Birdfair 2013

We‘re just back from an exhausting but very enjoyable weekend at the Birdfair held as usual at Rutland Water Nature Reserve.  The organisers describe it as the international wildlife event of the year and who would argue?  This year Birdfair was celebrating its 25th anniversary and with almost 350 exhibitors and four simultaneous lecture programmes it has grown well beyond anything that could possibly have been imagined back in 1989 when Tim Appleton and Martin Davies organised the first modest birdwatchers’ fair on behalf of the RSPB and the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust.

Right from the start, profits from the Birdfair have been donated to conservation projects with the total amount raised now standing at more than £3 million.  Currently Birdfair is supporting BirdLife International’s Global Flyways Programme, funding projects to study and help migratory species.  This year it is grassland-dependent migrants in the Americas that are the focus, species such as Upland Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Swainson’s Hawk and Bobolink that rely on the effective management of grasslands throughout the Americas flyway where the remnants of native grasslands are fast disappearing under grain, oil-seed and other commodity crops.  A Birdfair-funded project will co-ordinate work at grassland Important Bird Areas in Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia and Argentina. 

Buff-breasted Sandpiper - this one was in the Algarve

We travelled to Rutland Water on Thursday to help put up the Avian Adventures stand and then spent most of Friday, Saturday and Sunday talking.  We talked about birds and we talked about travel.  We talked a great deal about the Algarve and we talked about many other places we have been and others that we would like to visit.  We talked to friends from countries in Africa, North, South and Central America and various parts of Europe and we talked to friends from the West Midlands.  We talked to people who have been with us on Avian Adventures tours and to many whom we have guided in the Algarve.  We talked to an encouraging number of you who are regular readers of our blog.  In short - we talked!

 The Avian Adventures stand before the Birdfair opened - all neat and tidy!

Marquee 3 - there were 10 marquees this year

Birdfair is undoubtedly one of the highlights of our year.  We always come away disappointed by how quickly three days have passed and because in that time we haven’t been able to get round the whole site and see everything and everybody.  Already next year’s event is in our diary - it’ll be on 15th, 16th & 17th August 2014.  

Time to Stop the Shooting!

We applaud the Portuguese Liga para a Protecção da Natureza (LPN) which has today called for a two-year moratorium on the shooting of Turtle Doves. Tomorrow sees the start of the hunting season but it surely makes no sense whatsoever to continue killing a species that is clearly in serious trouble with a population that continues to decline at an alarming rate. As an example, the British population is reported to have reduced by 90% since the 1960s.

Major changes in farming methods and adverse conditions in their wintering areas in Africa may well be the main causes of the decline in Turtle Doves and competition with Collared Doves could also be a factor. However, the scale of the slaughter of these birds in Italy, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal and elsewhere in Europe cannot be sustainable. And then, outside the European Union, there’s Morocco, Egypt and other countries in North Africa where large numbers are also shot, many of them by ‘tourist’ hunters from Europe!

While resources are being devoted to research and conservation programmes in the UK and elsewhere and there is a long-term Management Plan in place with the objective of halting the species’ decline, it makes very little sense to allow up to an estimated 3 million or more of these birds to be legally killed actually in the EU. In fact, it’s complete madness!

The LPN press release calls for the Portuguese Government to act now to protect the Turtle Dove before it is too late and the population reaches the point of no return. The plight of the Turtle Dove in Europe is unsettlingly similar to that of the Passenger Pigeon in North America, which was also once a common and widespread bird but driven to extinction as a result of hunting pressure and habitat loss. Nineteenth century Americans may have had some sort of excuse in their ignorance of what was happening to the Passenger Pigeon but there can be no such excuse for Europeans if we allow the Turtle Dove to continue its slide to oblivion.

Doxey Marshes v Upton Warren

We had the idea that while we are in the UK we would try to visit at least a few of what were once our regular birding sites around the West Midlands and maybe fit in a trip a bit further afield.  We have plenty of other distractions but we hoped that this vague plan would ensure that we get out and see at least some birds while we are here. 

We started by going to our local reservoirs, Blithfield and Belvide, and since then we’ve been birding on Cannock Chase, at Doxey Marshes, at Chillington and at Upton Warren, all of these places where we have spent many happy hours over the years. 

We have blogged already about Blithfield and Belvide; our time on Cannock Chase has been in the evenings, mostly looking for and at Nightjars; we spent an enjoyable sunny afternoon at Chillington looking as much for butterflies as for birds.

Just 40 miles apart, Doxey Marshes and Upton Warren, one in Staffordshire and the other in Worcestershire, are very similar in some respects but in others they are also very different.  Both are reserves managed by county wildlife trusts, both have several pools that have formed as a result of land subsidence following brine extraction, both are bisected by rivers (the Sow and the Salwarpe) and both are designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

Amongst the birds we saw at Upton Warren last week were more than 80 Lapwings, 20 Curlews, 14 Green Sandpipers, 7 Avocets, 2 Little Ringed Plovers, 2 Dunlin, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Common Redshank and several Common Terns.  We were able to watch these from several well-positioned hides that overlook the best areas of the reserve.

 Juvenile Avocet at Upton Warren

Upton Warren Flashes

Other than a few Lapwings, our earlier visit to Doxey Marshes produced no waders at all.  There were plenty of Canada Geese and at least three pairs of Mute Swans appeared to have bred successfully but really they weren’t what we had hoped for!  The view from the only hide was certainly unrewarding, the water level on what we laughingly refer to as ‘the scrape’ being suitable for ducks but not shorebirds.

 Mute Swans at Doxey Marshes

View from the hide at Doxey Marshes

Where Doxey and Upton Warren differ is in the way that they have been managed over the years and their current condition which results from that management.  Staffs Wildlife Trust has undoubtedly had difficulties to contend with.  Flood alleviation work involving the re-grading and deepening of the river have certainly had a detrimental effect and it seems that the agreement and co-operation of the Internal Drainage Board and the Environment Agency are needed before anything can be done to achieve better control of water levels.  There is also the complication that subsidence is continuing.  Four years ago the IDB and the EA were said to have begun implementation of a water level management plan to create better habitats for ground nesting and migrating birds on the reserve but there is precious little sign of that being successful or of breeding success for any of the waders that support the reserve’s status as an SSSI.  Maybe there are factors that we don’t know about.  It probably doesn’t help that the SWT newsletter Marsh Warblings, which used to keep us informed about Doxey, has been discontinued and that no Annual Report has been published since 2009.

Moors Pool, Upton Warren

At Upton Warren amongst the species that have bred on the reserve this year are Avocet, Lapwing, Little Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher, Common Tern and Black-headed Gull.  As evidenced by what we saw during our visit, conditions are currently just right for wading birds and local birders can certainly look forward with optimism to the coming weeks of migration season.  Worcs Wildlife Trust and everyone involved with the management of the reserve are to be congratulated.  Although we no longer visit there with the regularity we once did, it’s one of the main reasons that we continue our membership and support of WWT.  Maybe if we weren’t going back to the Algarve, we would think of moving down there.

Doxey Marshes v Upton Warren?  It really is no contest!

Caspian Tern

The appearance of a Caspian Tern at Rudyard Lake on Friday gave us the possibility of a twitching trip to see a species that neither of us has ever seen in the UK let alone in Staffordshire.  Rudyard Lake is less than 50 miles away and Caspian Tern is a genuinely rare species in the UK; there have been only eight previous records in Staffordshire and this was the first since 1999. 

We didn’t go!

It didn’t take more than a few seconds to realise that there wouldn’t be much sense in spending time and money chasing off to see a species that we can see almost every day in the Algarve.  We do enjoy seeing and watching Caspian Terns but the only reason to have gone would have been to add a tick to a list. 

We realise that we are lucky to be so familiar with Caspian Terns.  In Tavira we sometimes see one come into what is effectively the town centre, fishing in the Gilão River.  Although they don’t breed in the Algarve, there are usually a few to be found throughout the year either in the Ria Formosa or at Castro Marim.  These birds are almost certainly from the breeding population around the Baltic Sea many of which winter in West Africa.  We see them on their way south in the spring and on their way back later in the year but many stay in the Algarve through the winter and a few, presumably sub-adult non-breeders, spend the summer with us.  We know of only one record of a colour-ringed bird in the Algarve: a bird seen by Ray Tipper on 30th September last year at Castro Marim that had been ringed just 91 days earlier as a nestling in Sweden.

Apart from in Portugal, we have also seen Caspian Terns in Finland, Costa Rica, South Africa, various parts of Africa and in several US states - they are widely distributed around the world also breeding in China, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere.  It is the world’s largest tern, almost the size of a Lesser Black-backed Gull and its striking large red bill makes it unmistakeable.  

In Britain there have been more records in July than in any other month, which is perhaps a bit surprising.  The assumption is that these birds are also from the Baltic population although there is a record of a bird ringed in North America being found in Yorkshire back in 1939.

Perhaps surprisingly Caspian Tern is regarded as monotypic; as yet there are no recognised sub-species although no doubt someone somewhere will be working on that!  It is reported that birds from North America, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf are somewhat smaller than European ones, while birds from South America and Australia average larger.

The Rudyard Lake bird  stayed throughout the weekend and was apparently last seen flying out to the north early on Monday afternoon.

A Morning at Blithfield

After two weeks or so of what we used to think of as normal summer weather the tabloids now have headlines featuring “rocketing temperatures” and “heatwave warnings”, stories about “climate change” and articles about skin cancer!  Yes, it certainly starts to look as though our plan to escape the heat of the Algarve by coming to the UK is a failure.  But then again, perhaps not - forecast high temperatures today in Tavira and Stafford are 28°C and 25°C respectively, hardly a level to cause panic and alarm in either of those places.  We shudder to think what our friends in Tucson (35°) would think about such a reaction to weather we’re sure they would find to be a relief from the genuinely high temperatures they have been experiencing for the past few weeks and which they expect to have at this time of the year.

Anyway, making sure to use sunscreen, wear a hat and take plenty to drink, we spent yesterday morning at Blithfield Reservoir, another of our old stamping grounds in Staffordshire.  Blithfield, like Belvide, now has several new hides which are a great improvement on the old ones but we had forgotten just how far away from the birds several of them are. 

Although in some ways we enjoy the challenge of trying to identify distant waders, it was a bit unsatisfactory to come away from Blithe Bay not knowing for sure whether we really had seen a summer-plumaged Sanderling.  Even at 60x magnification through a Swarovski telescope it was just a dot!  And, while there was no doubt about the identification of spiffy Black-tailed Godwits, there was still no getting over the fact that they were 500 metres or more away and that as a result it was difficult to fully appreciate their finery.  Clearly we have been spoiled by the very close views of waders that we enjoy around Tavira!

A Morning at Belvide

With the temperature in Tavira heading for 30°C it won't come as a surprise to our regular readers that today we were at.....Belvide Reservoir!  Yes, we've escaped the heat (not to mention the crowds) of the Algarve and we're going to be in the UK for the next few weeks.  Next month we'll be at the Rutland Water Birdfair but in the meantime we're hoping to visit as many as possible of our local birding sites in Staffordshire and Worcestershire and maybe we'll have time for some trips further afield. 

It had been quite a while since our last visit to Belvide, which was once regarded as Peter's 'second home' in the days when he was very involved in managing the reserve for the West Midland Bird Club.  It was interesting to see the many changes that have been made there (new hides, storage facilities for plant and machinery, improved rafts for nesting birds, more feeders, even a portaloo on the car park!) but it didn't take long to see (and hear from several birders we met) that quite a few of the long term problems that we struggled with through the 1980s and 1990s still remain.

The birding was unspectacular but amazingly we did see one fairly common species that neither of us had seen before at Belvide, even though Peter had seen one as long ago as 1976 at nearby Blithfield Reservoir.  It was an Egyptian Goose!  Apparently this individual has been in the area for a while and no longer seemed of much interest to the regular Belvide birders.  We were also pleased with a Common Redstart, Tree Sparrows and juvenile Great Spotted Woodpeckers on the feeders and a nice selection of butterflies and dragonflies.

We were told that the water level in the reservoir has fallen noticeably during the past week and this has resulted in just enough shore line to accommodate a few waders.  Today there were Little Ringed Plovers, Northern Lapwings, Oystercatchers and Common Sandpipers but if these conditions continue during the next few weeks we're sure to see a few more pass through.  A rarity of some kind would be nice but we probably wouldn’t be as excited now to see Black-winged Stilts as Peter was when two were at Belvide in 1987!

Colour-rings

Something we very soon noticed when we started birding in the Algarve was the relatively high number of birds that were colour-ringed.  Whereas in the UK we had been used to seeing a few Mute Swans and Canada Geese sporting Darvic (PVC) rings or perhaps an occasional gull or wader, in the Ria Formosa and at Castro Marim we were seeing colour-ringed birds almost every time we went out.

By colour-rings we mean multiple rings (or flags) with a unique combination of colours or single rings that are big enough so that it is possible with the aid of a telescope to read an inscription on them.  We also sometimes see nasal saddles fitted to ducks and neck collars on Red-knobbed Coots and while these are obviously not rings as such, they do serve the same purpose, which is to identify a bird as an individual.

Greater Flamingo - from Italy

Because of their size, colour-rings are most suitable for use on long-legged birds and the first ones we saw in the Algarve were on Greater Flamingos.  It’s not unusual to see up to 1,000 or even 2,000 Greater Flamingos at Castro Marim so there is plenty of scope for reading rings if we have the time and can get close enough to the birds!  We soon found that, as well as Flamingos, quite a high percentage of Spoonbills were also colour-ringed and that several species of gulls, particularly Audouin’s Gulls, were also ringed.  We have now sent reports relating to 18 different species and these have originated from more than a dozen countries.

Spoonbill - from The Netherlands

Looking for colour-rings, reading them and reporting them have all become part of our birding routine.  In 2012, we reported more than 200 ring details.  Receiving details of the life-histories of individual birds has added greatly to our knowledge of the origins, the movements and the ages/life expectancies of the birds involved and still we get surprises like the Italian-ringed Oystercatcher that we found in Tavira.  We have also been able to recognise birds that return to the Algarve year after year such as Common Redshank H19 that we have blogged about previously here.

  Common Redshank - from The Netherlands

Oystercatcher - from Italy

However, it might all have been very different!  We might easily have been put off the whole idea of reading rings.  Probably our expectations were unrealistic but when we began sending off reports of ring details we thought, rather naively as it turned out, that we might receive a reply within maybe a week or two.  Instead, the reality was that months went by with no word from anybody and we started to think we were wasting our time.  Perhaps there was no longer any interest in the rings we had reported; maybe the ringer had died!  It would have been easy to reach the conclusion that reading and reporting rings wasn’t worth the effort.  And sometimes it can be quite an effort when we have to wait long periods for birds to come closer or to move out of the deep water that is covering their rings.

Slender-billed Gull - from Spain

We now know that response times vary greatly and we try not to be too impatient.  We know, for instance, that if we report a Dutch-ringed Spoonbill or a Mediterranean Gull ringed in Belgium or France, we can be reasonably sure of a reply by return, maybe even the same day!  On the other hand, we also know that it might be six months or longer before we get a response about some other species and from some other countries.  In the past few days we have received details of six birds that we reported last December and we have others outstanding that go back further than that.

Mediterranean Gull - from The Netherlands

Last year we joined the Yahoo! Group, c-r birding, which has about 600 members who communicate with each other on various aspects of colour-ringing.  It was interesting that the very first contribution we read there was from someone complaining about the length of time he was waiting to hear about a Black-headed Gull ring he had reported.  Maybe that person's expectations were also unrealistic, but were they unreasonable?  Prompt replies would not only be courteous but would surely also encourage further reports.

How do we find out where to send details of the rings we read?  Well, in theory, details of all the colour-ringing projects in Europe can be found at www.cr-birding.org or failing that www.cr-birding.be (this website is slowly being phased out).  It is also possible to report ring details by filling out a form on the Euring website but the advice there is to look first at www.cr-birding.org.  Occasionally we do find birds that have rings which we can’t match up with one of the listed projects and so it would seem do quite a few other people as queries about such rings appear very regularly in the Yahoo! Group emails.  Why, we have to wonder, would anyone who is colour-ringing birds in Europe and presumably wanting people to report them, not make sure that details of their project are on the relevant website?  It takes some understanding!

Glossy Ibis - from Spain

All ringing is, of course, licensed and, thankfully, beyond that there is also some regulation of the growing number of colour-ringing projects in Europe with the aim of avoiding the chaos that would result from duplication of colour combinations or codes.

Some of the difficulties arising from ring reports inevitably result from rings being misread.  When looking at a small ring from a distance it is easy to confuse a 2 with a Z or a 5 with an S.  Clearly it would be best when setting up a new project to avoid such possibilities occurring.  Another problem is that the colour of some rings can fade or even change over a period of years, particularly if they are under water for much of the time.
  

Audouin's Gull - ringed in the Ria Formosa

Replies from some of the ringing projects include not just details of the individual bird that we have reported but also information about the project itself, its aims and objectives and sometimes even links to results achieved so far.  We would welcome much more of that sort of feedback.  We have to assume that birds are being ringed for a particular purpose but it is always nice to have some details.

Reporting colour-rings certainly involves a few difficulties and frustrations but it adds greatly to our enjoyment of birding in the Algarve.  Already we are looking forward to the autumn and winter and the return of all those colour-ringed birds.