Saturday 26 August 2017

The Workington 72 ( Med. Gulls ) ... one ringed in Ireland ... two in Belgium ...

The yellow-ringed bird had been ringed in Dublin on 1st September 2014 as a juvenile. It was seen again in that area about a week later but not subsequently.  Med. Gulls have bred in Wexford in small numbers since 1996 but the ringer tells me that they do not breed in Dublin but are known to come there in the winter from France, Belgium and The Netherlands.

This bird was next seen on 9th May 2015 at NSG Teufel und Pfaffensee.  This is a former coal mining site that has been extensively restored as a wetland and lies 35km north of Frankfurt.

The next time this bird was reported was in the company of 71 other Med. Gulls at Workington ...



... the other two ringed birds carried white rings and had both been ringed in Belgium at a nesting site in May 2017.  One was a 3CY (2ndS) bird and the other an adult ...



... part of the flock including some Black-headed Gulls and juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gulls ...

... the Med. Gulls have a liking for standing in the seaweed and only occasionally wandering up onto a rock to reveal rings ...


Thursday 24 August 2017

The Leighton Moss Purple Heron ... an unexpected treat ...

Present on the reserve for its seventh day this wonderfully elegant juvenile heron gave great views in front of the Grizedale Hide this morning ...








... and then some lovely flight views ...







Workington Mediterranean Gull Fest ... 72 birds there of different ages ... 3 colour-ringed birds ...

The numbers of Mediterranean Gulls present in the Workington area in late summer have been gradually building over recent years ... the flock of 72 at Workington Harbour a few days ago was the greatest number I have seen together in the area ...


... two juveniles  ... two second-winters ... and some adults in flight ...




... this group, mainly adults show quite variable head patterns ... one has a yellow colour-ring ...




... these three are at different stages of moult, going from juvenile into first-winter plumage ...

... interestingly, colour-ringed birds occurring previously have come from a diverse range of countries ... Hungary, Poland, Germany Belgium ...  do they arrive here independently or do they congregate somewhere on the continent first ?


Wednesday 16 August 2017

Black-tailed Godwit at Campfield Scrape on 3rd July ... ringed at Montrose Basin on 28th Sept 2015

The Montrose Basin in Scotland is the most northerly regular wintering site for Black-tailed Godwit ...
one of a group of ten birds that I photographed at Campfield Scrape on the Cumbrian Solway on 3rd July was colour ringed at the Montrose Basin ...


... the bird had been seen on ten other occasions ... all at the Montrose Basin ... ( click on image to enlarge )...



Raymond Duncan, the ringer has provided some interesting information about the movements of these birds ...








Tuesday 8 August 2017

Stop Killing Hen Harriers ... the message from Hen Harrier Day events up and down the land last weekend



The event at Loch Leven RSPB was opened by Duncan Orr-Ewing, Head of Species and Land Management, RSPB Scotland ... with good speeches also from Ian Thomson and Guy Shorrock , both stalwart RSPB workers in the Investigations departments ...



... Henry Hen Harrier looked on ...

... we then heard from Mairi Gougeon ( formerly Mairi Evans ) MSP  ... great to have a politician present ... and one who spoke up for wildlife ...

... we learned that the Scottish Parliament has instigated a series of Species Champions ... MSPs who take a special interest in promoting the well-being of vulnerable species ..

... and Mairi is the Hen Harrier Species Champion ! ...


Well done Mairi and well done the Scottish Parliament !

What a contrast with the shameful proceedings in Westminster Hall last winter when Mark Avery's petition to Ban Driven Grouse Shooting triggered a debate which was conducted with utter contempt ... the chairman opened the debate with flagrant bias towards Grouse Shooting while Therese Coffey rummaged in her handbag before delivering some gabbled closing remarks dismissing the 123 thousand strong petition out of hand ... this completely flew in the face of Natural Justice ...



The Boat of Garten Hen Harrier Day was opened by Mark Avery who spoke with his usual clarity and commitment ...



... again Ian Thomson ... visibly fired up ... and this time with a promise to reveal in his blog the inexplicable failure of the Scottish Crown Office to prosecute the gamekeeper filmed shooting a Hen Harrier ...


For me the most powerful presentation was by the redoubtable Ruth Tingay ... it focused on Wilful Blindness ...



Wilful Blindness ( willful is more American ) is where people choose not to see uncomfortable truths ( e.g. Saville, Rochdale, Rebekah Brooks ... and the rest ) ...

This Wilful Blindness ... she told us ... is operating around the illegal killing of Raptors ...

I had heard her speak on this same matter the day before ... a strong message worth hearing again ...


It was then the turn of Peter Argyle from the Cairngorm National Park Authority ... remember them ? ... remember those images of truck loads of dead Mountain Hares killed within the Park ?
He had the cut of a man defending an indefensible position ...

Harry Huyton , Director of OneKind was eloquent and impassioned and spoke of the right kind of partnerships that can be forged in order to help stop the killing ... the illegal killing of Hen Harriers ...







Wednesday 2 August 2017

Book Review : Being a Beast by Charles Foster

This is one of the most remarkable books I've ever read ... it was suggested to me for a present about six months ago - I had a quick look and said no thanks ... a few months later a friend recommended it - I ignored that as well ... another friend sang its praises and lent it to me ... so maybe it was time to re-evaluate ...


The premise of the book is that the author wants to know what it is like to be a wild creature - a Badger, an Otter, a Fox, a Red Deer and a Swift ...

... fine so far .. but he decides to try to live the life of each one of these ... hmmm ...

This did not bode well ... but who was this person with the seemingly mad ( and not mad in a good way ) idea ... ?

Well , it turns out that he is a Fellow of one of the Oxford Colleges, has a PhD in medical law and ethics, is a veterinary surgeon and a barrister and has a prodigious list of publications to his name on a wide range of subjects including philosophy, the biology of the spiritual experience and the evolution of altruism ...

I've read a lot of mediocre nature writing ( and some frankly terrible stuff ) over the years and was half expecting this to be just one more in that same mold ...

... so, still not entirely convinced ... I gave it a go ... and was hooked ...

The writing is sharp  ... and it's funny ... 'funny' can be a dangerous thing to go for but this works ... and for a person with such a plethora of tangible talent he is remarkably self-effacing ...

I can get very tired of being told things by authors who think they have arrived at some particular 'truth' ... ( I remember Robert Bly having things to say about that ! ) but there is none of that ...

There is , on the other hand , a good deal of hard fact ...  and interesting stuff ... and some very subtle references where he feels no obligation to labour a point ...

Mostly though , it is an adventure, an exploration , a quest for knowing something which is ultimately unknowable ... but a fascinating and highly entertaining one at that ...