Sunday 30 May 2021

PLAN SUBMITTED FOR RE-INSTATEMENT OF PETER SCOTT'S SKETCHING WINDOW AT OLD LIGHTHOUSE

Sir Peter lived and worked here in the 1930s

THE owners of the Peter Scott Lighthouse near Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire  have  applied to carry out conversion works including reinstatement of the sketching window through which Scott viewed wildfowl.

It has been submitted by the Snowgoose Wildlife Trust, owned by Douglas and Mary Hilton who are also seeking the go-ahead to revamp the basement and remove modern masonry walls at the Grade II Listed Building.

Built in 1826, the lighthouse stands close to The Wash on the Lincolnshire border with Norfolk and not far from Cambridgeshire.

Sir Peter painted captivated studies of geese and duck in flight while he lived there between 1933 and 1939.

The application is currently under consideration in the planning department at Spalding-based South Holland District Council.                                                         


The application posted earlier this month




Above and below: there is a small collection of ornamental wildfowl in a paddock adjacent to the lighthouse



Saturday 29 May 2021

PEREGRINE FALCONS MAKING THEMSEVES CONSPICUOUS IN LINCOLNSHIRE

                                                           


This lone peregrine falcon was spotted from afar as it surveyed the scene on the beach at Cleethorpes near Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. Meanwhile, 15 miles south in Louth, the parish church of St James Church has been hosting a pair which are bringing up four chicks. Live footage of the adults bringing food to the hungry chicks can be seen on the home page of the website of the  Lincolnshire Bird Club which is financing  the live cam coverage - https://www.lincsbirdclub.co.uk






SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE FOR VACANCY ON TOP ORNITHOLOGICAL JOURNAL WILL NEED TO BE BRAINY

                                                

New Editor will need to be well qualified

ONE of the top ornithological jobs in journalism is up for grabs.

Ibis, the quarterly journal of the British Ornithologists’ Union, is seeking a new Editor.

Judging by the requirements, the successful applicant will need to be highly qualified - with a degree to PhD level.

Core functions and responsibilities include:

* Editorial management of the review of manuscripts and editing where required (c. 35 manuscripts involving c. 70-80 decisions per year) following best practice in scientific peer-review.

* Working closely with associate editors and reviewers to provide constructive peer review and deliver high quality journal articles.

* Providing mentoring of new associate editors to develop their expertise in the review process.

* Suggesting topical subject areas for reviews to the Reviews Editor and encouraging authors to submit their best work.

* Attending (online) the annual Ibis management committee meeting and either one or two editorial meetings each year.

Essential requirements for the job are:

* Strong track record of research and publication in avian science in high-ranking international journals.

* A passion for ornithology with a broad interest in all aspects of avian science, ecology and conservation, as well as interest in the peer-review process.

* The ability to critically read and assess the novelty, quality and importance of submitted manuscripts, including those outwith your own subject specialism.

* An understanding of what makes a well-written and accessible journal article, and the desire to work with authors, especially early career researchers  to help them achieve this.

* Qualified to PhD and previous international journal experience to at least  associate editor level.

* Excellent oral and written communication skills.

* Enthusiasm, commitment, judgement and integrity.

* Excellent time management skills and an ability to work to tight deadlines.

* Good interpersonal skills and ability to work in a team.

Other desirable skills:

*A thorough understanding of recent trends and developments in ornithology, ecology and conservation.

* Ability to promote the journal internationally through academic networks, social media and at scientific conferences. 

What is the salary? This is not stated.

The post  is offered on a self-employed basis for an initial term of four years. The position is costed on 30 days work a year. 

Enquiries and applications (with CV) should be sent by email to Journal Manager, Angela Langford (angela.langford@bou.org.uk).

Applications should include a covering letter that summarises relevant experience, a personal statement which describes why you are enthusiastic about this opportunity and stating any limitations regarding possible start date.

Applications should be received by 30 June, 2021. 

Interviews will be  undertaken via Zoom, in the second half of July, and the successful applicant to be will need to be available to commence work by 1 September, 2021.

Friday 28 May 2021

WILDLIFE AUTHOR'S ANGUISH AFTER HER NEW BOOK IS 'TRASHED BY SPITEFUL REVIEW'

                                                                        


FEATHERS are flying in the world of wildlife publishing after a prominent naturalist slammed a new book.

Author Mary Colwell hoped Mark Avery, former head of conservation at the RSPB, would have warm words for her book, Beak, Tooth and Claw: Living with Predators in Britain.

                                 

Mary Colwell

Instead, in his blog, he let her have it with both barrels, describing it as  "sloppy" and "full of errors".

He wrote: "I found this a very irritating book because the author steps into areas of high controversy and doesn’t really seem to have understood them - I felt like throwing it across the room several times as I was reading it."

His  conclusion reads: "I wouldn’t put you off reading this book but I cannot recommend it much at all."

Mary Colwell responded: "Mark, you have trashed my whole book on one part of one chapter. It is a spiteful, narrow-minded review I thought you were better than that.

"I wrote absolutely nothing different in this book than in Curlew Moon, but then you also gave that a poor review.

"All I want is for wildlife to have a far, far better deal in this country. I deeply and passionately care about this planet and am doing my utmost to move things forward. I may not do it in the same way as you, but I am trying. 

"You have thousands of followers who hang off your every word. No wonder, just no wonder we are in this god-awful mess.

"It is so easy to dismiss someone. So, so easy. You have done a fine job."                                            

Mark Avery





Thursday 20 May 2021

GLOBE SCULPTURE WILL HIGHLIGHT IMPORTANCE OF LINCOLNSHIRE RESORT TO MIGRATING SHOREBIRDS

 

Sponsors at today's unveiling of the shorebird migration globe 

THE rain held off just long enough for today's unveiling  of a handsome new steel sculpture of a globe on North Promenade in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire.

The main purpose of the project is to highlight the worldwide migration of thousands of shorebirds that use the beach and the Humber Estuary as a stop-off habitat for feeding.

Alongside it, an interpretive panel has been attached to the promenade railings.

Before cutting a ceremonial ribbon, North East Lincolnshire Council's portfolio holder for leisure, Cllr Callum Procter, spoke of the importance of safeguarding the feeding grounds  of shorebirds such as curlew, redshank and knot.                                    

Cleethorpes is of global importance to curlew 

These species are mostly in rapid global decline because habitat has been lost to industrial and other development.

He also emphasised the importance of recycling before thanking Blackrow Engineering, makers of the globe, and sponsors, including the Lincolnshire Bird Club, for making the £18,000 project possible.  

Migrating birds feature prominently on surface of the sculpture


Newshounds reporting on today's ceremony


Callum Procter highlights the flightpath of shorebirds 


Jenny Follan of Tesco whose staff chipped in £1,000 towards sponsorship

Shorebirds-eye view of the globe



Jordan Mussell and Gareth Evans of  sponsors Alturn Scaffolding - determined to do their bit for the community


The globe - minus the ribbon


The interpretive panel on railings next to the globe

Grey plover pause on Cleethorpes Beach  during migration 
                     
Flocks of shorebirds sometimes run into thousands


Friday 7 May 2021

BREEDING SALTMARSH BIRDS AT SERIOUS RISK FROM THOUGHTLESS DOG-OWNERS

 

The signage is conspicuous  but not always respected


Most dog-walkers respect wildlife and comply with the signage at the RSPB's Tetney Marshes reserve near Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire.

Most - but not all.

Their owners mean no harm, but dogs running free on the saltmarsh have a potentially devastating impact on fragile wildlife, especially breeding redshanks, skylarks, meadow pipits and other ground-nesting species.

Other birds are deterred even from attempting to breed.

So the RSPB is again pleading with pet-owners to keep their animals on leads so that these much-loved birds are not lost from this part of eastern England landscape.

Above and below: Dogs running free on the saltmarsh are a menace to birds - including fast-declining redshank 


Monday 3 May 2021

BIRD MIGRATION: INSIDE EACH MYSTERY, THERE IS ALWAYS A NEW ONE WAITING TO BE FOUND

                                                                     



SUCH is the ever-quickening decline in bird populations that  their  migration is now "a shadow of what it once was".

So writes American birder Scott Weidensaul in his important new book, A World on The Wing - The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds.

But he quickly adds: "That shadow is still mighty enough to leave us slack-jawed and awestruck."

"Awestruck"? The same could definitely be said of Weidensaul's book. It is an endlessly captivating study of both what we know - or think we know - about avian passage and how, thanks to technology and the dedication of birders like him, we are steadily making crucial new discoveries.

Among the fascinating sections is one on a New World species, the Kirtland warbler, which migrates from a small corner of Michigan where it breeds to a couple of islands in the Bahamas where it spends winter.

Attaching tiny transmitters, weighing a fraction of a gram, to certain individuals, it has proved possible both to track their passage and to identify what is their most precious food.

To his credit, Weidensaul joined researchers in the field, even at the cost of enduring fierce sunshine and of being bitten to pieces by  mosquitoes and other insects.

The information  has provided invaluable in stimulating habitat-creation projects which have brought this delightful warbler back from the brink extinction.

Moving to  the Old World, the author is very strong in his assessment of how drought in the savannahs of the Sahel, on the southern fringes of the Sahara, have created an insect apocalypse to the detriment of cuckoos, bee-eaters, shrikes and warblers that winter there before migrating to Europe.

If they are not getting enough to eat, the chances of these calorie-starved birds completing the long  journey ahead is greatly reduced - as are their chances of breeding if they ever get to arrive.

Weidensaul is also red-hot on the migration of shorebirds such as semipalmated sandpiper, whimbrel and bar-tailed godwit.

And he makes a point of contributing his own expression of concern about how  "agricultural intensification has crowded out Nature in favour of chemically-soaked crop monocultures".

Says he: "The evidence is mounting that the very foundations of  the planet's ecosystems are crumbling." 

He also highlights the problems of persecution  -  songbird slaughter in the Mediterranean and shorebird hunting in the Caribbean  islands where, in Barbados some 34,000 waders -  about 19,000 of them lesser yellowlegs - are shot every year.

But there are also positives. For instance, the author highlights the promise of creating "pop-up wetlands" whereby farmers can be induced, out-of-season,  to create temporary stop-off habitat for migrating waterfowl.

It should be said that, though rich in research detail, A World on The Wing, is not stuffy or overly academic. The narrative is pacey, vibrant and never less than entertaining.

There is something quaintly touching about how Weidensaul describes his peck-every-three-seconds observations of a palm warbler, speculating what might happen if, through lack of food, this rate increased to a peck every four seconds.

"Sounds like a minor difference, but that's a 25 per cent decrease in what the warbler can consume over the course of a full day - an enormous deficit."

And that deficit in calories and energy, he deduces, could have serious consequences.

"On such razor-thin energetic margins does success or failure  hinge for a migratory bird."

* A World on The Wing is published in the UK by Picador at £20 and available wherever books are sold.