Rally For Nature - A Letter from my MP

On the 9th December there was an important Rally for Nature day in London. You can read more about it here on Mark Avery's blog. It was a school day and I had exams, so I couldn't go, but I did write to my local MP, Stephen O'Brien, inviting him to attend the day. In my invite to him, I told him how concerned I was about wildlife crime and in particular raptor persecution.

I am very grateful for the reply from Mr O'Brien that I received yesterday, and must say thank you to him for taking the time to respond. An image of the letter is below. If you click on the picture it does get bigger.

Whilst reading the letter I discovered a couple points that I'd like to pick up on. Mr O'Brien says that £7.5 million has been provided for 12 Nature Improvement Areas.  I will need to do more research to find out what all of these are, but 12 across the country  doesn't sound like many, especially with all the frightening declines we are seeing across our wildlife species. I would like to see more protection  now to help numbers increase in the future.

Another point I picked up on was the fact that a million trees are being planted in towns and cities, and 20,000 acres of woodland have been created.  But this doesn't mean anything unless you work out how much woodland has been lost (something else I will need to research a bit more).  And the new areas of woodland do not replace the lost ancient woodlands of established habitat. It will take years and years and years before any newly planted woodland establishes itself as real habitat for our wildlife. 

A final point and a big issue for me is that £500,000 of funding was announced for National Wildlife Crime Unit till March 2016. Firstly this amount (about the cost of a large house) will not go far, although it is a good start, however with the next general election coming up in May, how secure is this funding if the government changes.

I am really grateful to Mr O'Brien for his reply and it might be good that it actually makes me ask even more questions and doesn't make me think, oh well, that's okay then.  I know that politicians have a lot of decisions to make and that wildlife is just one of those decisions, but the natural world provides us with almost everything we need every day, so it has to be looked after and it should come first.

Ohhhhh I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside!

Unfortunately my Christmas holiday is drawing to a close, so I thought what better way to spend my last few days than doing a bit of coastal birding. We started off a little bit further a field than my local places this time, going to the marina path off West Kirby, which is literally right on the edge of the Dee Estuary.  You can get good views of Hilbre Island from here, but we weren't sure of the tide times, so we didn't attempt to walk across the sands to the island.

West Kirby

We started off by parking on the road alongside the Marina, getting brilliant views of Red Breasted Merganser in good numbers. There were also some cracking views of some stunning Goldeneyes (a bird which I've seen now every day since the start of the New Year). These Goldeneyes were hanging around with the Mergansers, the male in particular was the closest, enabling the family to get some superb views.

Red Breasted Merganser

After a good scan of the marina we moved on to a couple of jetties just in front of the main estuary. I noticed a few smaller birds alongside the gulls, wandering along the jetties, before swiftly flying to join a gorgeous Redshank (which was only about 4 meters away). These small birds were Turnstones, possibly one of my favorite waders. 

Redshank and Turnstone

In total there were 6 Turnstone, which after a few minutes flew off calling at the same time to join the thousands of other birds out on the main estuary. An absolutely brilliant little wader to observe. 

Turnstone

We stayed watching the Turnstones for a good ten minutes before moving on to the main estuary. The marina is separated from the sea by a stone wall and path. You can walk along this path right around the marina, but also right alongside the actual estuary.

This meant we could walk from watching the Turnstones to watching the thousands of other birds on the estuary. Before checking out the distant birds, I decided to scan all the solitary birds dotted throughout the estuary, picking up Curlew, Oystercatcher, Redshanks and Sanderling (a surprising lifer and new bird for the year).

After I'd done my best to look for all the solitary birds, I moved onto the larger flocks (when I say larger, I mean flocks of thousands), observing Dunlin in their thousands, which were accompanied by hundreds of Knot (another first for the year), and huge flocks of Redshank as well. 

After I'd scanned the estuary back and fourth as far as I could several times, I stumbled across a truly striking bird. This pitch black chest came in to view with speckled silver washed wings, I knew before I had time to think that this could only be a Summer plumaged Grey Plover surrounded by a couple of Winter plumaged as well, I thought this was quite unusual, however despite this it was an absolute pleasure to observe and probably my bird of the day.

Grey Plover in Summer plumage

Leasowe

After a brilliant morning at West Kirby we all spent the afternoon at Leasowe Lighthouse which is basically just round the corner from the Dee Estuary. As the tide was almost completely out, most of the birds were out with it, which made it more difficult to tell what was out there. 

Unlike West Kirby, many of the birds were at the tide line, as you can see in the picture below. There were thousands of gulls, however mixed in with them we scoped out Dunlin, Knot and another possible Sanderling.

Bird filled tide line

Leasowe Lighthouse was a stunning place with a wide stretch of flowing water in front of the barricade flood defenses, attracting Redshank right up close to you, allowing great views. 

We didn't spend as long at Leasowe because the tide was was right, right out and we were losing light so it was getting more difficult to identify the birds; however the scope had a long range so we were able to make out a large quantity of Common Scoters beyond the tide line, and also a solitary Ringed Plover blending in brilliantly with the sandy mud.

The sun finally came out and lit up the sand banks and water closest to us and creating some great reflections.

Black Headed Gull

On the way back from the rocks where we'd hoped we might get Purple Sandpiper, we looked in to the fields and spotted a small bird perched amongst a dead shrub. My mum got a picture whilst I got great views in my binoculars and scope, I soon realised this bird was a female Stonechat. It came almost 2 meters away from us and spent it's time dropping to the ground and then sitting high up on dried shrubs.

What stays in my mind after such a brilliant day is just the total stillness and calmness of that reflective water and the engaging sounds of so many different bird songs carrying across the sand banks.

New Year's Day Birding

2015, a new start for everyone, and of course new hope for our wildlife. I started my 2015 with a full day out birding around a couple of my local places; however before visiting these places, I have to tell you what my first bird of 2015 was. I'm sure you can all guess, as it was seen in my garden very early, and has been the same first bird I've seen for every New Year three times running. This bird was indeed the Blackbird, which also finished my year of 2014.

Blackbird

Taking advantage of the milder snippet of weather, as a family our first birding destination for 2015 was Sandbach Flashes, a place we have just started to really get in to. Basically, Sandbach flashes is a decent sized permanently flooded hole in the middle of a field surrounded by other flooded areas, attracting a good amount of wildlife, particularly wildfowl. During a quick scan of the feeders I noticed a Tree Sparrow (right, on seed feeder below) on the seed accompanied by a House Sparrow (left). always nice to see Tree Sparrows, especially on the first day of the year. 

Tree Sparrow on right of seed feeder

Throughout the course of the morning, I scanned in detail the main water itself, noticing large numbers of Wigeon and Lapwing spread out across the water and the field. Within the mixture of birds it was also nice to see good numbers of Teal and Tufted Duck. There must of been about 300 Lapwing and a mixture of about 1000 ducks, including some stunning Shoveler. The majority of wildfowl were actually feeding in the fields, with the Lapwing occasionally being spooked by the wind and all lifting up on mass.

Wigeon

As you can see in the picture below, there were quite a few of birds to sort through; however I did so carefully, finding several Curlew and about another 100 or so Starling which kept building in numbers until we left. As usual, we were recording all of the data into a book to be uploaded on to the BTO's BirdTrack (with a good amount of species observed so far).

Standing room only

After we had studied the main pool for long enough, we all moved on to some of the flooded areas just the other side of the main lake. As usual the first flooded patch didn't have too much to offer apart from five Curlew, a couple of Teal and Wigeon. Also a solitary Lapwing moved from it's vulnerable position to join the large flock just across the road. 

Curlew

There were quite a few more birds on the other side of the lane, yet another flooded field, supplying well over 100 Black Headed Gulls, about 50 Lesser Black Backed Gulls, about 60 Herring Gulls and 30 Great Black Backed Gulls.

After sorting through that huge mixture of Gulls I moved on to see what else I could find. I managed to spot about another 200 Lapwing and a couple of Tufted Duck.

Gull Mix

However, some of the other more unusual waders were also present.  I spotted 3 Ruff, which are always nice to see. I haven't seen many Ruff in the past, so was lovely to see them so close to home. Another one of my favorite waders, the Redshank, was continually strolling along the grassy bank of the water. 

Ruff

After a great morning at Sandbach Flashes, we spent the majority of the afternoon at Frodsham Marsh, a place I haven't really visited enough since I got my new scope.  I was really glad to visit as I got some great birds despite the horrible weather racing in. 

Dark clouds gathering

After a good scan of the fields, I observed a large flock of Lapwing mixed in with a couple of hundred Golden Plover. These birds looked stunning against the black sky, with the sun light shining directly among them.  I haven't seen Golden Plover for ages, so was quite glad to see them in good numbers and putting on a great display.

Golden Plover and Lapwing over Frodsham Marsh Farm

On  the main scrape (No.6 tank) I noticed about 100 Teal, and about 50 Black Tailed Godwit, but I did keep getting distracted by those Golden Plover rising out of the field in huge golden bursts.

Golden Plover and Lapwing

Rapter-wise we saw some absolutely stunning views of a Buzzard catching and eating prey in flight. This which was a brilliant sight to see as it kept passing the prey from it's talons to it's beak (and all time being mobbed by another Buzzard). 

Buzzard with prey at the top

The day finished with a roost walk at Winsford Flash (a place I am really going to focus on in 2015). Yesterday I got a new species for this site, a bird I'm surprised I hadn't seen before there, it was indeed a Goldeneye, Winsford Flash has had some great birds in the past and I can't wait to start tracking it a bit more closely.  Great Crested and Little Grebe finished the day off nicely.

Diving Little Grebe

Happy New Year everyone!!!!!

Are We Human, Or Are We Skydancers - My 2014 review

2014 for me has been a special year. I have learnt a lot and been involved in some amazing things with some amazing people.

I have done a review of 2014 in pictures; if I've got a picture of you then you are probably in there, so look closely!  Not surprising that my year really did start and finish with Hen Harriers.

I wish everybody and our wildlife all the very best for 2015. 

Wild Bird Wednesday

BTO Conference 2014

At the start of the weekend I was delighted to be driving down to the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, and as you can guess in the title of my blog, it was indeed the annual BTO conference, and my visit ever visit to it. It was a long drive down in horrendous traffic and even a sprinkle of snow, however despite the tricky drive across I was delighted to arrive and be greeted by all my young friends that I speak with on line, including Toby Carter, Ben Moyes, Josie Hewitt, Evie & Abby Miller and Ellis Lucas.

The first evening of the weekend started with a talk by Helen MacDonald who wrote H is for Hawk. Her talk was very interesting and there was lots of interesting information and even some bits I didn't agree with; but I think a presentation is good if it makes you think or question things.

Then it was off to the quiz with my young friends. Our team easily beat the parents team (and Hugh Brazier) but we didn't win the overall thing. Nick Moran was really funny doing the quiz. During the quiz we also got to know Gethin, a 15 year old birder who I hope to see again.    

After a great evening catching up with people and some sleep, Saturday morning started with a crisp but refreshing frost.

It was brilliant to listen to all the exceptional talks presented by some fascinating people, including first a brilliant talk all about wind farms located in the sea, and their affects on sea birds and other off shore wildlife. They also talked about what groups and the government could do to reduce the amount of deaths per year (especially the most affected higher flying species of bird including gulls, compared to the likes of shear-waters which fly closer to the water and to the shore).

It was great to listen to the talk based on the correlation between birds and climate change,  giving some brilliant explanations and points on how the weather affects breeding birds and the amount of migrants and immigrants that visit year after year to the United Kingdom.

I'd also like to pick up on Kevin Gaston's fascinating talk to do with birds in an urbanising world. The talk was so captivating and I am still thinking about the things he said days later. He also talked about the nature related words that have been removed from the Children's Oxford dictionary, words like Acorn,Buttercup,Kingfisher,Starling to name a few ... But then he talked about new words added in to the dictionary......Endangered and Celebrity !  It's scary isn't it.

Another great talk I'd like to mention was one by the extraordinary Dave Leech, not just because he is so inspiring but also because he is a great, knowledgeable man.  Now I'm sure you can guess what his talk was on (not rock music), it was nesting of course, showing all about the number of nest records sent in to the nunnery. It included the most frequent and obscure nests and it was also really nice to see he had used some of the youngster's nest pictures, including my Blackbird nest.

Kate Plummer's talk was based upon how our Blackcaps used to be mainly Summer migrants but how more are also wintering here in the UK. This talk was full of information, including why Blackcaps are wintering, to do with the fact of Climate Change and how our Winters are getting warmer, and how wintering Blackcaps have evolved in a short space of time (especially their beaks) to feed on our garden feeders like fat balls and sunflower hearts.

One of the best graphics I saw was one shown by Viola Ross-Smith which showed a flight of a Lesser Black Backed Gull from it's satellite tag. You could even see where it had followed a plough. You can watch this clip here, look out for the bit when it rises on the thermals, it's just brilliant.

On the Saturday the young birders were invited to have lunch with Chris Packham and Andy Clements. It was a great lunch with lots discussion about getting the BTO engaged with younger people.  We were all given a signed copy of Chris Packham's book (100 things that caught my eye) which was very generous, thank you again Chris and of course you Andy for all the support you have given me and my friends.

After a Brilliant lunch, it was time to listen to couple more talks, the first of which was called Urban Peregrines. This one caught my eye because it was about the fact that Peregrines have increased in our Urban areas like cities. This talk was also about how they have distributed throughout the UK and about how the BTO and colour ringing are helping to track and learn about the science of these fascinating birds.

I'd like to point out how a couple of the talks and conversations proved how important things like ringing and nest recording  are exciting, fascinating and inspiring for getting children engaged and involved with citizen science and the natural world.  Ringing and nest recording are the sorts of hands on activities that grab children's attention and spark an interest straight away.

After a delicious tea, and great nights sleep  I was delighted to wake up on Sunday and find it was the day of the Young Birders. Today we were taking to the stage.  I was going to deliver part of my passion, and talk about how we can help nature and what we have done to bird populations.

Of course I was nervous about speaking in front of 350 or so ringers, nesters, birders, scientists, experts and important members of the BTO. I think we were all nervous and couldn't stop worrying about whether it would go well or not, however knowing that I knew my words and believing in my words, I felt like it was going to be OK.

I was speaking last, and I don't know if this is better or worse than going first, but the great talks I heard from my friends held my attention and stopped me thinking about my turn.  Before we all began speaking we were formally and informally introduced by Lucy McRoberts (Head of A Focus On Nature) who first spoke a bit of why we were there and her interests in engaging the youngsters. Lucy has done so much to get young people involved and I will always be grateful for her time and support.

First up it was Ben Moyes who delivered a brilliant talk about his birding patch. He also talked about the water coloured cards he has just got printed from his paintings (we bought some of them). Second up it was Josie Hewitt who again gave a brilliant talk on her ringing and just getting her C-permit. After that it was Toby Carter, who also delivered a great speech on what birding activities he gets up to and a bit about his ringing.

Next it was then onto Ellis's talk (who has never spoken to a big audience before), but he was brilliant and made everyone laugh in a good way. He talked about all the nest recording he does (great job on that Whinchat Ellis). Then it was on to Evie Miller's talk  about how she first developed an interested and also a bit on her ringing.  They were all such great talks, that I was getting even more nervous.

And now it was my turn to step and be heard.  I spoke about how I got interested in the natural world, but I mostly talked about the declines in nature and how we all need to work together to turn this round.  My slides in the background started with a murmuration of about 20,000 Starlings and gradually reduced until the last slide had just one Starling.  The slides represented how quick extinction can happen if we do nothing. But I also talked about hope and how working together can change things. I finished with a verse from a poem which is about hope, but I will finish this blog on that.

First I want to say a massive thank you to all the people I met and how supportive and inspirational they are to me including Andy Clements, Ieuan Evans, Dawn Balmer, Dave Leech, Justin Walker, Carl Barimore, Paul Stancliffe, Nick Moran, Any Musgrove, Stephen Baillie, Mark Avery,  Lucy McRoberts, Toby, Ellis, Josie, Ben, Evie, Hugh Brazier, Chris Packham,

So overall a brilliant weekend and BTO conference, and certainly one I'll remember probably forever. But back to that poem of Hope by Emily Dickinson:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

We all are and always will be students of the natural world, so young or old, let’s learn and share together.

Animal Hero Awards 2014

A few weeks ago I was amazed and excited to be nominated for the Animal Hero Awards 2014 in the category Young Animal Enthusiast.

Now I'm sure many of you will have been to London before, however I have never been, so that made the journey to London for the awards even more exciting. We traveled down by train yesterday through lots of misty murk, but that didn't stop me seeing a massive flock of Fieldfare flitting across the fields. I also spotted a great looking wetland area just a bit north of Stafford. I need to find out where it is because there were a few hides on the site. Maybe one of you knows where this might be.

We arrived in London in plenty of time and enjoyed a taxi ride to the hotel. That London really is a big place, but our hotel was next to Hyde Park so I could still see lots of green and trees.

And then it was time to get ready for the big event. I couldn't just slip any old clothes on for the event, instead I was wearing a suit, a "lifer" for me. 

The awards were held at the Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel which is probably the poshest place I have ever been in. When we arrived there were police horses, people from the forces, stars, dogs and all sorts standing round a big red carpet.

When we got in there was a champagne reception which was great for mum and dad, but Harley and I had an orange juice reception.  I must mention a lovely couple called Mr & Mrs Boddie who we got talking to and who were very supportive. 

It was suddenly time to go in to the ballroom for dinner. The room was huge and shining a kingfisher blue colour.

Before the awards started, Harley decided to go and talk to Brian May about electric guitars. I went to join them and had a great conversation about badgers and Hen Harriers. I even ringed Brian with one of my WildeAboutBirds wrist bands!

After tea it was time for the main event and just enough time to check that there was no tomato soup on my shirt! I didn't know who else had been nominated in my group until we arrived at the event, but it was great to hear about them when Amanda Holden read out the information about why we had all been nominated. Eager anticipation was  building inside me, and of course even if I didn't win, it still felt great to be recognised alongside some amazing animal heros.  

It was then time to hear the words....and the winner is..........Dominik Reynolds.

And do you know what, I honestly didn't feel at all disappointed, I just felt really happy for Dominik, especially after hearing everything he has done. I also thought, I really need to meet him, so I went to find him after all the awards were announced to say well done.

On the way back we found out Dominik was staying at the same hotel as us, so when we all came back in from the coach we all had a drink together and talked about all our wildlife goings on. We swapped emails and stuff and it's great to have found another young wildlife enthusiast to talk to.

The morning after that brilliant evening, we all decided we needed to see more of London, so we decided to take a ride on the open top bus tour ride. Now I've got to be honest it was freezing up there, but we managed to see some beautiful landmarks. I did keep thinking though, how are we ever going to change things with all these people rushing around and chasing things that wont make them really properly happy. 

But back to landmarks, such a variety including The Shard, The Gerkin, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square (with a big blue chicken in the middle), Marble Arch, Buckingham Palace, Houses of Parliament (no Elizabeth Truss sighted, no doubt hiding away preparing to cull something).

So overall a brilliant two days;  new scenery and new friends.

A massive thank you to the Kate Whitehead at the RSPB for nominating me. I really am grateful for even being considered for the awards.  And of course a massive thank you to the RSPCA and The Daily Mirror for putting on such a brilliant and inspiring event.

But I would like to finish with a thank you to Bill Oddie for the fabulous speech he made. He talked about the attacks that various NGOs were being faced with by people who support the shooting community. He asked everyone to continue to support the NGOs and recognise the positive difference they are trying to make. I like that Bill Oddie.

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I will leave you with some famous faces:

Wishing You A Harry Christmas

By the time you read this there will probably be just over a month left until Christmas. That’s not long. And it might not be long until Hen Harriers are extinct in England. So if you are thinking about Christmas shopping, you might think about one of these special Hen Harrier Christmas cards.

Now you might be wondering what a 6ft model Hen Harrier is doing on a Christmas card. Well I think Christmas is a time for hope and I have a lot of hope for our Hen Harriers and feel that a change is definitely in the air.

By having this card sent out far and wide, it increases public awareness towards the illegal persecution. Many people don’t even know what is happening and they are the people I want to reach and make aware of how bad the situation actually is.

The cards are left blank inside so you can write your very own Hen Harrier message when you send the card to a friend, family, MPs or land owners.

The money raised from the Christmas cards is going to RSPB Skydancers. The cards are £1.00 each and £0.50 postage (postage is 50p in total if you buy 1 or 100 cards, I hope you buy 100). If you would like some cards, you can pay by my Just Giving page (and then let me know you have done that) or you can buy them from Ebay.

So thank you for reading. Keep trying, keep hoping and keep talking to everyone you know (and even people you don’t know) about our wonderful Sky Dancers. And most importantly don’t lose heart and don’t let the fight for our birds and wildlife start to fade and drift away.

How Far Did Harry Reach

If you receive a Harry card it would be great of you could comment below and say that you received one and the town you live in. I can then update the Harry sightings maps and see how far the message has spread.

If you are on twitter, please tweet me @WildeAboutBirds a selfie with the card and use #HarrySelfie to keep Hen Harriers in everyone's minds over Christmas.

Wild Bird Wednesday