The Great List Challenge 2

Mike Passman, who has taken up our year list challenge, is watching his local patch of Thurlestone Bay, Devon, and so far is showing up Features Editor Matt Merritt's efforts on his Leicestershire patch.

Mike writes: "I returned from looking after our Grandaughter on Saturday, January 31st, and withdrawal symptons were quickly overcome with the sight of a DARK BELLIED BRENT GOOSE on South Huish Marsh, to increase the list to 103. On the morning we left - January 20th - a quick visit to the sea watch car park produced an immature male LONG TAILED DUCK whilst number 102 was MUTE SWAN, which I had omitted to count on January 2!

"February started out very good with two BLACK REDSTART in the garden - one a stunning male - two PURPLE SANDPIPER in the bay whilst a ringtail HEN HARRIER quartered one of the local fields in mid afternoon - she had been seen by other local birders whilst I was away.

"3rd February started the cold weather spell. While parts of Devon were to be enveloped in up to a foot of snow, our little area of the South Hams didn't even get a covering. Seawatching on the 3rd for two hours with a favourable force 5 south-easterly wind paid dividends. GANNETS started passing, and two FULMAR were quickly followed by a GREAT NORTHERN DIVER with a single BALEARIC SHEARWATER all flying east. On the sea a SLAVONIAN GREBE took the total to 108. At least 30 auks and 15 KITTIWAKE also passed through. Late afternoon saw the largest flock of LAPWING - 150 - this winter with 50 GOLDEN PLOVER and 35 FIELDFARE on South Huish Marsh - further evidence of cold weather movement.
Thursday 5th February, whist not adding to the year list, was notable for very good views of the ringtail HEN HARRIER, flocks of 15 SKY LARK AND 25 REDWING at South Milton Ley, with 14 CHIFFCHAFF still surviving the cold weather and a CETTI'S WARBLER calling.

"Saturday 7th February started very well with my early morning scan of THURLESTONE MARSH (from my bedroom window). Suddenly all the ducks took flight and at least 15 SNIPE were flying around, all the commotion caused by an immature female MARSH HARRIER which spent 15 minutes quartering the reeds before departing in a SE direction. Walking back from the village shop, a single female SISKIN became No. 110.

"After a period of very heavy rain the local marshes were flooded with standing water, and on 11th February I awoke at 6.30am with a TAWNY OWL calling from a tree in the garden, with the early morning scan of the marsh producing a very nice male PINTAIL. With clear blue skies and plenty of sunshine I decided to walk round Soar Mill Cove valley and was rewarded with three male and two female CIRLBUNTING - one of the special birds of South Devon – and a FIRECREST, taking the total of 114.

"There a very few birds known to be on the patch that I haven't managed to find - the most elusive at the moment has to be BARN OWL."

That's great going from Mike, and Matt's struggling to keep up. He writes:

"A week or more of heavy snow during February curtailed my local birding, but in between times I've taken my total up to 89, and added quite a few more 'elite' species. Best of all were the gulls at Albert Village Lake, a flooded former opencast pit. I didn't find the MED GULL reported (I won't sweat it, though, because I'm confident there'll be more), but I did mop up GLAUCOUS, ICELAND, YELLOW-LEGGED and CASPIAN, plus a single OYSTERCATCHER.

"It's also getting so that, although it's still too dark to actually go birding before or after work, there's enough light as I leave home and get back to get a few ticks from behind the wheel. So, in the last couple of weeks there's been LITTLE EGRET, LITTLE OWL, and several SPARROWHAWKS (including, twice, a bird flying virtually across the bonnet while I was stopped at junctions). Other ticks have included GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, GOOSANDER and SHELDUCK, and as I write the first CURLEW and RINGED PLOVERS are going through, so they're my next target. Oh, and although I got them on January 1, the local PEREGRINES have been hunting spectacularly.

"Finally, I did a bit of off-patch birding at Great Easton, near Eyebrook Reservoir, last week, and saw four Short-eared Owls (very rare in Leicestershire) and, in a nearby tree in broad daylight, two Tawnys."

The Great List Challenge

A number of Bird Watching readers picked up the year list gauntlet we threw down and challenged members of our team, and we’ll be making regular updates, in the magazine and here, to let you know how things are going.

Mike Passman, whose local patch is Thurlestone Bay, in Devon, challenged Matt Merritt, whose patch covers the area around his home in Leicestershire. And so far, it’s Mike who’s setting the pace!

He writes: “Anticipation was high at the start of the New Year, but with a houseful of guests staying overnight and celebrations continuing until the early hours, it was after 2pm before watching could start in earnest. Being fortunate to overlook Thurlestone Marsh, the count rose rapidly, with the total by 5pm reaching 45, highlights being a juvenile male Black Redstart caught by a local ringer, Lapwing, Snipe and a single Dunlin.

“An early start on January 2nd produced a female Black Redstart and five Black-tailed Godwits, both from my garden. A walk round Thurlestone Bay produced a Common Scoter on the sea and seven Ringed Plovers on the beach. An afternoon visit to Aveton Gifford added Redshank, Greenshank, Common Sandpiper (over-wintering), four Little Grebes, Great Spotted Woodpecker, closely followed by Treecreeper, Jay, an overhead Raven, and a group of eight Redwings and two Mistle Thrushes.

“ A late afternoon visit to South Milton Ley added Grey Wagtail, three Chiffchaffs, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting, and a Cetti’s Warbler, increasing the total to a respectable 69 species.
“First surprise came on January 3rd, with the onset of a very cold spell of weather. South Huish Marsh produced a male Pochard with an adult Gannet in the bay – the former is only the second record in four years. Over the next three days the total rose to 75, with Water Rail, Linnet and Fieldfare observed from my garden, plus a Guillemot in Thurlestone Bay.

“January 6th was the first outstanding day of the year at Thurlestone Bay, producing a Black-throated Diver, 11 Razorbills, and on the rocks, two Turnstones and two superb Purple Sandpipers – a very difficult wader to find on the coast. The day just got better with a Cattle Egret flying up the marsh at 1.45 pm – a great garden tick. A visit to Aveton Gifford in the afternoon (temperature constantly below zero) produced Yellowhammer, Green Sandpiper, four Common Sandpiper and Kingfisher. On the drive home I had to stop driving to pick up a flock of 16 Golden Plover, a first record for the patch since I started my records in 2004. A low flying Sparrowhawk took the total to 86.

“The following day was almost as good. With the marshes fully frozen over, a walk round the reedbeds of South Milton Ley produced two very elusive records – singles of both Jack Snipe and Woodcock.

“ A Black-throated Diver was present (9th), joined by a Red-throated Diver, while the 10th produced another new site record in Thurlestone Bay – a male Velvet Scoter. In a local garden there was a female Blackcap, while on a late afternoon visit to South Milton Ley, a male Peregrine flew across the marsh.

“Next additions to the year list came on the 17th – a Lesser Black-backed Gull was at Aveton Gifford with four Gadwall on South Huish Marsh, where a Bar-headed Goose was amongst a flock of Canada Geese. Very stormy conditions overnight produced a fly-through Egyptian Goose, with the 100th species of the year a Water Pipit."

Meanwhile, in Leicestershire…

“I was out at first light on New Year’s Day,” writes Matt. “There was a hard frost, and no one was around, so I started by looking for loitering Waxwings at Barrow on Soar. No luck, so it was straight on to Cossington Meadows, where I picked up plenty of ducks (Mallard, Tufted, Gadwall, Pochard, Teal, Shoveler, Wigeon), plus Great Crested and Little Grebe, Snipe, and a nice surprise – two Chiffchaffs along the river.

“ I called in at Swithland Reservoir – no woodpeckers at all, let alone a Lesser Spotted, but one of the regular Peregrines was up on its usual perch. I dashed across country, picking up all five thrushes on the way, and after a vital stop for hot soup, carried on to Staunton Harold Reservoir (on my patch, but across the border in Derbyshire). Here I was able to get Lapwing, Buzzard and Goldeneye, and in the car-park, Tree Sparrow and Yellowhammer (sadly no Siskin or Lesser Redpoll).

“I finished up at Kelham Bridge, a former sewage works now turned into a small Wildlife Trust reserve. Willow Tits (easier to find than Marsh Tits, in these parts) were around the feeder, but the reported ringtail Hen Harrier failed to show. I then spent the best part of three days looking for it, with no success, although Bullfinch was a consolation, as was a Jack Snipe across the road at Sence Valley Forest Park. I also slipped back across to Staunton Harold to see a darke Smew – a good ‘elite’ tick for me (ie. outside the range of birds I actually expect to see on-patch).

“At this time of year, work means I do no birding on-patch in the week, but the following Saturday, the 10th, made up for that. I started at Staunton Harold, and ticked off another elite – Scaup – plus Nuthatch, then added Grey Partridge during the drive to Cossington. Once there, I was able to find Linnet, plus four great wildfowl ticks – Brent Goose (dark-bellied), White-fronted Goose, Pink-footed Goose and Whooper Swan. All elites, and the Brent a patch first for me.

“The next day, I stopped off in Loughborough to see a flock of 50-odd Waxwings stripping berries from a tree, much to the consternation of the local Mistle Thrushes. A great tick, but an even better all-round birding experience.

“Since then, the only addition has been Tawny Owl, from my bathroom window, with the local pair hooting and kee-wicking all night. So, the total is 79.
“But (and it’s a big but), there’s a Great White Egret at Sheepy Magna, just on-patch. I looked for it the other day, but it was out of sight (though still present). Hopefully it will hang around, or, as it did last year, move to another local site such as Watermead Country Park. I live in hope.”

BOOK REVIEW: The Little Owl

The Little Owl – conservation, ecology and behaviour of Athene noctua.
Dries van Niewenhuyse, Jean-Claude Génot and David H. Johnson.
Cambridge University Press. 2008. 574 pages. Hardback. £40.00
ISBN 978-0-521-88678-9

While many owls are difficult to study due to their relative scarcity and nocturnal habits, the Little Owl has become one of the best models for biological and conservation research. It is fairly common across much of Europe, and it occupies nest-boxes very easily, allowing researchers the chance to observe its nesting activities. This is the first book that I have seen to specifically focus on the species.

The authors synthesise information from 1,900 different sources and they discuss the Little Owl’s wide-ranging ecology, genetics and subspecies and population status by country. A lot of information has been incorporated from breeding atlases across Europe, and many maps have been included – although some have lost their impact by being in black and white.

A fact that many of us forget is that here in the UK the Little Owl did not arrive naturally. It was introduced into Kent and Northamptonshire, breeding for the first time in 1879. It has spread across much of England and Wales but has never advanced into Scotland or made the journey to Ireland.

The authors outline a strategy and monitoring programme for future conservation of the Little Owl. Although the UK population seems to be stable, the picture is not so rosy in some parts of Europe. Clear declines have occurred in Turkey and Spain and while a minimum of 560,000 pairs are thought to exist across the range, nest sites are often at risk from development.

Chapters cover every aspect of the Little Owl’s life, including history and traditions, taxonomy and genetics, morphology and body characteristics, distribution, habitat, diet, breeding, behaviour, population regulation and conservation. Perhaps most impressive, although of value really for the specialist, is an outstanding bibliography of literature on the Little Owl, listing publications dated from 1769 to the present day.

Books of this standard are often short of photographic content, but a clear attempt has been made here to lighten the book by the inclusion of 32 pages of colour images and in addition there are many black and white photos and line drawings.

Keith Betton

David Lindo on Little Egrets on The One Show

One of Bird Watching columnist David's more or less regular appearances on BBC1's The One Show sees him in a running race (bizarrely), helping ring British-bred Little Egrets and briefing the nation on some top sites to visit.

Sat next to him is Clarissa Dickson Wright, whose comments about the RSPB and raptor-culling sent viewer Mike Weedon into a paroxysm of outrage. Read all all about it in Weedon's World in the November 2008 issue of Bird Watching Magazine – coming to the shops on October 30.

Testing tips

In our October issue, we test seven mini-scopes. As always, though, our survey is only intended as a guide, and we strongly recommend that you try as many models as possible before you buy. With that in mind, here are our tips when buying any optics...

• If you can, ask other birdwatchers if you can try their scopes, and take note of any features you like or dislike.
• Before you go to buy, make a shortlist of models that you’re interested in, and give your dealer a call to check that they’re available.
• Make sure the shop you buy from has good viewing facilities, so you can test the scopes yourself. Some retailers hold field days at reserves and birdwatching fairs.
• Compare all the models on your shortlist thoroughly before trying any suggested by the shopkeeper.
• If the shopkeeper gets too technical for you, don’t be afraid to ask for clarification. If he is particularly enthusiastic about a certain model, remember that profit margins vary, and that it might be one that earns him more money.
• Try to compare only two models at a time, three at most.
• Take your time about comparing. Don’t be hurried (good retailers will be happy to give you as long as you need), and make notes as you compare – these will be invaluable if you decide to come back later after thinking things over.
• Take all factors into account – a superb image is all very well, but the scope also needs to be one that you’re comfortable using.
• Always test the actual scope you’re buying before taking it home.
• Check that the box carries an approved importers mark – buying a ‘grey’ import can cause problems if anything goes wrong.

Changes at Titchwell

Our October 2008 issue will feature a special news story by kevin Wilmot on the proposed changes at RSPB Titchwell, north Norfolk, the RSPB's most popular reserve.

Here, reserve Manager Rob Coleman outlines the 'planned retreat' proposed in order to manage the site for the next 50 years.

Kevin is leaving

Sadly, Bird Watching magazine will soon be saying farewell to its editor, Kevin Wilmot.

But before he leaves, check him out in his glory days, arguing with himself whether it is a Chiffchaff or a Willow Warbler.

Click the image above, sit back and be prepared to be scared...

Orca Blubberboys Birdfair triumph!

Dylan Walker's Orca Blubberboys (aka Whale Madrid) gloriously lifted the prized Forktail Trophy at this year's Rutland Birdfair 2008 football tournament.
Left to right: Jack Thorpe of Bird Watching), Emily Thorpe (unused sub), Jasmine Weedon (unused sub) Darren Rees, Eddie Weedon (unused sub), Mike Weedon (of Bird Watching), Dylan Walker (with trophy), Colin, Dave Gray, Ian Rowlands.

After a shaky start in the tournament, losing to the Wildlife Trusts, the BW-rich team (featuring Mike W in goal), the Blubberboys scored two 1-0 victories, including over MKA Dons. OB eventually succumbed in a close semi-final, 1-0 to tournament faves, the RSPB [we blamed a bizarre series of rule changes followed and implemented by the mighty charity-cum-quango].

The final was also close with MKA Dons victorious over the RSPB.

However, as we beat the official winners, we rightfully claim that the Orca Blubberboys had every right to lift the magnificent trophy!

August 2008

Now in a shop near you...

Our August 2008 issue is packed with great photos, news, advice and inspiration to help you get more from your birding this month:

FREE Birdfair '08 Showguide Pull-out guide to all you need to get the best from the British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland.


WIN Steiner binoculars Enter our competition for a chance to win some £1,000 binoculars.

Ospreys Latest news from the successful reintroduction of the magnificent Fish Hawk.

England, Scotland and Whales The best sites to watch seabirds, whales and dolphins in the UK.

ID Insights Pic out a Hippo – how to find and identify a Melodious or Icterine Warbler.

Hope for Malta? Adrian Thomas spent a month challenging illegal hunting in Malta and saw a chink of hope at the end of the tunnel.

Go Birding Special: Dragonflies and Birds 10 walks with great dragonflies and brilliant birds.

Showcase Top photographers form the overall winner of our top photographic competition IWP2007..

Secret lives: Lapwing: our strangest, most attractive wader.

Plus Plus PLUS – UKBS unique site-by-site guide to all the best birds of June 2008; page after page of ideas for August birding, and so much more!

Go buy it! Or subscribe here:

Birds on TV

Naughty bird blogger Andy McKay, aka the Leicester Llama has come up with a few TV programmes with a bird twist. Check his list at this link, but don't click it if you are offended by rude words...

We took a bit of inspiration in the BW office this press day, and came up with the following TV shows for starters:

Hatch of the Jay

Little Bittern

Never Mind the Woodcocks/Buzzards

Hobby City

Songs Ospreys

Desperate House Martins

Filthy Ostrich and Catflap

Steptoe and Sunbird

Ready Steady Rook

Eggs Factor

The Bill

Stork and Mindy

Wren and Stimpy

Opportunity Dunnocks

Magpie

Cormorantation Street

Top of the Epops (featuring Yellowlegs and co)

John Raven’s Newsround

Have I got Smews for you

Doctor Hoopoe (Plus the spin-off Torchwoodpecker)

They think its all plover

Tonight with Jonathan Ross’s Gull

Mock the Beak

Top Gyr

Going for Goldfinch

Some Plovers do ‘ave em

Noel’s Grouse Party

Blue Tit Peter

Willow Tit the Wisp

Jack Snipe anory

Home and a jay

He Manx Shearwater and the Masters of the Universe

Robin’s Nest

Kitchen Nightjars

South Lark

I’m Alan Partridge

Golden Gulls

Rhubarb and Bustard

Hill Street Blue Tits

The Rail Family

Birds of a feather

Open All Owls

To the Mallard Born

Puffin the Mule

Noddy

Quail of the Century

Home to Roost

The Goldeneye Shot

Call my Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Doves

The Starling buds of May

Easteiders

The Price is Kite (with Leslie Crowther)

Last of the Summer Wryneck

Inspector Moorhens

Dixon of Duck Green

Goose Women

Curlew've Been Framed

Birding with Bill Oddie

A new twist...

...on an old favourite!

Birds of Britain

We are making a DVD guide to birdwatching. In the meantime, enjoy this classic from YouTube...

July 2008

Now in a shop near you...

Our July 2008 issue is packed with great photos, news, advice and inspiration to help you get more from your birding this month:

In your garden How to attract mammals, watch mammals and enjoy mammals in your backyard.

Inside Binoculars We all use them, but what is really going on in your bins?

Win Scottish holidays worth £2,230 Enter our easy-to-enter comp. It is, in a nutshell, easy to enter!

Go Birding Special: Dragonflies and Birds 10 walks with great dragonflies and brilliant birds.

Building for Birds We share our homes with a wider range of birds than you may think – here's how to encourage them to nest at your place.

Secret lives: Wren: small bird, big character!

Plus Plus PLUS – UKBS unique site-by-site guide to all the best birds of May 2008; page after page of ideas for July birding, and so much more!

Go buy it! Or subscribe here:

New for the Western Palearctic?

Note the rather Woodcock-/Jack Snipe-like profile, with steep forehead and 'short' bill.



Swinhoe's Snipe, Tohmajarvi, Niirala, Finland, 27.6.08 (digiscope).

Mike Weedon has just got back from Finland, where he caught up with this new European bird, the Swinhoe's Snipe. It was particularly distinctive (and brilliant) in flight, when its bubbly drumming and trilling combined with a bouncing flight on bowed V-shaped wings and plunges to earth with a 'basket' of vibrating tail-feathers.

June 2008

Now in a shop near you...

Our June 2008 issue is packed with advice and inspiration to help you get more from your birding this month:

In your garden An old favourite gets a complete overhaul. Packd with tips and advice for your garden including how to make a wildlife pond.

Reedbeds Everything you need to know (and more) about this brilliant wetland habitat.

Digiscoping v DSLR Mike Weedon puts the two photographic techniques to the test on real birds! Which wins? The results may startle...

Go Birding 10 new exciting bird walks for June.

Secret lives: Fascinating facts about the Goldfinch.

Identify: Young Common, Med and Black-headed Gulls.

It's all in the June 2008 issue of Bird Watching magazine. Don't miss it!

Plus Plus PLUS – UKBS unique site-by-site guide to all the best birds of April 2008; page after page of ideas for June birding, and so much more!

Go buy it! Or subscribe here: