Although not classified as a rarity, the pintail is a long-necked species of duck seldom seen in North East Lincolnshire. This attractive drake was attracting plenty of admirers when it spent this afternoon on the water at saline pools located at Humberston near Cleethorpes.
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| Frampton Marsh - one of the reserves earmarked for a cafe |
THE RSPB is poised to announce proposals to set up cafes at three of its reserves - those at its HQ at Sandy in Bedfordshire, at Frampton Marsh in Lincolnshire and at the Dee Estuary in Cheshire.
It is understood the charity will tap the banks to borrow money for the initiative.
The 50-cover cafes will be of similar pre-fabricated modular construction and should pay for themselves in short time if they prove to be as popular expected.
They will also each provide employment for a catering manager and assistants.
Planning applications will be submitted with the sites' respective local councils in the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, in North Wales, RSPB Conwy, which already has a cafe, is in line to have a replacement or enlarged facility.
The RSPB hopes that two of the new cafes will be up and serving by Christmas, with the other two by Easter next year.
HUGE plaudits to the four ornithologists who have compiled an authoritative new book, Birds of Lincolnshire.
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| Preliminary sketch of the proposed globe with bird adornments |
A STAINLESS steel sculpture of a globe is to be installed on the seafront in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire.
Standing two metres tall, its aim will be to highlight both the global migration of shorebirds and the importance of British beaches as feeding and roosting areas when they pause during their travels.
Alongside the globe, there will be an interpretive panel with information about individual shorebird species, such as curlew, sanderling and knot, and the journeys they make to reach the UK and beyond from their breeding grounds in the Arctic.
The sculpture, to be located on North Promenade, is a follow-up initiative by North East Lincolnshire Council and Blackrow Engineering to the steel haddock installed last year.
Individuals and organisations can find out how to sponsor the bird globe by contacting Ange Webster at angela.webster@nelincs.gov.uk
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This curlew, seen near Cleethorpes Leisure Centre , had probably flown here from Sweden or Finland |
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| Migrant shorebirds: ringed plover (back) and sanderling on Cleethorpes Beach |
The statement below has been issued by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, longstanding host to what has traditionally been the social highlight of the birding calendar.
We regret to announce that due to the continuation of COVID restrictions deeply impacting UK and international travel, public health and the safety of our visitors and exhibitors, we have decided not to host Birdfair at Rutland Water Nature Reserve this year.
Birdfair is the leading conservation event across the globe. We are now putting our energies into exploring the possibilities for 2022.
We will make a more detailed announcement in May 2021.
* Above and below: Scenes from previous Birdfair years
IN October 1902 I received from the Sule Skerry lighthouse, a lonely rock-station situated out in the Atlantic and some 33 miles west of Orkney, an example of a Phylloscopus which had been captured at the lantern a short time previously, namely on the night of September 23.
In order to preserve this specimen until such time as it was possible to despatch it to the mainland, the bird had been immersed in methylated spirit, and reached me in a sodden state.
On examination I found that it was a Chiffchaff, but its condition did not then allow me to detect the differences between the European and Asiatic species.
Fortunately, however, I had the specimen preserved, and, having recently received a Chiffchaff from Fair Isle, I was led to examine the lighthouse bird and other material relating to the genus.
I then found that my old friend of 1902 was not the British and ordinary European species, but the bird known as the Siberian Chiffchaff, the Phylloscopus tristis.
This was an interesting discovery, for the species has not been detected in Western Europe, not even on that wonderful island, Heligoland which has furnished so many surprises for ornithologists, especially those who are interested in the phenomenon of bird migration.
This new British bird is a summer visitor to North-eastern Europe and finds its western limit in the valley of the River Petchora where it was discovered by Messrs. J.A. Harvie-Brown and H. Seebohm during their notable investigations into the birds of that little-known region.
Eastwards, the last-named naturalist found it nesting in the valley of the Yenesei, and it also occurs in summer in the highlands of Kashmir.
In winter, it is widely distributed over India, being only absent from the southern portion of the peninsula.
The only record known to me for Europe, beyond the Petchora and Eastern Russia, is one for the river Po in Italy, as mentioned by Eduardo in Avicula in 1898.
In plumage, Phylloscopus tristis resembles our Chiffchaff but is browner above and has the underparts buff, paler on the chin, throat, and abdomen.
The bill and legs are darker, the latter being blackish brown.
It differs also from the Common Chiffchaff in its song which is loud but not musical.
Its nest was found by Henry Seebohm on the Lower Yenesei.
One which he describes was situated in the branches of an alder about 4 feet from the ground, and was semi-domed, composed of grass and lined with grouse feathers.
The eggs are white, spotted with dark purple, and are large for the size of the bird.
* Photo: Bird seen in India (J.M.Garg via Wikipedia)
