Peregrine

I thought I would take the last chance to see the Peregrines that are nesting in the city centre before we move to Shetland next week. Although it was cloudy at first this soon cleared into a sunny morning just right for seeing the peregrines.

As soon as I arrived the female was circling round the church before calling the male off the nest. the exchange was swift and the female soon settled onto the four eggs. Over the next two and a half hours the peregrines flew over four times.

Each time the left the area they headed into the city centre to find plenty of feral pigeons as food items but at present not bringing them back to the nest site. I have seen peregrines earlier in the year carrying pigeons onto the BT  building before plucking them.

While i was at the church a group of people gathered, some from the Sheffield Bird study group and others from the University (the church is now a controverted lecture hall and flats). It appears they have been having problems with the lights around the church which has caused some concern to people coming back very late at night to the flats as they were not lit.

The University had mended the lights prior to the peregrines nesting but now the wanted to replace them just at the time the peregrines were nesting. A MEWP would be used to lift a man up to the lights to change the light fittings.

This will cause disturbance to the peregrines, they are not concerned with a large tower crane jib passing over head because it has been used for a long time and no people are visible , but using a MEWP with a person coming up towards the nest (although the lights are  lower down) could cause the birds to desert the nest or leaving the eggs for long periods.

Over a long chat the University decided to work on the opposite side of the church and leave the nesting side until after the young had hatched. These birds are protected and it could have been left to a judge to decided what action would be take if work had continued.

Peregrines are having a bad time of it through persecution and at present this is the only city peregrine pair in Yorkshire, although a pair is investigating an area in Wakefield. There are now more pairs in the centre of London than in the Peak District to Northumberland . The pair that nests in the Peak District has not had raised any young since 2001 due to egg collectors and shooting

Good and sad sightings

Its always a sad sight to see dead birds especially those beside the road. Last week I was giving talks on Shetland to two groups on in Nottingham and then at Boston RSPB group in the evening. Travelling down the A52 was interesting with many wood pigeon and corvids around.

We stopped for a cuppa and a bite to eat some way before Boston and was lucky enough to see a male Marsh Harrier closely followed by a female.I gather that in this part of the county they have started to nest in oil seed rape crops, very similar to the ones in France. This is all down to expanding numbers with birds moving away from traditional reedbed nest sites.

Also as the light dropped a barn owl made an appearance, they always seem more numerous in this part of the country. It moved back and forth along a ditch and made one attempt to catch some prey item. Also we were very lucky to also see a short eared owl close to as it flew along parallel to the road over weedy ground. This is a favored habitat for this day flying species, normally though we see them in winter in Lincolnshire.

The only disappointment to this day was the number of dead Tawny Owls along the A52 , we counted 7 dead ones and 1 dead barn owl. They often come close to the road side as the traffic disturbs the small mammals and end up being hit by passing traffic.

Often small birds such as Blackbirds also get killed as they have changed their flight path to a very low road crossing trying to avoid sparrowhawks. A dead badger and fox also highlighted that roads are very dangerous places for all wildlife.

In Shetland i have seen a number of gulls, Rooks at Kergord, numerous rabbits and even a Polecat ferret dead at the side of the road, so even here people drive too fast !

                                                                                          Dead Rook at Kergord

Down in Boston as we ate our sandwiches we looked over to the Boston Stump and saw a Peregrine, near the tower. They failed to breed last year due to disturbance but a pair have been present for a few weeks. The pair nesting in Sheffield city centre now have 3 eggs and have been successful for a number of years

                                                                      Sheffield peregrines now with 3 eggs


As regards the talks, the evening one , very well attended, had the most people out of one group that had visited Shetland - 7 people. they all had stories some from 30 years ago. I really should be getting a job with the tourist board with the amount of publicity talks i do. Shetland is the most requested talk I give, with about 1/5 of the 35-40 talks a year.

                                                                                 

Greylag

I remember back in the 1980's when we visited Shetland for the first time it seemed strange to see no geese. We had to wait until the mid 1990's before we got a glimpse of a Greylag on Unst and from there its been a massive expansion with Greylags now settling in most parts of Shetland. Its not uncommon to see twenty of thirty birds with young around Clumlie in the breeding season.

Unlike the birds found in England , Shetland has genuine wild birds from Iceland, but they still cause damage and farmers in the south mainland are suffering from the amount of geese feeding in the fields. As there an no natural predators, other than perhaps the odd otter taking young or eggs left at an unattended nest, numbers are now extremely high and need controlling.

 A recent census by the Shetland Bird club revealed at least 5,000 individuals which are resident and a wintering population of over 7,250

Last year in June we also saw a Canada Goose down at Sumburgh Farm, only the second one we have seen. In South Yorks and Derbyshire numbers have been controlled for a number of years now, not be shooting but by making sure eggs are destroyed. In the 1990's I took part in a wild fowl count down at Rothervalley CP and noted that 500 birds, with some birds moving between Clumber Park , another strong hold.

 At that time only around a dozen Grey lag would be present but now these numbers have swelled to around a 100

Puffins

Puffins should soon be back on the Shetland cliffs and they are always great to see. Many Puffins were caught up in the severe storms which hit the bay of Biscay last week. Counts of Puffins on the beaches of France near the Spanish boarder found over 12,000 dead individuals amongst over 21,000 seabirds. Most of these were just about to start the long journey back to the breeding colonies in the norther of Britain. Ringed birds for Shetland were found amongst the dead birds.

Puffins have been having a very bad time in recent years and numbers have declined. This is down to the lack of sand eels, which in the 1980-2000 were caught in the 1,000's. This has now been stopped in British waters but still continues in Norway and Iceland. Its hard to believe that the sand eels are only used for cat and dog food, surly they could find some other food source and leave the eels alone. Another problem is that sand eels have changed their habits as a result of the sea warming. Now the are diving deeper as they prefer cooler waters

Very few young survive in Shetland  as a result of a food shortage and it has become a rare sight to see a Puffin coming in with a beak full of sand eels to feed young birds.. The puffin cam located on Sumburgh head is a great way to see Puffins underground, this secret life is revealed but also during the past three years that this has been in place no young have survive. Lets hope 2014 is a better year, and a year to celebrate the opening of  the new RSPB centre at Sumburgh head, this has cost more than £4.25 Million and is due to be complete in a few months.

A year ago we were watching Puffins at Sumburgh head when two Americans got out of a taxi, looked over the edge of the cliffs and commented that the penguins looked cute and got straight back in the car and drove off before we could say anything. Also due to the small size of the adult Puffins many people think they are young birds until its pointed out. Just shows you how many people get confused looking at common birds !!

We love to hear them calling, its call an easy one to remember. The colours on the beak are spectacular, but have you ever seen one open its mouth to reveal the orange inner mouth. This is how close you can get to them at Sumburgh, Noss or Hermaness

To reinforce the pair bond they do alot of beak clattering, others watch and are drawn in then they get too close and a fight starts with birds tumbling down the cliff face with wings outstretched. After this the start digging and many have dirty faces and after this its about egg laying and trying to raise young. Both adult birds are often away trying to find food. But even if they do find the odd sand eel they risk attacks by Artic Skua, Gt Skua and other gulls - its a hard life.

You can then start to understand why large numbers are being found dead, they have not found enough food to sustain them through the harsh winters, body weight is down and they are in poor condition. To try a live out at sea from about August - late February / early March must be very hard for any bird

Eider

It comes as no surprise to find that eider ducks have declined dramatically since we have been visiting Shetland. Back in 1980's when we started visiting Shetland numbers we around the 10.000 mark but declined to 6,000 by 1997. A survey in 2012 funded by the Sullom Voe Association Ltd have found that 1,00 birds have been lost over the past three years.

Eider ducks are vulnerable to inshore oil pollution, and the Shetland Oil Terminal Environmental Advisory Group (SOTEAG) has monitored their numbers since the oil terminal was built.The Braer oils spill in the south Mainland in 1993 and the discharges by various fishing vessels over a period of time has contributed to the decline. Add to this predication of young by Gulls, Skuas and possibly otters as well adults have been killed by Killer Whales, this has only been seen a few times (Simon King video a few years ago) but more recently observed in the Faroes where 50 birds were killed in a matter of minutes. When  birds become flightless in summer they become an easy target.

It seems that eiders in Shetland have changed their habits moving closer to aquaculture sites in the inner voes. Changes in weather conditions also have an effect on where birds will shelter.

Eiders feeding on mussel lines has caused some conflict and various measures are being tried out to deter the birds.

Shetland eiders are resident and studies suggest that they are closer to the Faroese race than those in northern Scotland.

N American borealis - breeds along the SW edge of Greenland (to c.75deg. N), extensively from southern Ellesmere Is., through Baffin Island, along the NE coast of Canada to meet dresseri at c. 54 deg. N; it winters off SW Greenland and around S Newfoundland; 

dresseri - breeds and winters further south, from southern Newfoundland (54deg. N) south to Boston (c. 42deg. N); 

sedentaria breeds and winters around the rim of Hudson Bay.

Eiders breed around the coast in Shetland although a number find moorland sites such as on Mousa, Unst and the North mainland attractive. They nest in colonies and sometimes they wont move off the nest. Eider down is still collected in some parts of Scandinavia but eider downs used for sleeping are a rare thing here in the UK.

There has been several sighting in Shetland of the northern eider but there is still alot of debate as to the identification, with several seen of Moray in NE Scotland showing sails and apparently one that was ringed in Moray as a young bird also showed these signs

King Eiders are always worth seeing and we have had a few sightings in Shetland, with the Tresta King Eider giving good views back in the 1990's, but too distant for any photos. Other have been around Unst or the north mainland and more recently a week or so ago 3 King eiders were found in the Bluemull Triangle (Unst)

Duck anyone

Its been far too long since my last post but things overtake you at certain times of year and this is one. I have been very busy delivering adult education photography courses, working towards a teaching qualification and well as giving a number of illustrated talks , several of which I had to make up from scratch.

                                                                Long Tailed Duck
The weather has not been kind to anyone especially those in the south of England and also in Shetland where gales and rain seem never ending. Its difficult to get out and get any photos in those conditions so its always a good time to look back. At this time of year I always think about wildfowl, they are in breeding plumage and look immaculate.

Diving duck can be seen on a number of lochs in Shetland, Spiggie, Brow Hillwell Clickhimin etc. Over the years in Spring we have seen an increase in Tufted duck numbers with 44 on Spiggie in one flock in mid June, these will be non breeding birds. These are always nice to see and some people get them mixed up with Scaup especially the females, which look similar except for the more white around the base of the bill and no tuft, with a more rounded head. No doubting the males with a grey back rather than a black colour on the Tufted. A small number of birds breed especially in the South mainland

Goldeneye are always great to see and at this time of year have started to display, the males throwing their heads back and calling with plenty of fighting between the males. These are tree nesting birds so it would be very doubtful they would breed in Shetland, with no nesting sites. Unst is the most favored site during the year with peak numbers during October - January

Pochard numbers are always variable, a chunky duck they always rest in small flocks, the males with the brown heads and silver backs look stunning even at a distance.Birds can usually be found in May and June at Loch of Hillwell but only in small numbers

Long tailed ducks are normally found on the sea but a number do take to fresh water with Spiggie a favorite place

 During 2012 up to 700 birds were present at Belmont in Unst during early spring. Odd birds can be found usually up to Mid June.Numbers in June are certainly less now than back in the 1980-1990's