforum

IS THIS THE 'CARTHORSE' OF THE BUNTING WORLD?

                                                               

Corn bunting - 'demeanour of  self-satisfied content'

GIVEN the bird's rapid decline, Edward Grey - Viscount Grey of Falloden - would doubtless now be kinder about the corn bunting, but he could scarcely have been harsher than in this account  which is included in his best-selling book, The Charm of Birds, which was published in several editions between the 20th Century's two world wars.

It is not altogether kind to write much or tell the whole truth about the corn bunting - his person or his song.

The tendency of buntings is to be robust rather than slender, but the corn bunting is the carthorse amongst them all.
                                                          

Grudging affection - Grey of Falloden

He has the habit, too, of sometimes taking a short flight with legs hanging down as if it were too much trouble to tuck them up neatly in flight like other birds. 

This adds an impression of slovenly disposition to clumsiness of body.

Though the largest of our four common buntings, this bird is the least beautiful in plumage. The male is content to be as dull as his mate who, in turn, is duller than other females of this tribe.

(“Dull” is used comparatively. The nature of feathers is such that, if considered closely, even the bird of dullest plumage is beautiful.)

Corn buntings must have been pleased when the abomination of wire took the place of green hedges or honest posts and rails  made on the country estate.

I can even imagine that corn buntings like barbed wire.

On wire, then, by preference,  the corn bunting will perch and grind out the noise that is his song and to which there is neither melody nor pleasant pattern.

On the Hampshire and Wiltshire downs, where there are plenty of telegraph wires and where wire fences are sadly on the increase, it  is impossible to in mid-summer to miss the corn bunting and his “song”, He thrusts himself upon our notice.

I cannot think of one point in which the corn bunting is not inferior. Even the egg is less remarkable than are those of buntings generally.

Yet, at last, in spite of the inferior of the corn bunting, of which the bird itself is so completely unconscious - for its whole dismeanour is that of self-satisfied content - one gets a sort of humorous affection for it.

Now available via amazon: The Bird Listener: How birdsong brought joy to the life of a much-troubled British politician 


https://www.amazon.co.uk/BIRD-LISTENER-BIRDSONG-MUCH-TROUBLED-POLITICIAN-ebook/dp/B0783QQ5PM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1542562409&sr=1-1&keywords=the+bird+listener



 WHAT THE RSPB SAYS

The UK population of corn buntings fell by 89 per cent between 1970 and 2003. This is mainly because fewer seed and insect food sources are available to them on farmland. 
Also, because corn buntings are a late nesting species, their nests can be destroyed during harvesting or cutting.

Key points

• Ensure the farm provides nesting habitat, summer food and winter food
• Boost insect food using buffer strips, conservation headlands or other low-input crop options
• Provide seed food, especially cereal grain, through the winter with over-wintered stubbles or seed-rich wild bird cover crops

Corn buntings nest on the ground in cereal fields, set-aside, grass field margins or unimproved grassland. They start nesting late in the spring, usually June or July, and can have flightless chicks in August.

Lots of seeds throughout the year

Adults feed mainly on seeds, especially cereal grain. Places where they can find seeds include rotational set-aside, harvested root crops, winter stubbles, newly-sown crops, weeds in the crop margins, areas of spilt grain or places where cereals are fed to outdoor cattle. They are becoming extinct in some pastoral areas of the UK.

Insects and spiders to feed to chicks in the spring and summer  

Corn buntings take insects from crops, set-aside, grassland and field margins to feed their chicks. Breeding success relates directly to the availability of insect food

How to help

On arable land

• Only use pesticides when the infestation exceeds the economic threshold. Try to avoid using broad-spectrum insecticides after 15 March. These remove beneficial insects and spiders which move into the crops in the spring. The loss of this food source is particularly damaging to corn buntings. 
• Adopt conservation headlands. Avoid spraying the outer six metres of cereal fields with insecticides or herbicides targeted at broad-leaved weeds. This enables beneficial insects and chick food for corn buntings to survive. You can get agronomic advice from the Game Conservancy Trust. 
• Spray and cultivate stubbles as late as possible. This provides important winter feeding habitat. Seed-rich wild bird cover crops are very important on farms where overwinter stubbles are not a viable option. Cereals are an essential component of wild bird cover crops in areas with corn buntings.
• Create grass margins around arable fields to increase food availability close to the nesting habitat. Include species such as cocksfoot in the seed mix to create a tussocky sward. After the margins are established, cut in the autumn only once every three years. Avoid cutting all margins in the same year. Corn buntings are more likely to use margins that have no boundary feature or just a post and wire fence. 
• Use beetle banks in fields greater than 0.2 square kilometres to provide nesting cover for corn buntings and over-wintering habitat for beneficial insects. Beetle banks are two metre grass strips through the middle of arable fields. Such fields can be managed as one unit, as the headland is still cropped. 

On grassland

• Introduce arable fodder crops or create small plots of wild bird cover to provide a seed-rich habitat in pastoral areas. Maize is probably not of value to corn buntings unless it is undersown with a seed-bearing crop. Undersown cereal crops will provide seed food through the winter. The lack of cultivation in the autumn as well as restrictions on herbicide use will produce an abundant supply of insects. 
• Fence off margins of up to six metres around improved grassland and leave these unfertilised, uncut and ungrazed. Graze or cut in September every two to three years. Select margins which are adjacent to short thick hedges or post and wire fences

Read more at: 

https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/conservation/conservation-and-sustainability/farming/advice/helping-species/corn-bunting/#YksjUxm4tEWqfxE6.99

* Photo of corn bunting: RSPB

 

MIST-NETTING: HOW MUCH OF AN INJURY HAZARD DOES IT POSE TO WILD BIRDS?

  

 Setting up a mistnet (photo: Júlio Reis via Wikimedia Commons)

TO what extent are wild birds stressed when they are trapped in mist-nets prior to ringing or other scientific research?

Some year ago, the issue was raised by naturalist-author Richard Mabey after a Siberian blue robin - the first record for Europe - had  been trapped in a mist-net on October 27, 1975, on Sark in the Channel Islands.

He noted: "It was 4,000 miles off track, tired, hungry, terrified and hung up by its feet for God knows how many hours.

"I am bothered by the attitudes towards birds of supposed bird lovers who desire to trap birds at the moment of their greatest exhaustion and insecurity,  then to process them as if they were so many pieces of baggage. 

"It seems to me inexcusably degrading to both birds and handlers when the outcome is likely to be nothing more than another species on the British list."

He widened his concern with a reference to birders destroy who were reported to have "destroyed a clutch of bearded tits by chucking a piece of concrete into a reedbed to try to flush a bittern".

In its latest review of the potential hazard of mist-netting, the BTO  says: "Any effect of capturing wild birds on their individual welfare, or that of their wider populations, is an important ethical consideration.

"It also has significant implications for the integrity of the data collected as biases may be introduced if capture and handling bring about changes in behaviour or survival.

"Ultimately, the benefit of the information accrued when capturing wild birds for study needs to outweigh the potential risk to individuals that are caught."

The report continues: "While the potential effect of fitting rings or other devices to birds has been assessed  through a series of  studies, the direct effects of the capture methods themselves have received less attention.

"We undertook an assessment of the impacts of mist-netting for birds as part of the British and Irish Ringing Scheme.

"Overall mortality rates were low with most fatalities reported to have occurred before individuals had been extracted from the nets.

"We will use the results from this study to help to refine guidelines for those trapping and handling wild birds and to identify additional opportunities to secure information that could be used better to understand risk factors and associated mortality."

The BTO says the results were published in an edition of the open access journal, Ecology & Evolution, and shared with operators of other European ringing schemes to help ensure they have the widest benefit.


See also:  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mist_net

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.4032
          
http://www.socsercq.sark.gg/siberianbluerobin.html

https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/nabb/v007n01/p0002-p0014.pdf

ILLEGAL BIRD TRAPPING: THE FIGHT GOES ON

All smiles after these songbirds were saved and released on Cyprus - other birds were not so lucky


SIGNIFICANT progress has been made in the campaign to halt illegal bird-trapping in Southern Europe. Here the chief executive of the Campaign Against Bird Slaughter, Alexander Heyd, provides an autumn update.

Spain - end of bird trapping in sight
At the end of October and in early November, a CABS team conducted a 10-day mission in Eastern Spain. Around Valencia, 7 poachers were convicted by the police as a direct result of our field investigations. A total of 4 huge slack nets, 14 mist nets, 400 limesticks and a handful of small live traps were secured. All used to target wintering thrushes. The number of active traps continues to decline significantly. Just a few years ago we would typically record 1,500 trapping sites, this year we recorded about 50. We secretly hoped it could be even less! So, in the next few years we will have to do some Spanish missions to catch the very last trapper!

Cyprus - lack of support from authorities
Our Bird Protection Camp in Cyprus was the longest campaign of the season and continued  until November 11. During this time, we  found 2,207 limesticks and 39 nets and, together with wardens from the Game Fund convicted 12 poachers. The Cypriot police have completely ceased their support for our actions, and there was little else to expect from the hunt-friendly government. In the area of military bases, the British police, however, are quite cooperative. Although the figures so far indicate a slight decrease in bird trapping, we are often unable to control all the trapping sites due to the lack of police support and probably will not find and secure as many trapping sites as we used to. The situation in Cyprus is definitely precarious for bird protection in Europe!

Malta - Increase in illegal bird catching
In mid-October our third (Malta) autumn camp started on Malta and Gozo. While August/September we focused on the illegal trapping of wading birds and mid/late September we monitored bird of prey poaching, our teams are currently working on the fight against the illegal finch trapping. After the European Court of Justice finally banned finch trapping back in June, the old-fashioned traditionalists in Malta are now illegally trapping species such as linnets, chaffinches, siskins and serins. There are far more illegal sites than we had feared: In just the last two weeks alone we have reported more than 50 active sites with huge clap nets to the police, at least 18 people were convicted and over 100 live birds seized - which were being used as caged decoys to lure others of their kind into the trappers nets. 

Brescia - 46 poachers caught
During the four-week operation in Brescia (Sept. 27 to Oct. 28), we oversaw the arrest of 46 poachers, 392 bow traps (123 in house searches), 109 nets (including 46 in house searches) and 279 snap traps were seized. In addition, 11 shotguns, around 170 live decoys and about 2,100 frozen songbirds were also confiscated. A total of 52 CABS members from Italy, Spain, Germany, Great Britain and the USA were deployed in the northern Italian province. As in previous years, the significant decline in poaching continues. While the use of bow and snap traps are clearly on the decline, nets remain a clear problem.

Grim plight for this pied flycatcher

In many places, especially in Cyprus, Sardinia and Malta, the bird trappers continue to target migrant birds and/or hunt for wintering songbirds. Therefore, we will continue our anti-poaching operations in the coming weeks. However, in many parts of Italy and Spain, bird poaching is now coming to an end for seasonal reasons.

Photographs: Courtesy of Campaign against Bird Slaughter

FORMER HOME OF SIR PETER SCOTT ON MARKET

The old lighthouse incorporates a studio where Scott  painted

THE former home of acclaimed ornithologist and artist Sir Peter Scott has come on the market.

It is a Grade II Listed  lighthouse, built in 1826, that stands on a bank where the River Nene meets The Wash on the Cambridgeshire - Lincolnshire border 12 miles north of Wisbech.

Sir Peter painted skeins of geese and duck while he lived there in the 1930s.

In 2010, the four-bedroom property was bought for £435,000 by Doug and Sue Hilton but they have decided to sell up and move to Wales. 

Previous owners have included  Anglian Water and Commander David Joel who had known Scott since the 1940s when they had corresponded over two Egyptian geese the
commander had donated to London Zoo. 

The lighthouse and its 1.7 acres of grounds (with ponds) are on the books of the Kings Lynn branch of Fine and Country estate agents. The asking price is £600,000.

* Photos courtesy of Fine and Country