Frontine birder Chris Galvin delights Grimsby RSPB Group with lively presentation on rare birds of the North-west

                                                   

Chris' superb study of a Leach's Petrel fluttering over the Mersey  

ESPECIALLY  at migration times, uncommon birds can turn up in the most unlikely of places.

Who, for instance, could ever expect to see a Wryneck feeding on the edge of a footpath leading to a Tesco hypermarket in Bolton, Lancashire?

Or a juvenile Dotterel resting on a seaside promenade and apparently oblivious to passers-by including joggers and pram-pushers?

These were  among absorbing experiences shared in an illustrated presentation to Grimsby RSPB by high-profile  birder Chris Galvin, a photographer  and tour guide whose global travels have taken him all over Britain, continental Europe, the United States, Asia and beyond.

He is also regional accounts manager for binoculars and scopes manufacturer Opticron (oh yes, and, like The Prime Minister, he supports Everton FC). 

Even his own modest-sized garden in urban Liverpool once attracted no fewer than four over-wintering Blackcaps, which were happy to feed on pyracantha berries.

Meanwhile, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Mistle Thrushes, Fieldfares and Redwings  are regularly attracted on snowy days in winter by windfalls from his apple tree.

And from this time of year until November, skeins of migrating Pink-footed Geese are regularly to be seen and heard overhead as he steps out of his front door. 

One species Chris reckons he can "never get enough of" is the Waxwing which he has occasionally seen - sometimes dozens at a time -  in a car park at B&Q store not far from home.

One such bird he snapped in October 2004 had a colour ring on its left leg, attached after having been trapped following its flight from Scandinavia across the North Sea to Aberdeenshire. 

Later that winter, this  same bird was to be spotted again - first In Exeter, Devon, then in Arras in northern France.

                                          

Chris Galvin - lover of Waxwings

Some birders in the north-west lament that that their patch of the UK  seldom shares the benefits of drift migration that regularly brings vagrant passerines to the East Coast of Britain.

But are their woes justified? Not based on Chris' portfolio which includes fabulous shots of  such rarities as Woodchat Shrike, Bluethroat, Rose-coloured Starling, Pallas' Warbler (the so-called "seven-striped sprite")  and Booted Warbler, all seen within relatively short driving distance from his home.

Another highlight of Chris' long birding career, which began in his early teens, was one spring visit to Seaforth Nature Reserve where, feeding alongside Dunlin, was none other than a breeding-plumaged Wilson's Phalarope which, in normal circumstances, should have been on some wetland in Texas.

Three days later at the same spot, what should turn up but an even rarer White-tailed Lapwing that, by rights,  probably should have been in Kazakhstan!

"How much better than that could things be!" enthused Chris who, to this day, gets as much pleasure as birding his own patch as he does travelling to more exotic overseas locations.

Chris revealed that he had once been paid as much as £3,000 for one of his photographs - a Common Tern feeding a small fish to its mate. This more than justified his expenditure of £2,000, just a few days earlier, on the high-definition lens with which he had captured the shot.

Yet he seemed even more proud of his flight study of a Leach's Petrel which editor Roger Riddington put on the front cover of the November 2008 edition of the prestigious monthly journal, British Birds 

Leach's Petrel is something of an autumn migration speciality at the mouth of the Mersey but you have to be prepared to face Force 8 north-west squalls for the best prospects of sightings of the birds as they are blown towards shore.

Chris is a super-knowledgeable and observes birds, including common ones, in closest detail - but he wears his expertise lightly.

Among the most intriguing sections of his presentation were those where he explored the finer plumage details of birds such as Lesser Scaup and five gulls species - Little, Mediterranean,  Sabine's, Laughing and Ross's.

Are there any downsides to birding? 

Chris was not best impressed when he came across birders feeding scraps of stale bread to an Iceland Gull at one beachside location, nor when he discovered that fellow-photographers (who should have known better) had caused a pair of Long-tailed Tits to desert after they had cut away an ivy branch to enhance the view of their nest.

"That made my blood boil," said Chris who said he seldom took nest shots for fear of sparking  similarly unhappy consequences.

As you would expect from a Liverpudlian, Chris peppered his talk with humour - not infrequently at his own expense.

Early is his talk, he recalled one slightly discomforting Sunday-morning encounter with a couple of traffic bobbies after he had pulled up on  double yellow lines on a dual carriageway near home for the purpose of  photographing feeding Fieldfares.

After a somewhat frosty 8.30am exchange of words, he agreed best to move on - after all, he had no wish to spend the rest of the weekend in police custody (nor  longer term in Strangeways prison).

In the question-and-answer at the end of his talk, he described one unforgettably miserable May morning experience when he climbed Pendle Hill in Lancashire in what proved to be fruitless quest to find a trip of resting  Dotterel.

A heavy raid-laden mist engulfed him, such that he was totally drenched from head to toe by the time he returned to his car.

"I stripped off all my clothing, turned the heater on full blast and drove the whole way home just wearing my boxer shorts," he recalled with a rueful chuckle.

This was the 40th birthday meeting of the RSPB and the evening also included a video message of congratulation from TV wildlife presenter Iolo Williams, a roll call of early officers of the group, some of whom were present,  and the distribution of slices of a birthday cake ceremonially cut by Malcolm Crawford, the group's first treasurer.

To conclude, RSPB Grimsby Group leader Martin Francis thanked the 50 or so present  for a most enjoyable evening. 

Bygone birding: 'Unless something is done, more of our rare birds will be deleted from list of British breeders'

Lapwing - 'distressing decrease' in 1920s

Extract from At Home With Wild Nature (1922) by Surrey bird enthusiast Richard Kearton:

I have been an observer of bird life all my days, but never remember a time when members of the avian world were so purposely persecuted as the present. 

It is no exaggeration to say that quite 90 per cent of the nests, great and small, built in places accessible to the general public are wantonly destroyed. 

The bird life of any country has its economic as well as its aesthetic side. 

Once upon a time, the human inhabitants of a certain corner of the earth decided to exterminate all fowls of the air within their domain, but soon discovered that, although the birds were quite able to live without man, man could not exist without the assistance of the insect-destroying members of the feathered tribe.

I spent June of 1922 on the Westmorland Fells and shall never forget the sickening sights I saw of sheep being eaten alive by maggots. 

This loathsome scourge has greatly increased during recent years, and it needs no great stretch of imagination to connect its ravages with the distressing decrease of Lapwings, Skylarks, Wheatears and other moorland birds. 

I wish some epicure would try a boiled Rook's egg for breakfast and proclaim from the house-tops of Belgravia its superiority over that of the plover or Lapwing. 

It would be a great boon to the latter bird, which is being slowly but surely exterminated to the detriment of the farmer in particular, and the public in general.

To the too ardent egg-collector, and especially the clutch enthusiast, whose appetite is insatiable, I would say: "For Heaven's sake have mercy."

All that can be known, or is worth knowing, in regard to variation in the coloration and markings of British birds' eggs has already been discovered, and there is but little room in that direction for originality. 

Try old china or worm-eaten furniture and give the poor birds a chance.

In all conscience they need it, and there are still some people about who delight in their sweet songs and charming ways.

Whether it is due to the latent savagery released by the influences of the Great War or some other cause I cannot tell, but children appear to be much crueller than they were a decade or two ago. 

Alas, I am in a position to supply incontestable evidence upon this point from what I have witnessed with my own eyes.

If school masters and mistresses would try to humanise boys and girls who come under their care and influence, I am persuaded it would make far better and happier citizens of them than all the unmattering dates and fairy tales of history that ever bored the youthful mind.

All the Acts of Parliament passed during recent years for the protection of our wild birds are not worth the paper they are printed on, for the simple reason that with the exception of a few keepers, provided by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, there is nobody to see that they are carried out.

Children know nothing whatever about the Wild Birds Protection Acts, and collectors laugh at them.

I therefore humbly submit the following suggestions for the better protection of our feathered friends:

(1) As there is a great deal of misconception in regard to the good or harm wrought by many of our birds, instruct the Natural History Museum and the Department of Agriculture to issue an authoritative report upon the food and activities of every British bird throughout all the seasons of the year, and publish this report.

(2) Let the Education Department issue instructions to every schoolmaster and schoolmistress in the land to give a weekly lesson on birds in the spring, and warn their pupils of the harm they do by destroying birds' nests, eggs or young.

(3) Close every natural history museum in the country during April, May and June, and send all the attendants out to protect wild birds.

They would thus learn something of the lives and habits of the specimens they have under their care in glass cases during the remainder of the year, and, incidentally, enjoy a good long holiday. 

Half a dozen or so of the youngest and most athletic men might be told to act as detectives and dog the footsteps of certain insatiable collectors. 

No man who deliberately makes a practice of stealing public property year by year, and knows he is breaking the law by so doing, could find reasonable fault with a repressive measure of this kind.

Unless something is done, and done quickly and effectively, more of our rare birds will have to be deleted from the list of British breeders, and others will cease to render the useful service they have given to agriculture for uncounted ages.

Richard Kearton

Ashdene,

Caterham Valley

Surrey

Chances of seeing a Spoon-billed Sandpiper on British shoreline is remote - but Robert Gillmor keeps dream alive

                                        

Somewhere in Asia  . . . 

ONE thing is sure - if a Spoon-billed Sandpiper were ever to turn up on a British shoreline or wetland, the bird would be a magnet for twitchers by the thousands.

The thought is prompted by the depiction  of one in an enchanting study by Robert Gillmor (1936-2022) which will be Lot 86 in an auction to be conducted by Tennants of Leyburn in Yorkshire on October 3.

The catalogue note states: "Asian Estuary, Migrant Waders. Signed, inscribed and numbered 10/10, linocut designed for Birdfair 2012, 31.5cm by 41cm".

The hammer is expected to fall at somewhere between £300 and £500. 

                                       

A little bit of shoreline magic from Robert Gillmor

UK visits from Short-billed Dowitchers risk becoming fewer as pressures grown on North American wetlands

                                             

Short-billed Dowitcher in New Jersey - photo: Chuck Holmler/ Focus on Wildlife via Wikimedia Commons

 

THERE was disappointment for birders hoping to glimpse a Short-billed Dowitcher that was reported at Drift Reservoir, near Penzance,  in Cornwall mid-afternoon on Monday of this week.

The bird was reportedly flushed by a passing Peregrine and has not been seen since.

Short-billed Dowitchers are now seldom recorded in Britain because they are in breeding decline in the marshlands of the United States and Canada.

In a paper in a 1993 edition of the Canadian Field Naturalist , researcher Charles Maisonneuve wrote:

"Within their vast breeding range (Québec toBritish Columbia), Short-billed Dowitchers are restricted to bogs, muskegs, fens or wet meadows.

"Although some authors mention that shorebird habitats in coastal staging and wintering areas are threatened by agricultural and pesticide pollution, industrial and port development and potential oil spill, there is no evidence yet that habitats used by dowitchers during their migrations or on their wintering grounds have been subjected to major environmental perturbation.

 "However, a significant population decline in the Short-billed Dowitcher may be due to loss of breeding areas due to extensive flooding or drought following hydroelectric project development. 

"In northern Québec and Labrador, more than 16, 300 ha of bogs, fens and sedge meadows were lost to the James Bay hydroelectric project.

"The W. A. C. Bennett Dam on the Peace River in British Columbia caused the dry-out of 50, 000 ha of wetlands in the Peace-Athabasca Delta 

"A reduction of more than 38 per cent in water surface and disappearance of 36 per cent of the perched basin shorelines occurred in the three years following the closure of the dam.

Maisonneuve continued: "There is a pressing need for studies on northern shorebird breeding grounds facing development pressure because of the possible cumulative effect of these projects.

"On migration and on the southern wintering grounds, high proportions of many populations are concentrated into a few, distantly separated and vulnerable sites." 

                                   

Drift Reservoir - photo: Kernow Skies/ Wikimedia

Bids invited for historic hand-coloured engravings - but can anyone identify the species?

                                                               

Four very early hand-coloured engravings of birds are included in Lot 1429 which is up for bids at a sake to be conducted by Ewbanks of Woking in Surrey on September 24. the birds are not identified but the French artist is Francoise Nicholas Martinet (1725-1804). The pre-sale estimate for the lot is modest - jut £60 to £100.                                                   

                                                 

                                             

The enduring attraction of juvenile songbirds ensured firm auction price for porcelain Blackbird chick

 

This cute 1930s 11.5cm high Meissen porcelain model of a Blackbird chick sold for £160 at a sale conducted by Tennants auction house. This was in line with the pre-sale estimate of £120-180. Meanwhile, two late-19th Century Golden Orioles fetched £250 despite being damaged, notably about their bills. The pre-sale estimate had been £200-400.

                                                  

Future of Hertfordshire's Rye Meads wetland reserve looking brighter following pledge by Thames Water

               

THERE is cautious optimism for the future of  the Rye Meads wetland reserve in Hertfordshire following a statement issued by Thames Water and published by The Hoddesdon Society.

There had been a question mark over the site - and public access to it - since  the RSPB announced its intention to pull out come November because of cash constraints.

Amy Pigot, who has been at the forefront of a campaign to save the reserve says: "This statement is very welcome and marks an important step forward."

However she is not resting on her laurels, noting  there is still a lot of detail to work through around the transition, future management, volunteers, facilities and community involvement.

 

James Bolton's study of bird identification almost two centuries ago achieves handsome price at auction

 

The two volumes of one of the oldest titles on British ornithology have sold for a total price of £1,700 at an auction held by antiquarian books specialists Dominic Winter at their saleroom in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. The hammer price of James Bolton's Harmonia Ruralis, published in 1824, exceeded the pre-sale estimate of £1,000-£1,500. 

 

                                                                    

         

                                

Nature warden looks back on his time as nature reserve warden at one of Norfolk's most dynamic wetlands

       

A Spoonbill in flight features on the cover of a recently-published book that is likely to be in demand among birders. In it, Holkham's senior nature reserve warden, Andrew Bloomfield reflects on his time at one of Britain's most important and exciting wetland landscapes. It is available, at £40 in hardback, from the Holkham gift shop.

Weekend Egyptian Nightjar in Shetlands is first sighting for Scotland and third for Britain

                                                    

The Egyptian Nighjar is a fairly common native of  North Africa and Arabia 

IMAGINE the pleasure for a birder of looking out of one of the windows of your house and seeing  . . an Egyptian Nightjar!

So it was for former British Birds editor Roger Riddington, a long-time resident at Pool of Virkie in Shetland.

It was the first sighting in Scotland of this strange-looking bird and only the third British record - the others being on June 23, 1883, at Rainworth in Nottinghamshire and at Portland Bill on June 10,1984.

Many birders have made the trip by ferry from Aberdeen to the Shetlands  capital, Lerwick, but, as of  early morning today, the bird has not reappeared.

 * Photo: Morhaf Kamal Alianee/ Wikimedia Commons     

Book to be published early next year will explore the life, behaviour and distribution of the Bullfinch

                                              

A publication month of February next year has been set for the latest book by one of Britain's most eminent ornithologists, Prof Ian Newton. The recommended retail price is likely to be £65, but it is understood  there will be a significant discount for those who pre-order with publishers T & AD Poyser.

Listen out for the warblers! Small Essex broadleaf woodland on market for £47,000

The songbird-rich Garrett Wood at Gosfield in Essex has come on the market at a price of  £47,000. It is mostly made up of oak, beech and birch which provide a home to warblers, woodpeckers, owls and more. The size is 2.67 acres. Details are available from woods4sale.co.uk                          

Whinchats on the move - with up to 18 on a single day at Spurn in East Yorkshire

                                         

It's been a good week for Whinchats on the Spurn peninsula in Yorkshire with as many as 18 sighted last Sunday. However, this juvenile was sighted this morning  on the other side of the Humber Estuary on Cleethorpes saltmarsh (with three Wheatears nearby). 

Nice coloration - shame about these ornamental Golden Orioles' wonky beaks

                                                     

The orioles - sadly the beaks aren't quite right

THE fact that they have been restored after damage may reduce the hammer price for these Meissen porcelain Golden Orioles  when they go up for auction later this month.

It does not take too much scrutiny to discover imperfect repairs to the bills of both birds plus, less obviously, damage to either wings or tails on at least one of the birds.

But they are creations with pedigree so Yorkshire auction house Tennants  of Leyburn expect the orioles, which are being  sold as a single lot, to achieve between £200 and £400.

The sale is being held at Leyburn on Saturday September 12.

                                             

How the same species is depicted in John Gould's The Birds of Great Britain (1873) 

Higher and higher! Chough numbers continue to soar on the Cornish coast

                                                      

The Chough as depicted in John Gould's The Birds of Great Britain (published in 1873)

IT has been a bumper breeding season for Choughs on the Cornish coast.

A total of 161 young birds - 32 more than last year - have fledged from 56 successful pairs.

The 2025 figure was a record since numbers have been kept, so this year's tally beats it.  

The success marks a remarkable comeback since the species died out in the county in 1973.

The recovery is understood to have been triggered when three adventurous birds  from Ireland  arrived at Lizard Point in 2001, with two of them becoming the first breeding pair for almost three decades.

The turnaround is testament to a rnge of conservation inititiatives by the likes of the Cornish Chough Conservation Network, Cornwall Birds, the RSPB, the National Trust and Natural England.

County wildlife trust thought to be one of the parties keen to buy wader-rich wetland site in Lincolnshire

                                                       

The view birds have of Manby Flashes as they come into land

THE deadline has passed for offers on a Lincolnshire wetland which accommodates an unofficial bird reserve.

Interested parties had until noon today to submit offers for the 11.38-hectare Manby Flashes near Louth.

Throughout the year, the site attracts migrating waders and wildfowl which can often be viewed from a four-person hide maintained by  Lincolnshire Bird Club.

It is understood that one potential buyer is the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust which is ready to dip into its £20.9-million coffers to make the purchase.

If successful, the Flashes would supplements its network of reserves which includes Gibraltar Point bird observatory, near Skegness further south on the county coast, Far Ings, near Barton-on Humber, and Whisby nature park near Lincoln,

                                                    

Migrating Greenshank (above) and Green Sandpiper are among wading birds regularly seen on the wetland

Headline birds - the three species making a splash on front covers of this month's ornithological magazines

Red Kite, Collared Dove and Goldcrest are the species featured on the front covers of the September editions of three frontline ornithological titles.

                                                 

                                                                                                                                                  

It's fingers crossed that the 'crex crex' call of Corncrakes will once again be heard widely in Yorkshire's countryside

                                                                   

Corncrake and chicks as depicted in John Gould's The Birds of Great Britain (1873)

COULD summer next year mark the return to Yorkshire of calling Corncrakes?

Up until the early 1900s, they were common on and around grassland in much of the county, but, following changes in farming practice and loss of habitat, their numbers plummeted such as there may  now be only one two breeding pairs left.

However, that could change following the recent release in hay meadows within  the Lower Derwent Valley, at Wheldrake in the north of the county, of 148 captive-reared birds which are soon expected to migrate to Central Africa over  autumn, then return next spring.

Prior to their release, the captive-reared birds were, for 26 days, kept in pens with views of the stars in the  night sky which, helped by Earth's magnetic fields, it is hoped might guide their migration journeys.

The RSPB and the WWT were involved with a similar project in the Ouse Washes but, for reasons that are not known, decided to pull out.

This new Yorkshire project is a joint venture between Natural England, National Nature Reserves and Friends of the Lower Derwent Valley.

                                                

What adventures lie ahead? One of the captive-reared  birds is released (photo: Natural  England)

The Wryneck says: Here's hoping that this project is a huge success. But it does prompt a question. The Corncrake is struggling all over Europe, so how were these eggs obtained? It is understood that Hebridean islands might have been the source, but clarity would be welcome.   

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A place to watch the Curlew, Godwits and other waders while simultaneously enjoying a drink and/or a meal

 

An asking price of £995,000 has been set for a pub-restaurant that sits alongside the Humber Estuary, an important habitat for over-wintering waders and wildfowl. More information about the Hope and Anchor in South Ferriby, North Lincolnshire,  is available from the agents, Christie & Co, at  07561 115 179.