Wryneck

When a Wryneck turned up at Boddam on Friday I thought it would disappear as quickly as it came. Next day I was informed that it was still in the same place so we made our way over and located the bird straight away, feeding among the seaweed.

Now Wrynecks are not normally known for feeding in this habitat, but are normally found in sunny open woodland in Europe. It no longer breeding in England but may still be present and breeding in small numbers in North East Scotland.

Although part of the woodpecker family it does not climb tree trunks or drum. At first glance it looks like a small brown bird, bigger than the house sparrows that were also feeding in the seaweed. When threaten it defends its self with snaking twisting movements of the neck -hence the name.

The plumage is patterned like lichen in a grey brown colour with dark bands along the head and back. The tail is relatively long and has a short bill. It spends a lot of time in trees well camouflaged but also comes onto the ground to feed, hopping around.

On Monday I took another look not expecting the bird to be present but it was and seemed content feeding on insects it found in the seaweed. It was very confiding hence the photos. On Monday no other birder were present, not a thing that would happen in England.

I still have a lot of photos to process and with a limited amount of space on my laptop hard drive. Hopefully soon I will be able to down load several hundred photos including the Night Heron I photographed at Raewick in April

Missing birds

It seems strange that there is only one record of a Magpie reaching Shetland, this was found on Fair Isle in April 1987. Although along time before this bones have been found in excavations at Jarlshof near Sumburgh,, dating from the 9-10 Centuries. It has been suggested that these were actual brought into Shetland (bird alive or dead)

It does seem strange to find this out, living in the magpie capital of Britain before moving up to Shetland. Sheffield has a very high population of magpies, a bird that is sedentary- so no wonder it does occur as a migrant in Shetland . In Sheffield it has been blamed for the decline of small birds especially in gardens although a survey by the BTO found that magpies had no effect on song birds whether they were in large or small numbers. They are very loud birds always drawing attention to themselves and it is a bird that is easily identified.

In winter they tend to roost together and I saw over 24 birds coming into roost in a large bush beside the river don. At this time of year they will be breeding, with birds nesting from two years old. They lay 6 green/ blue eggs spotted with brown in April. after building a large dome nest.

Young birds stay together until about September when they disperse but many don't survive the first year. The oldest bird was found to live until it was 21.

Another bird very common in the wood of Sheffield is the Nuthatch, this very attractive hole nesting bird can even be found close to the city centre. Its habit of walking down the tree trunk is a common feature of its behavior. Its is blue / grey above and orange below with a black eye stripe making it very distinctive.

It is resident only in England and is again sedentary like the magpie making it very doubtful whether any birds would ever make it as far north as Shetland. Early records from Fair Isle in the late 1930's and early 1940's must have been misidentified. Any recorded movements nearly always show avoidance to open water.

Singing

Spring is my favorite season, the flowers are out and the bird start singing. We have had a Robin singing since last October and they will continue to sing until early June. Lots of migrant birds will be coming back soon and they want to set up a territory as soon as possible to attract a mate.

On the cliffs of Shetland I wouldn't exactly call it singing but the calls are all part of the same thing to renew the bond between birds, with the Puffin coming out top every time. Its just part of the whole seabird experience, the sound, the sight and of course the smell.

Although Shetland doesn't have many trees the ones that they have are magnets for all song birds. Robins have now started to breed on a regular basis, Chaffinch can be heard along with Goldcrests at Kergord and usually something unusual turns up.

On our last visit a Song thrush was singing, a rare one at this time of year. Others like Icterine and Sub-alpine warblers have been found well off course from there intended destination. perhaps the one that catches the attention most is the very loud Shetland wren which seems to be everywhere.

The starling is interesting as it mimics other birds calls. We watched one singing away up at Sandwick who would mimic a Curlew, which is amazing. The birds with the most varied and loud songs will attract the best mates so its all about the `voice'

Normally a  post , gate or fence is used to sing from but birds like Meadow Pipit and Skylark don't have that luxury so the have to make do with a sky song. Flying high in the air and hovering giving out their magical song. A skylark was recorded singing for over an hour before descending.

                                                                                                      Skylark

Waders fly over their territory calling or use an occasional post and these birds sing well into the evening. Shetland is the ideal place to be in Spring with the Simmer Dim , a time when its virtually light 22 hours a day, it just needs the energy levels to keep going , and I am not just talking about the birds.

                                                                                                             Golden Plover

Bird song helps with identification especially some of the more difficult warblers and knowing songs can enhance your birding experience. It is difficult to start of with especially as most birds only sing for a few months a year, but seeing and putting a song together lives in the memory for a long time. DVD and CD's can help but there is nothing like being out in the field listening.

Another benefit at this time of year is that the birds are in breeding plumage, with some stunning colours that fade away as the year progresses. Have a great spring where ever you are.

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