The Ouzel December 2019

The RSPB North Staffs Local Group The Ouzel December 2019 “He felt like a man who, chasing rainbows, has had one of them suddenly turn and bite him in the leg.” P.G. Wodehouse. A male pied flycatcher- Photo credit Mark Metcalf It’s not every day we have a local success story to celebrate but RSPB Coombes Valley has been making great strides recently in helping the UK’s pied flycatchers. Read about what’s going on there and elsewhere in the Churnet Valley a little later. Leader’s Message – Geoff Sales I'd like to touch on the subject of driven grouse shooting (DGS). Please bear with me if you know all this; just see it as a reminder. DGS is the process whereby beaters actively drive the grouse into the air and towards the shooters. To ensure huge numbers of grouse, the moors are intensively managed. Muirburn is practised, which releases carbon dioxide, destroys peat and affects the water table, and leads to flooding below the moors. What is particularly galling is the 'vermin control' practised, which - I'd better say allegedly – in some instances involves the killing of all raptors, including those protected by law, as well as foxes, stoats, etc. You must be aware of the concern over the hen harrier, which is verging on extinction as a British breeding species; tagged birds invariably 'disappear' golden eagle over grouse moors, with North Yorkshire being the raptor's Bermuda Triangle. You probably saw a photograph in the media recently of a golden eagle with an illegally-set spring trap around its leg; legally-set spring traps don’t trap raptors. The true scale of raptor persecution is unknown as the crimes are rarely detected, and evidence disappears. An online petition backed by Chris Packham and Mark Avery (formerly the RSPB's Director of Conservation for 25 years) was going the rounds calling for a ban on all DGS, until it had to be closed on the calling of the General Election with its future unclear. Should you wish to read it go to ow.ly/FBE450wy25C. The RSPB's stance is to call for a licensing system for DGS, though there are people urging the RSPB to back an all-out ban. One result of a ban would be to allow the land to rewild, permitting wildlife to re-colonise these vast areas. This has The Ouzel occurred in some spots in Scotland, and the before-and-after photos are stunning. A ban would inevitably give rise to an increase in tourism, including people wishing to see raptors in their natural habitat. It's reckoned that this boost to tourism would lead to plenty of new jobs, far outweighing the number of redundant beaters – who could be redeployed -, thereby boosting the economy in the region. Licensing may see a reduction in raptor kills, but no other benefits would accrue and flooding would still be a problem. I, personally, would like to see the RSPB push for a total ban, but you’ve probably guessed that! Editor’s Note: At the RSPB AGM on 26 October Kevin Cox, the Chair of the RSPB Council, announced that the society would be reviewing its policy in relation to game bird shooting and land management in response to growing concern from members and the public. Conservation Matters The French are also having difficulties in balancing the needs of nature against those of the hunting establishment, assuming that can ever be achieved. At the end of August pressure from the country’s influential hunting community led to the French Government consenting to the shooting of 18,000 turtle doves - a globally threatened species recorded as vulnerable on the IUCN red list - over the approaching hunting season. That was despite the French President, Emmanuel Macron, having written to the conservation organisation, Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO), promising to remove the species from the country’s list of huntable species and the European Commission commencing legal action against the nation (as well as Spain) for providing it with inadequate protection. The LPO has appealed to the Council The Ouzel of State to annul the shooting decision after seeing a similar Government decision in relation to the hunting of curlews, another rapidly declining species in Europe, overturned by the Council in August. But sadly the story doesn’t end there. In September the Government also approved the legal trapping and hunting of more than 150,000 other wild birds and legalised the use of trapping methods that are considered inhumane and inflict pain and suffering on the trapped birds. This year’s hunting licences permit the use of gluesticks / limesticks to catch 42,500 thrushes and the use of large horizontal nets (pantes) or small hanging cages (matoles) to trap 106,500 skylarks. Allain Bougrain Dubourg, the President of the LPO, has stated:”Emmanuel Macron keeps announcing a change. We have certainly seen changes in ecology ministers – three in two years – but we are still waiting for a change in policy in favour of biodiversity. “ Neonicotinoid insecticides are considered to be a probable factor behind the major increase in Collective Collapse Disorder, CCD, in bees in recent years through their widespread use in agriculture. (CCD occurs when the majority of worker bees in a colony disappear and leave behind a queen, food and a few nurse bees to care for the remaining immature bees eventually leading to the collapse of the colony.) As a result of recent research it is now believed that the harmful effects of the insecticides aren’t limited to bees and other insects, as had previously been thought to be the case, but also extend to certain bird species, particularly migratory passerines which occasionally land to forage during their migration. Scientists from York University and the University of Saskatchewan Technology Centre have found that those passerines that come into contact with the insecticides often start to display “anorexic behaviour”. This leads to delays in their migration as they require more time The Ouzel to feed with the birds’ survival and reproduction chances being lowered. The Isle of Wight gained a number of new inhabitants in late August when six young white-tailed eagles were released into the wild there. The move was the first stage of a five year programme led by Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation aimed at restoring the species to southern England after being absent for 240 years. The young birds were collected from nests in Scotland under a Scottish National Heritage licence and fed and monitored on the Isle of Wight to help them become familiar with their new surroundings. The island was considered the ideal place for their reintroduction in view of its central location and ideal range of habitats with its numerous cliffs and woodlands offering a wide variety of potential nesting sites and the Solent and adjacent estuaries a rich food source. It is expected that the newcomers will not start breeding until 2024, after they have become more established, although their movements and those of the other birds released in the successive years of the programme can be monitored on the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation website thanks to the fitting of small satellite trackers. Sadly one of the eagles was known to have died by the end of October and the tracking device on another named Culver had ceased working shortly after it had made an astonishing 680km trip to Essex in September. A Chance to help the Curlew has arisen as a result of a project being run by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, WWT. In order to help the Trust learn more about the declining species over 50 headstarted chicks have been colour-ringed curlew The Ouzel at Slimbridge so they can be studied following their release. A smaller number of wild birds (adults and chicks) were also colour- ringed in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. The WWT is asking all bird watchers to submit any sightings of these birds so there is an opportunity for everyone to play a part in helping the species. Each bird has been fitted with a yellow ring on its right tibia and a white ring on the left tibia, with an engraved number between 01 and 99 reading up the legs. Details of any observations should be submitted to [email protected]. The Trust will still welcome information if you are unable to read the ring numbers. Kangaroo Island – Roger Birch Having very kindly provided us with his poem about ‘Phillip Island’ in September Roger Birch’s thoughts appear to have still been on islands and down under this time round: Pacific blue behind the dunes, An azure sky and gentle swell. Blazing sun, the perfect day, To view the foreshore of Seal Bay. And lazing on the golden sands, Lie sea lions, supine on the beach, As huge bulls lumbering in the tide, Force crested terns to move aside. Remarkable Rock on Flanders Australian sea lions –Seal Bay Chase, Photo credit – Miriam Birch Granite, sculpted half a billion years. Yet here goanna find a home, Lone reptiles on ground dry as bone. The Ouzel Remarkable Rocks – goanna Photo credit – Miriam Birch While far below, in crashing waves, Fur seals clamber through the spume, To climb the cliffs, without a care, Whilst silver gulls wheel in the air. RSPB Coombes Valley Update - A Better Future for Woodland Wildlife in the Churnet Valley Our biennial catch ups with the activities taking place at our local wildlife reserve, RSPB Coombes Valley near Leek, could hardly be much better timed than that at the end of September.

Load more