RSPB DISMAY AS WHITEHALL RUBBER-STAMPS PLAN FOR 230-TURBINE OFFSHORE WINDFARM

Ørsted windfarm - the Danish giant's  industrialisation of the North Sea is to continue

THE RSPB has responded with anguish to today's announcement that Danish company Ørsted  has been granted consent to install 230 more wind turbines off the Yorkshire Coast.

Says its director for global conservation, Martin Harper: "The decision is nothing short of a gamble with the future of our seabirds - especially kittiwakes."

Broadly, the RSPB supports wind energy as an alternative  to use of fossil fuels except where its own commercial interests are jeopardised.

Ørsted's Hornsea Project Three windfarm threatens to reduce breeding seabird colonies of kittiwakes, gannets, fulmars, puffins and other marine species at its money-spinning Bempton reserve near Bridlington.

Kittiwake - the species is vulnerable to turbine collision

The planning go-ahead from Whitehall is expected to generate more investment in Grimsby from where Ørsted services its existing windfarms off the Yorkshire Coast.

Enthuses its UK boss Duncan Clark: "We are delighted.

"This  is the culmination of a thorough and rigorous process which ensures that the project can deliver much needed clean energy." 

Mr Clark says Ørsted will compensate for the potential loss of kittiwakes - through collisions and other disturbance -  by installing  four onshore nesting towers specifically designed for kittiwakes.

However, the RSPB says this 'compensation' concept is "unproven".

This pilot kittiwake tower - with external nesting ledges - is in Gateshead

The Wryneck says:  This further industrialisation of the North Sea should provide a medium-term boost to the Grimsby economy which needs all the help it can get. Trouble is that, like the fax machine, energy generated by wind is only an intermediate technology. Within 20 years, it will be obsolete as more efficient methods of producing electricity emerge. Sadly, in the meantime, hundreds of thousands of birds and other marine life, such as whales and dolphins, will be lost for ever to collisions with turbines and other disturbance. What is the point of installing nesting towers for kittiwakes in summer if many, if not most, are killed by turbines in winter? As for the RSPB, its opposition has been tepid at best with scant effort to alert the public to the threat. Belatedly, the charity is crying over spilled milk when, if had shown more campaigning vigour from the outset, the milk might never have been spilled.

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DAVID AND VICTORIA BECKHAM KEEN TO ATTRACT WILDLIFE TO GROUNDS OF OXFORDSHIRE HOME

Kingfisher - one of the waterbirds the couple are hoping to attract

CELEBRITY couple David and Victoria Beckham are creating a wildlife haven in the grounds of their Oxfordshire home  in the hope of providing valuable habitat for a wide range of species from songbirds to waterfowl.

Work is already underway on excavation of a small lake at the property - in a village near Chipping Norton -  which is approximately 800 metres from the River Dorn, a major tributary of the River Thames.

It is on a migration route for many birds, acting as a corridor for them  when foraging for food. 

Says a spokesperson for the couple: "David and Victoria are keen that the pond should become part of the local waterscape and help enrich the biodiversity of the catchment area by providing an undisturbed waterbody."

A document seen by The Wryneck outlines some of the details of  the scheme as follows: "The grass around the lake will be sown with a wildflower mix of local provenance. 

"The sides of the lake will be planted with margin-loving water plants and native, non-invasive pond weed will be used in the lake."

It continues: "Spoil from the excavation of the lake will be used to create bunds which will be planted with a high number of native trees as well as scrub and hedge plants for nesting birds.

"The varying aspect and topography of the bunds will also allow for increased flora and insect life."

The location of the lake is at the lowest level of the site, so it will both help to retain storm water and also create a new link in the local water network for the benefit of a wide range of species including kingfishers, wagtails, unusual ducks, possibly grebes, plus moorhens, coot, perhaps water rails, herons and passing waders such as little ringed plovers plus common, green or wood sandpipers.

Details have also been released of the trees and hedgerows to be planted either on the bunds or nearby.

"There will be a native and evergreen shrub selection of high nectar, pollen, berry and nuts offering, such as hazel, hawthorn, wild rose, hornbeam and blackthorn sloe.

"Trees will be arranged in organically shaped groups, creating a corridor of trees, linked by uncut shrubs, with some mature trees standing among the shrubs, as a point of access to the tree canopy. 

"Larger trees will be spaced to avoid overly shading the under-storey while at the same time supporting branches to touch, creating linked canopies, a key element for small creatures crossing at canopy level.

"Species to be planted on the bund include hazel, oak, honeysuckle, bramble, sycamore, wayfaring tree, yew, hornbeam, birch, hawthorn, crab apple, wild cherry and sorbus."

Planning permission for the lake was granted earlier this year, but a further application to enlarge it - and incorporate an island - is under consideration by planners at West Oxfordshire District Council.

This application has generated a protest from a neighbour, Sue Jones, who says: " I must object in the strongest terms to this new proposal. 

"I feel that his plan to enlarge the lake could increase considerably the chances of flooding in the area. 

"Also, the lake looks just too large for the area it sits in, and it is out of keeping.

"What is planned next? Motor boats zooming up and down and shattering the peace? 

"It is just not on and should not be allowed."

The council's assistant biodiversity officer, Esther Frizell-Armitage, says she has no objection in principle to the lake's enlargement but she has reserved making any recommendation pending clarification on whether boats will be used on the water.

                                              

Esther Frizell-Armitage - no objection in principle

Says she: "If so, the use of boats will need to be restricted to ensure disturbance to biodiversity (such as birds) is minimised."

The Beckhams - who have three sons and one daughter - should know early in the New Year if their application to enlarge the lake has been successful.

                                           

The lake and planting scheme for the Beckhams' family home

GOD REST YE MERRY LADIES AND GENTLEMEN - LET NOTHING YE DISMAY!

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE WRYNECK TO ALL OUR READERS.       

TAWNY OWL AND WILLOW TIT AMONG WOODLAND BIRD SPECIES IN WORRYING DECLINE

                                                                     

THE worrying decline in woodland species comes under the spotlight in the latest edition of The State of the UK's Birds.

Overall, they have declined by 27 per cent since the early 1970s, with a 7 per cent evident over just the last five years.

Particularly hard hit has been the willow tit - down by 94 per cent since 1970.

For reasons that are not clear, tawny owls are also in decline.

The report has  produced jointly by the RSPB, the BTO and the WWT (Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust) with input from various statutory nature conservation bodies.

* The RSPB's chief executive, Beccy Speight, was yesterday in London to present a copy of the document to Prince Charles and to discuss bird-related issues.

RICK AND BRAZILIAN WIFE ELIS SHINE SPOTLIGHT ON WONDERFUL WORLD OF WADERS

Rick, pictured with the new book, on the beach at Titchwell in Norfolk 

MUCH of Britain's coastline accommodates plenty of shorebird species - especially at migration time and in winter - but they should never be taken for granted.

That is the message of the charity, Wader Quest, which campaigns vigorously to highlight the threats posed by most, if not all, of these endearing species from habitat loss, climate change, predation and much else.

At the organisation's helm is Rick Simpson whose varied working life in the past has included spells as a firefighter, a gardener, a security guard, an estate agent, an articulated lorry driver and a birding tours guide  in Brazil.

Now based near Milton Keynes in the UK with his Brazilian wife, Elis, also a keen birder, his love of waders was initially sparked by his childhood encounter with a picture of a lapwing that so fascinated him that he decided it was a bird he had to see.

Much later, the focus of his fascination fell on what is perhaps an even more iconic species - the spoon-billed sandpiper of which the global population may now be fewer than 100 pairs.

Back in 2012, this was the top target species when Rick and decided to sell up and travel the world, seeking both to see as many shorebirds species as possible and to fund-raise for conservation of this varied and delightful group of birds.

That experience-packed trip is now the subject of an absorbing book, A Quest for Waders, which recounts the highs and lows of their travels.

Briskly written and bursting with amusing anecdotes and fascinating wader information, plus scores of superb illustrations, it makes for a compelling read.

Indeed, it as much a page-turner as any detective thriller.

Rick’s passion for his mission radiates from every page, no more so than when he and Elis share their thrilling first encounter with spoonies in Thailand.

But evidently the couple were almost equally thrilled with their first meetings with many more species including, in California, a motionless mountain plover which Rick (who has a suspicious mind) at first thought was a scam - a stuffed rarity nailed to the ground.

Taking up the story, he writes: "Fortunately for us, the bird both breathed and moved - indeed, it turned out there were several of them scattered liberally around the area.

"Hardly  able to believe our luck, we watched gleefully as these busy birds tripped back and forth across the ground in short bursts." 

A Quest for Waders is now on sale, price £15 plus p&p, via the Wader Quest website, www.waderquest.net, with every penny of proceeds going to support wader conservation initiatives all over the world.

MIGRATING BIRDS AND LIGHTHOUSE LANTERNS: A STRANGE AND TRAGIC FASCINATION

WHAT a mysterious bird is the corncrake.

Few farmland birds are as secretive and difficult to see, but one once startled the keeper of a lighthouse in Scotland by arriving on the rocks below.

This is one of many fascinating records in the superb book -  A Natural History of Lighthouses (Whittles Publishing).

Over 293 pages of text and stunning illustrations, author  John A. Love's explores the history of scores of UK lighthouses, those who designed them and those brave and resilient souls who worked in them, often at great risk to limb and life.

But as the title indicates, he also chronicles how they have become habitats for an extraordinary wealth of wildlife, especially birds - not just marine species but also passerines seeking a rest on their long and exhausting migration over the seas.

These include starlings, goldcrests, blackbirds, skylarks, stonechats, redwings, song thrushes, fieldfares and wheatears, plus various warblers and flycatchers. 

There is a special focus on the pioneering work of John Alexander Harvie-Brown and John Cordeaux  who were at the forefront of an initiative to encourage lighthouse keepers to record what birds and other wildlife they encountered.

In mainland Britain, this important project ran from 1879 to 1887 by which time no fewer than 126 lighthouses had been recruited.

In Ireland, thanks to the efforts of Richard Barrington, the lighthouse research continued  for a further 10 years.

Sadly, many of the records were of dead birds that, mysteriously attracted by the beams of lights, had crashed into the lanterns with fatal consequences.

Where they could not identify the species, the keepers were encouraged to submit wings, legs or even, with smaller birds, the whole corpse.

The collisions were bad news, not just for the birds but also for the keepers because it created extra work.

The author quotes a 1902 record of  Bell Rock keeper John Campbell:"Grease, blood and feathers half obscure the lantern panes and all require liberal cleaning to keep up to inspection order."

Also from Bell Rock comes another record - this time submitted by Robert Clyne of a storm petrel that vomited all over one side of the  lantern, "the smell persisting for some time despite numerous washings and rainstorms".

The author evidently has a special admiration for Leeds ornithologist William Eagle Clarke who not only collated much, if not most, of the lighthouse research but also spent substantial periods in lighthouses such as the Eddystone (and also on the Kentish Knock lightship) in order to gather first-hand knowledge.

Sadly he seems to have succumbed to dementia before his death in 1938.

His friend, Philip Manson-Bahr wrote: "His brain became clouded, and he was no longer conscious of the world around him."

The cover price of A Natural History of Lighthouses is £30, and the book can be ordered from booksellers or online outlets.

However,  for those who order via the publishers' website - https://bit.ly/3q5higm -  there is a 20 per cent discount by inserting the promotional code WPLINCS20

This offer will run until until February 12, 2021.