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CHELMSFORD & CENTRAL ESSEX GROUP NEWS Autumn 2015 The RSPB is a registered charity in England & Wales 207076, in Scotland SC037654 BIRDS IN AN ONGAR GARDEN Inspired by Mike Logan Wood’s article in the July issue I thought I might try the same approach with my garden birds. It’s a very different garden, on a 1950s estate on the edge of Chipping Ongar in the far west of the group’s catchment area. It measures 55 feet by 30 feet but still includes hawthorn, dogwood, honeysuckle, pyracantha and a big rosemary bush which the birds love. There is also a bramble bush, deliberately left to flourish. Dividing the garden from the adjacent recreation field is an overgrown blackthorn hedge. Beyond the rec field is arable land. About half a mile to the east is the River Roding and half a mile to the west is the town. I can see and hear local birds from the garden as well as those within it. Birds we have loved and lost: when we arrived in the 80s you could see bullfinches along the path behind the houses and yellowhammers in the fields down to the river. Turtle doves were regular in season and every April a cuckoo came up the Roding valley from the south. In late summer linnets sang from small ornamental trees on the estate. No longer, although the linnets have been replaced by goldfinches, which is some consolation. We even had a few years when nightingales sang at night across the river somewhere, though they soon moved on. Lapwings displayed over the arable land and partridges called from the standing crop. All gone now! So, what is left to keep me interested? Fortunately, quite a bit. As a fan of the warblers, I am pleased that I have had both blackcaps and whitethroats in the garden and hear them both daily in season. The chiffchaff is our commonest warbler in both spring and autumn, singing in both. In some years a lesser whitethroat sings from the blackthorn hedge for a few days, but does not stay. We hear skylarks over the fields in spring and see pied wagtails on the roof –usually immatures in late summer. Both green and great spotted woodpeckers visit, the yaffles in summer eating ants from the lawn and the great spotted woodpecker in winter, when a male comes to the peanut feeder. He will stay for five minutes or so (a long time for a bird) repelling any other species with a jab of his mighty beak. We see swifts and house martins in summer in “our” bit of sky, swallows less often, usually at migration times. Numbers of all three are noticeably reduced in recent years. There are two small swift colonies within half a mile of us. GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER In winter, the recreation field, which I can see clearly from upstairs, is frequently visited by black- headed and common gulls and more recently by small groups of herring gulls. In harder winters, fieldfares and redwings appear on the field and have even entered the garden. Like most Essex gardens we have dunnocks, robins, great, blue and long-tailed tits, chaffinches, and less often, greenfinches and goldfinches. Occasionally there are wrens, while starlings are regulars, especially small flocks of (mainly) immatures in summer, who work over our untreated lawn like waders on a mudflat. As rural gardens are an important refuge for house sparrows, I feed our local gang (up to thirty birds at full strength) on black sunflower seeds and suet treats and have unintentionally provided nest sites in my roof. The downside of the feeding STARLINGS programme is a group of woodpigeons, up to seven, who haunt 1 the garden and hoover up any spilt seed below the feeder. They also shred some young leaves on my plants. Collared doves are less destructive and much prettier! COLLARED DOVES Turf wars between rival blackbirds have been an entertaining feature. I have been trying to recognise individuals and watch their behaviour. The demands of a hungry brood mean that a human with suet treats soon becomes a friend and if he’s not in the garden, well, sit on the windowsill and “chook, chook, chook” until he comes out! Unfortunately, blackbirds will drive off the occasional song thrush, but we do hear their song, especially on June evenings when they will sing longer into the twilight than their cousins. Corvids: rooks, jackdaws and crows have all at various times landed to seek food in the garden, but not frequently. Magpies will land more readily than any of the others. Jays are rare, due, I suspect, to the absence of oaks nearby. Among the raptors, we see a few kestrels overhead, occasionally we hear a tawny owl but the new raptor on the block is the buzzard, becoming more common than ever before. Our most regular raptor is the sparrowhawk. When you are nurturing a flock of sparrows and studying blackbirds you are bound to have mixed feelings about sparrowhawks. Like cats and magpies they are persona non grata in my garden and are ordered off the premises if I happen to see them! THE EDITOR’S CAT IN HER GARDEN, LUCKILY WE LIVE A LONG WAY FROM MARTIN! Counting the birds I have mentioned I find there are 39 species present, while eight have been lost. Of the 39, six have come in during the last thirty years: in order of frequency they are woodpigeon, goldfinch and sparrowhawk, with lesser whitethroat, herring gull and buzzard seen from but not in the garden. How does that compare with your locality? I’m sure the editor would love to hear from you. Martin Longcroft October 2015 Ed – many thanks to Martin for taking the time to write this article for us. He is quite right – the editor would indeed love to hear from you with your contributions to our group newsletter. It doesn’t have to be a long or complicated piece, I am happy to receive any little snippets of interest to our readers. email [email protected] WOODPIGEON 2 THE URBAN BIRDER Don’t forget our special speaker this autumn. David Lindo, well known as “The Urban Birder” is giving our talk on Thursday 12 November 2015 (see diary for more details). Unlike our normal talks, tickets for this event can be purchased in advance. If you have not already bought your ticket, make sure you do so soon. The number of tickets on sale is limited due to the capacity of the venue, and we don’t want you to be disappointed. Tickets are £5 each and can be obtained from the treasurer, Margot Grice, at Dragons, Boyton Cross, Roxwell, Chelmsford CM1 4LS. Cheques should be made payable to RSPB and please enclose a stamped addressed envelope. THE RAIN BIRD I spent the first 15 years of my life in Yorkshire and was introduced to birds by my Northumberland born father. I was brought up by him to associate the green woodpecker with rain. If you heard its “yaffle” it was going to rain. This was perhaps because the local name for the bird in his county was “rainfowl”. In Essex it is supposed to be “whetile” although I have never heard this used; “yaffle”, yes. In Suffolk it is called “wood yaffle”. GREEN WOODPECKER I was very surprised to have found 52 different names for this attractive bird, more than any that I have yet researched, many referring to its call and many to its association with rain, and it is this that is exceptionally interesting. There are several members of the woodpecker family, mainly in Europe and Asia, and all are associated with the forecasting of rain, indeed they are thought to be the mythical “thunderbirds”. In many European countries they are known as the equivalent of the “rain bird”, particularly the black woodpecker. This is the largest of the family, not yet having reached these shores but just across the Channel. Their nickname arose from their association with the oak tree, which is also known as the “thunder tree” because the woodpecker, who loves to nest in them, makes a drum (thunder) roll when he drums in them. The shaking of the drummed branch would shake raindrops from the branch, so the bird was making rain! As well as forecasting rain they are also associated with fertility in farming. Watching them diligently digging after ants could have led Neolithic man into the idea of cultivation! BLACK WOODPECKER So here we have a beautiful bird, dressed in greens and yellows with a brilliant red head cap, strange clumsy feet, an unusual undulating flight and a striking call. The feet seem to be too far back on its body, and you will notice that it has two toes facing forwards and two backwards, all the same size. Watch a bird land on a tree trunk and you will see that it stalls at the last minute and thrusts its feet forward, causing them all to hit the trunk at the same time, when they are then clinched together to fasten it safely to the trunk. You will also have noticed that it hops clumsily on the grass. Their bills are weaker than other woodpeckers and can therefore only be used on softer, perhaps diseased wood. It does not use its beak to drum as much as other woodpeckers do. Its tongue is 3 extremely long, capable of extending over 10cm (four inches), flat and wide at the tip with enlarged salivary glands to coat the tongue with a sticky secretion to capture ants.

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