SAFEGUARDING BREEDING HARRIERS IN BARLEY FIELDS OF GERMANY'S RHINELAND

Marsh harriers - faring well in Rhineland

The Wryneck has received the following encouraging message from Alexander Heyd of CABS - the Campaign Against Bird Slaughter

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Summer is our quietest time of the year - poaching is usually limited to the spring and autumn migration seasons or the over-wintering of certain bird species in the Mediterranean. Nevertheless, we still have our hands full.

Germany: harrier protection in the Rhineland

Marsh Harriers and Montagu’s Harriers are ground breeders - they build their nests in reed beds and meadows. At least they should. When the birds of prey return from their African wintering grounds, the barley fields are just the right height to appear as a particularly attractive habitat for the harriers. So, they gravitate and build their nests in the grain fields. However, when the harvest begins in early July, the young are still yet to fledge, and risk being killed under the whirl of the combine harvesters. For almost 15 years, CABS staff from our HQ in Bonn have coordinated an annual harrier project in the ‘Zülpicher Börde’ (between Cologne and Aachen) where we search and identify nests; and protect them together with farmers, authorities and local bird watching groups. With the use of a drone, the nests can be precisely located without disturbing the birds too much. So far, we have found six  pairs of marsh harriers and one pair of the much rarer Montagu's harrier. Four nests are located in barley and triticale fields - the farmers have already been informed. The hatching of the chicks is now imminent!

Cyprus: Summer action against ground-nets!

A CABS team is currently checking ground nets in south-eastern Cyprus. Homeowners use these nets keep snakes and other reptiles away from their properties. They are a treacherous death trap for animals of all kinds - besides snakes and lizards, wild birds are also frequently caught. They die a slow and sufferable death because the landowners practically never check the installations. It is common to find the skeletons of dozens of protected animals in the recklessly laid nets. During the inspections, a barn owl was rescued from the nets in addition to several snakes, lizards and a chameleon. By documenting the findings in the ground nets, we want to persuade the government of Cyprus to ban this method. The local media have already taken up the issue and reported on the finding of the barn owl - a good start for this campaign!

Birdcatcher convicted in Lebanon

Following a tip-off from members of the public, our partners from the Middle Eastern Sustainable Hunting Centre (MESHC) Anti-Poaching Unit and the Society for Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL) managed to catch a poacher near the village of Hammana, Mount Lebanon. The man had set up a clap-net and used bird glue near the village in the Lebanon mountains east of the capital Beirut. He had smeared the glue around a cage with a live decoy bird on the branches of a small fruit tree. The perpetrator's aim was apparently to catch goldfinches, which are popular cage birds almost everywhere in the Mediterranean and are traded on the black market. The Lebanese Internal Security Forces were notified and attended immediately; criminal proceedings have been initiated against the bird trapper. The fines are a maximum of 500,000 Lebanese liras (about €280) and up to one month in prison.

Planning for summer operations

Meanwhile, planning is now underway for our bird conservation camps in the upcoming second half of the year. In addition to several research trips now in the summer, we already have the first bird conservation camps on Malta (against wader trapping with clap-nets) and in Italy (shooting warblers in Calabria and Pied flycatcher trapping with mist nets in Lombardy) scheduled for mid-August.

As ever, you can keep up to date with the latest CABS news via our social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (visit @CABS_REPORTS). 

Furthermore, if you would like to get involved to support and enable our bird protection work as a supporter, donor or volunteer please visit the ‘Get Involved’ section of our website for details or feel free to get in touch via email, phone or any of our social platforms: https://www.komitee.de/en/get-involved/

Best regards 

Alexander and the CABS Team 

BYGONE BIRDING: PIONEERING STUDIES IN BIRD RINGING YIELDED ENCOURAGING RESULTS

Teal - long-distance migrant

The following letter was published in the October 1921 edition of The Ibis - quarterly journal of the British Ornithologists' Union.

Sir - 

As one of the most dedicated individual ringers of birds in this country, I read Professor Thomson's article on "Bird-migration by The Marking Method'' (The Ibis, July 1921) with great interest.

In the literature of the subject, however, I was astonished to find no mention of the marking experiments conducted by the late Professor J. A. Palmen, of Helsingfors University, in Finland, or by the Russians at Kielkond, on the island of Oesal, under Herr Stoll. 

I have found  in this country ringed birds  marked by both of these gentlemen.

Professor Palmen's experiments show some wonderful results - Black-headed Gulls, for instance, showing two distinct lines of migration, the one down the Baltic and the other overland across Europe via Austria to the Mediterranean. 

His ringing of other species, many of them within the Arctic Circle, also showed long journeys.

Large numbers of each species must be marked before any conclusions can be arrived at, yet Prof Thomson also fails to mention my article in British Birds (vol. viii. p. 209) on the result of marking nearly 12,000 Black-headed Gulls  in this country. 

To Prof  Thomson's query: "Do young birds seek the same winter quarters as their parents?" the answer is that they do as shown by more than one species, especially Lesser Black-backed Gulls bred in this country and of which an encouraging percentage has been recovered.

Neither is any mention made of Prof Palmen's ducks marked in the far north. These show some wonderful results.

Two Teal, for instance, were recovered in Spain and Italy respectively. 

His Starling records are also intensely interesting, showing, as they do, several recoveries in this country. 

In the article, three records only are given of Swallows marked with British Birds rings being recovered in South Africa, whereas the number should be five. 

Again, no mention is made of the wonderful record of a Wigeon marked with a British Birds ring in England and recovered in Asia. 

With regard to the supposed sedentary habits of the British Redbreast, I can quote at least two instances of such marked birds being recovered abroad.

Finally, it would be interesting to learn the total number of birds marked by the American Bird Banding Association.

I might conclude by saying that Mr. F. W. Smalley and myself once marked 720 birds of one species in the course of one day.

H. W. Robinson

The Patchetts

Caton,

Near Lancaster

Lancashire

1 August, 1921

HOW OUR SEASONS ARE WARPING - 'CAUSING HAVOC WITH NATURE AND DEVASTATING LIVES'

Joe Shute grew up in Central London but was a regular school holidays visitor to his grandparents who lived near the moors in North Yorkshire. After school, he went to Leeds University where his degree subject was History. After graduation, he trained as a reporter on the Halifax Evening Courier, subsequently becoming crime correspondent for the Yorkshire Post. He is now a feature writer for The Daily Telegraph and its sister Sunday title, writing profiles of people in the news as well as weekly columns on the weather and nature. He and his wife live in Sheffield. His favourite bird is the kestrel. Below is the press release issued by Bloomsbury Wildlife to publicise his new book, Forecast - A Diary of The Lost Seasons. 

We all talk about them. We all plan our lives by them. We are all obsessed with the outlook ahead. The changing seasons have shaped all of our lives, but what happens when the weather changes beyond recognition?

The author, Joe Shute, has spent years unpicking Britain's long-standing love affair with the weather. He has pored over the literature, art and music our weather systems have inspired and trawled through centuries of established folklore to discover the curious customs and rituals we have created in response to the seasons. But in recent years Shute has discovered a curious thing: the British seasons are changing far faster and far more profoundly than we realise. Daffodils in December, frogspawn in November and summers so hot wildfires rampage across the northern moors.

Shute has travelled all over Britain discovering how our seasons are warping, causing havoc with nature and affecting all our lives. He has trudged through the severe devastation caused by increasingly frequent flooding and visited the Northamptonshire village once dependent on hard frosts for its slate quarrying industry now forced to invest in industrial freezers due to our ever-warming winters. Even the very language we use to describe the weather, he has discovered, is changing in the modern age.

This book aims to bridge the void between our cultural expectation of the seasons and what they are actually doing. To follow the march of the seasons up and down the country and document how their changing patterns affect the natural world and all of our lives. And to discover what happens to centuries of folklore, identity and memory when the very thing they subsist on is changing for good.

* Forecast is published in hardback (£16.99) by Bloomsbury Wildlife.

TWENTY-MINUTE TWITCH: MEADOWHALL, SHEFFIELD, SOUTH YORKSHIRE

                                                 

Location: Meadowhall - between shopping mall and Travelodge hotel

Date: June 25, 2021

Weather: Overcast, occasional very light drizzle

Target species: Spotted flycatcher

Star species: Sand martin

Other species recorded: Grey wagtail, blackcap, chiffchaff, wren, swift, blue tit, great tit, blackbird, mallard, magpie, heron, carrion crow, feral pigeon.

POLICE CLOSE BIRDING HOTSPOT ON EAST COAST FOLLOWING DISCOVERY OF 'SUSPICIOUS DEVICE'

                                    

A helmeted police officer points the location of the 'device' to resort officers

PART of an area popular with birders was temporarily cordoned off at midday today.

The outer beach and saltmarsh at Cleethorpes in North East Lincolnshire is a good spot for migrant passerines, such as wheatears, and over-wintering waders such as redshank and snipe.

There are fewer birds in mid-June though skylarks, meadow pipits and linnets are often conspicuous.

The decision temporarily  to exclude the public was made after reports that a "suspicious device" had been found.

It is thought that the item was a World War II hand grenade - probably harmless but it was felt better to play safe than sorry.

It is understood a call was put out to a bomb disposal unit to attend.

Members of the Coastguard and Cleethorpes resort officers were also in attendance.

                                             

High alert - one of the duty officers steps out briskly over the saltmarsh

               

A singing skylark provided musical accompaniment to the police operation

BYGONE BIRDING (1906): WALLCREEPER, DUSKY THRUSH AND SURREY'S FIRST FIRECREST

From Volume VVI of the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, September 1906

Mr Ruskin Butterfield exhibited a specimen of the Wallcreeper  which had been shot while climbing about the face of the cliff at Ecclesbourne, near Hastings, on the 26th December, 1905. 

The bird - a female - was taken to Mr. G. Bristow, of St. Leonards, and was shown by him to Mr. Butterfield before it was skinned.

Three previous occurrences of this bird in England had been made known, namely: 

1. An example shot at Stratton-Strawless, Norfolk, on 30th October, 1792.

2. An example obtained at Sabden, Lancashire, on 8th May, 1872.

3. An example, now in the collection of Canon H. B. Tristram, shot at Winchelsea, Sussex in Spring, 1886.

                                    

***

Mr. P. C. Musters exhibited a well-mounted example of the Dusky Thrush  which had been shot by a market gardener named Mills near Gunthorpe, in Nottinghamshire, on October 13th, 1905.

The bird had been taken to a bird-stuffer in Nottingham who believed it to be a variety of the Fieldfare, but it was subsequently examined and recognised by Mr. Musters and Mr. J. Whitaker.

This is the first known instance of the occurrence of this thrush in the British Islands.

***

Mr. W. E. Renaut (on behalf of Mr. Alec Jones) exhibited an admirably mounted male specimen of the Firecrest which had been obtained at Wimbledon on the 31st December, 1905.

The interest of the exhibit lay chiefly in the fact that it was the first authenticated record for the county of Surrey, the specimen having been seen in the flesh by the exhibitor and Mr. James Sargent, another member of the club.

INSPIRING STORY OF TENACIOUS WOMAN WHO CAMPAIGNED TO SAVE BIRDS FROM SLAUGHTER

                                                  

DURING media coverage - in the Press and on TV - of this week's Royal Ascot race meeting, check out the  ladies' hats,  many of which will be adorned with feathers.

The milliners who made them would insist  the feathers have not been taken from exotic birds slaughtered in the wild but are dyed specimens taken from domestically reared 'barnyard' species such as geese, ducks, turkeys  or perhaps ostriches.

But in a sense, these contemporary feather-adorned head coverings are a lingering legacy of the plume trade that flourished in the Victorian and Edwardian eras as fashion-conscious women vied to wear the most exotically-adorned millinery.

The more elaborate the colour and patterning of the feathers on the hat, the higher the status of the woman who wore it.  

The extent of this lucrative international trade has been well documented by  former Sunday Telegraph  executive journalist Tessa Boase, now an author, in her excellent writings and talks on the subject.

It was three years ago that saw the publication of Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather: Fashion, Fury and Feminism - Women's Fight for Change.

Now the same volume  has been reissued in paperback with a brighter new cover and a more digestible  title - Etta Lemon, The Woman Who Saved The Birds.

When Ms Boase  gave a talk about her book at the 2019 Birdfair festival, one member of the audience, who had read it, made her blush by describing her work (not inaccurately) as "a cross between Charles Dickens and Agatha Christie - only better!"

In her narrative, the author, who lives in Hastings on the Sussex Coast,  takes a strongly feminist line, claiming that it was women such as Surrey-based Etta Lemon  who pioneered the campaign to ban a trade which was desperately cruel to birds, millions of them seized as they nested, and which brought many species, such as egrets and great crested grebes, to the brink of extinction.

It is true these women were important, not least because they pioneered the creation of the  outspoken  Society for the Protection  - later to become the rather less hard-hitting (some would say docile) RSPB. 

Ms Boase has written a great book but she has not told the full story of the campaign to safeguard birds which dates back many years before Etta and sisterhood allies such as  Emily Williamson and Eliza Phillips became active.

More than half-a-century earlier, there had been a campaign, ultimately successful, to end the slaughter of sea birds.

Because of the precious whiteness of their feathers, kittiwakes, gannets and terns were particularly targeted - notably off Flamborough Head in Yorkshire and around the Isle of Wight.

The activities were horrific - birds that had not died from their gunshot wounds would be pulled from the sea, thence to have their wings plucked off before being thrown back into the sea to await further pain, terror and death.

The disgusting practice was called out by a Lincolnshire ornithologist, John Cordeaux, a Bridlington rector and  others, leading to the Seabirds Preservation Act of 1869.

This set a precedent for bird protection legislation - one which doubtless provided inspiration to  Etta and  her fellow-campaigners.

But this story has been told elsewhere.

Ms Boase's unerring focus is on the campaign to end the plumage trade - "murderous millinery" as it was dubbed - and the courage and determination  of the women who battled on.

They kept banging the drum  despite the opposition both of those who were its commercial beneficiaries and many serious ornithologists, including churchman the Rev Francis Morris, who, according to the author, deemed "women's emotional relationship with birds as backward, non-scientific and unserious".

Ultimately, Etta won. After many parliamentary setbacks, legislation was passed. This year - July 1 - is the centenary of Royal assent being given to the Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act of 1921.

The measure came into force in April the following year.

Was it a cause for celebration? Not really.

Writes Ms Boase: "Etta knew in her heart of hearts that the Act lacked teeth - to make it a crime to import exotic plumage and yet perfectly legal to sell and wear it seemed a travesty."

On the plus side, the campaign had changed public attitudes to exploitation of wild birds for the sake of adorning hats

Over the next 100 years, feathers in hats - like fur coats - became deeply unfashionable.

But will the pendulum swing the other way? In photographs taken at society events such as Royal weddings, look at the hats. 

Feathers - perhaps some taken from exotic wild birds -  might just be making a comeback. . .

* Etta Lemon - The Woman Who Saved The Birds is published (£9.99) by Aurum Books and is available from bookshops and online outlets.

* An interview with Tessa Boase is featured in the May 27, 2019, edition of The Wryneck blog.

BIRDER 'SHAKING WITH EXCITEMENT' AFTER REDISCOVERY OF RARE FLYCATCHER

                                                                          

Team leader David Ascanio's impressive photo of  the 'Shrek-coloured' bird  

The tiny Urich's Tyrannulet, a species of flycatcher,  was first identified  as an individual species in 1899. Since then, it had only been documented three times. But on May 11 this year it was again detected - and photographed - by an expedition led  by ornithologist David Ascanio and supported by American Bird Conservancy. This is ABC's press release, issued this week, on an important rediscovery.

There have only been three confirmed sightings of the small flycatcher since it was first described in 1899. 

The second sighting was in the 1940s and the third in 2005. 

With so few records, the Urich's Tyrannulet is one of the most poorly known birds in South America.

With its cloud forest habitat being cleared for agriculture, scientists fear this endemic species could soon be at risk of going extinct. 

The expedition team was able to prove its continued existence, capturing the first clear photos of the tyrannulet and the first-ever recording of its call, shedding light on its behaviour and ecology.

“It's like a tiny Shrek,” says Ascanio of the olive-green bird, which is similar in colour to the popular movie character. “It's not as striking as many of the other birds in the same forest, and it has a shrill call, but if it's there it means that the forest is healthy.I

"It's aligned with the presence of all these other wonderful forest birds and other species. I was shaking with excitement when we first saw it!”

The mountains in north-eastern Venezuela where the tyrannulet lives are part of a unique ecosystem home to plants and animals found nowhere else. 

Among these are birds such as the White-tipped Quetzal, Handsome Fruiteater, and the endangered Venezuelan Sylph, all of which the team observed in the forest with the tyrannulet.

For researchers at American Bird Conservancy and Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology, data from the  global eBird database initially helped to bring the Urich's Tyrannulet to their attention.

 “Urich's Tyrannulet was one of only sixteen species of birds in all of South America that no one had reported in eBird in the past 10 years, so it immediately stood out to us as one of the most poorly known birds on the continent,” says John C. Mittermeier, Director of Threatened Species Outreach at ABC. 

“Considering that it is also endangered and that much of the habitat in its small range has disappeared since it was last seen, trying to find the tyrannulet and confirm that it had not gone extinct was an important conservation priority for us.” 

The bird had no sound recordings in the database and only a single blurry photograph, taken by Ascanio in 2005.

Thanks to  his team's discovery, some of these knowledge gaps have now been filled. 

For the first time, we know for certain what the Urich's Tyrannulet looks and sounds like. 

Ascanio and his team have archived their observations and media in Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library where it is publicly available for research and conservation efforts. 

Along with the new findings on where this bird lives, this information can help conservation groups begin taking steps needed to protect it.

* American Bird Conservancy is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to conserving wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. With an emphasis on achieving results and working in partnership, it seeks to take  on the greatest problems facing birds today, innovating and building on rapid advancements in science to halt extinctions, protect habitats, eliminate threats, and build capacity for bird conservation. Find us on abcbirds.org, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (@ABCbirds).

NEW WINDFARM PROJECT OFF MASSACHUSETTS COAST COULD TAKE WORRYING TOLL ON BIRDLIFE

 

What impact will project have on migrating knot and other species? 

THE following press release has this week been published by the American Bird Conservancy.

On May 11, 2021, the Vineyard Wind 1 project was approved by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to become the country's first large-scale offshore wind energy facility. 

This project will consist of up to eighty-four 800-foot-tall turbines, located off the coast of Massachusetts. 

It is expected to set off a wave of similar developments. 

Some voluntary measures have been taken to minimise impacts to birds as part of the overarching planning process and some actions will be taken to monitor impacts following construction. 

But more broadly, much remains to be done to measure and offset the impacts of this new industry.

“This is a pivotal moment in the fight against climate change, and one that brings a lot of uncertainty for bird populations,” says Joel Merriman, American Bird Conservancy's Bird-Smart Wind Energy Campaign Director. 

“The stakes are high - the space off the Atlantic Coast is used by hundreds of millions of birds each year, and we know from studies in Europe that offshore wind turbines can have substantial impacts on birds. 

“The precedent-setting nature of this project means it's critical that appropriate measures be taken to minimize and monitor impacts to birds and other marine wildlife.”

Vast numbers of sea ducks, divers and other waterbirds migrate and winter along the Atlantic Coast, including areas located within in offshore-wind planning areas. 

Hundreds of millions of landbirds, including rare species such as the Bicknell's Thrush, make spectacular nocturnal migratory flights across the ocean to wintering grounds in Latin America and thus will potentially run into a gauntlet of offshore turbine arrays. 

And species listed under the Endangered Species Act, including the Roseate Tern, Atlantic population of the Red Knot, and Piping Plover, traverse areas where offshore wind energy facilities are being planned, including Vineyard Wind 1.

“We know that some species are vulnerable to collisions with turbines in the offshore environment,” says Merriman. “Others are displaced by facilities, so areas that they may have used become unsuitable. This is having substantial negative effects on species like the Red-throated Loon in some places in Europe. It is critical that we get this right.”

To date, only a small, five-turbine offshore wind facility has been built off the coast of Rhode Island, and a two-turbine research facility sits off the Virginia coast. The capacity of Vineyard Wind 1 is almost 20 times greater than these two facilities combined. 

This project is just the first in a massive pipeline of projects being considered, and the Biden Administration's new targets for offshore wind energy set the stage for a rapid buildout.

One vitally important underpinning to minimising impacts of wind energy is to site wind turbines in low-risk areas for wildlife. To this end, state and federal agencies conducted studies to find the least-conflict areas for Vineyard Wind 1 and other facilities.

“This is great and it makes a big difference,” says Merriman, “but much remains to be done in the broader discussion for this new industry. 

“We need robust monitoring data to get a handle on the actual impacts and conservation actions to offset these losses. Offshore wind energy can make a big difference in the fight against climate change. ABC will be there to ensure that birds are considered every step of the way.”

* American Bird Conservancy is a non-profit organisation dedicated to conserving wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. With an emphasis on achieving results and working in partnership, it seeks to take  on the greatest problems facing birds today, innovating and building on rapid advancements in science to halt extinctions, protect habitats, eliminate threats, and build capacity for bird conservation. Find us on abcbirds.org, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (@ABCbirds).

* See also: http://bitly.ws/e44v

BYGONE BIRDING: DOES RAINFALL INFLUENCE PIGMENTATION IN SONG THRUSH PLUMAGE?

                                           

Song thrush - do rainfall levels affect plumage pigmentation?

Notes from a 1923-24 Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club

Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen exhibited some song thrushes from the island of Mull and made the following remarks:

Three song thrushes  recently obtained in Mull show characters of being an intermediate race.

Mull being located between the mainland of Scotland and the Outer Hebrides, it is not surprising that such a form occurs. 

Great interest also lies in the fact that the rainfall of Mull is also slightly less than that in the Outer Hebrides but greater than that which falls on the eastern mainland of Scotland. 

This looks as though rainfall affects the density of pigment among song thrushes, but, against this, thrushes from Ireland, where the rainfall is greater than in Scotland, do not show this tendency to the same extent.

I may add that, in both the Outer Hebrides and in Mull, the thrush is perforce a heather- and ground-frequenting bird, while, in Great Britain and Ireland, the species seldom occurs far from bushes or undergrowth.

A study of song thrushes with notes on their habits from the south-west corner of Ireland would be most interesting and might throw light on the subject as it is in that locality that  falls the greatest amount of rain in these islands outside mountain areas.

ADMIRING ALBATROSSES FROM DECK OF ROYAL YACHT 'HOOKED' PRINCE PHILIP ON BIRDWATCHING

 

UP to the age of 37, His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, knew next to nothing about birds and had no interest in them unless viewed down the barrel of a shotgun on a sporting estate.

But his perspective dramatically changed while on a voyage aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia when he became increasingly fascinated by the huge variety of pelagic species - from albatrosses to penguins - that came into view either on deck or ashore on bleak and remote islands.

His newfound enthusiasm became such that he began watching birds whenever the opportunity arose including from within a purpose-built hide on the Royal estate at Sandringham in Norfolk.

He also became a leading light in conservation organisations such as the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature.

More is yet to emerge about the birding activities of the Prince, but Ornithologist Afloat is a preliminary study not just of how his interest in birds began and how it developed but also of the challenges he faced - recorded with wry and self-deprecatory humour - of photographing them with a pre-digital Swedish-made Hasselblad camera.

Ornithologist Afloat is available (price £2) as an e-book on Kindle.

http://bitly.ws/e3Ni