No. 204 1 October - 31 December 2011 Editorial Panel: Helen Ikin, Steve Woodward, Jim Graham. Hon. Sec. Judy Johnson, 27 Sandalwood Road, Loughborough, Leics. LE11 3PR (01509-214711) SOME CONCERNS ABOUT FEEDING BIRDS IN GARDENS AND FEEDING STATIONS During recent years most of us have grown to believe that the feeding of birds in our gardens and at feeding stations in the countryside is an important conservation activity benefiting many small bird species but there is undoubtedly a downside to this activity. In attracting birds into our gardens or assembling them together at feeding stations, we are subjecting them to an increased risk of predation from Sparrowhawks and, in gardens, also from predation by the huge domestic cat population. IN THIS EDITION Sparrowhawks must find numbers of busily feeding birds easy prey as they perform their characteristic CLASSIFIED RECORDS surprise attacks around trees, shrubs and buildings. There is also a real danger from lethal bird Ÿ Mammals Page 2 diseases contracted from unclean bird-tables and feeders, something much more likely nowadays Ÿ Birds Page 3 when the super abundance of food offered and reduced numbers of many species ensures that Ÿ Fish Page 6 some food remains uneaten for long periods, in which time it can get wet and polluted with Ÿ Reptiles and Amphibians Page 6 droppings. Up until about the 1980’s food put out on bird-tables in my parish of Quorn was quickly Ÿ Dragonflies & Damselflies Page 6 consumed and what wasn’t eaten by the local garden birds soon disappeared when flocks of Ÿ Grasshoppers and Bushcrickets Page 7 hungry Starlings descended into the garden, but now food can remain on the bird-table uneaten for days, if not weeks. Similarly, peanuts, etc., can Ÿ Butterflies Page 8 remain in feeders too long for safety. Ÿ Moths Page 8 Several years ago Trichornonosis decimated the Greenfinch population throughout much of the Ÿ Other Insects Page 10 country and although the Greenfinch is still present, its numbers seem to be well down on what Ÿ Flowering Plants Page 12 they were. It seems likely that this parasite or the Salmonella bacteria may have also been partly responsible for the catastrophic decline in the Ÿ Other Groups Page 12 communal House and Tree Sparrow populations that have taken place over recent decades. During Ÿ Weather Page 12 the last few years I have noticed birds, particularly Ÿ Great Tits, suffering from the ‘Avian Pox virus’ Acknowledgements Page 13 which produces tumour-like growths, especially next to the eyes and beak, making ¡t difficult for LNC Heritage Edition 204 Page 1 such birds to feed and subject to an increasing CLASSIFIED RECORDS risk of predation. I believe the intensive feeding in our gardens can give us a wrong idea of MAMMALS species abundance. For example, during recent Hedgehogs have been active and visiting for years Goldfinch have become common visitors food in ATO’s Loughborough garden throughout to our gardens, attracted to Nyger or other small the quarter until 21 December. At least two and seed, but personally I don’t see the large flocks possibly four individuals were seen. In (c. 100) feeding on Teasel or thistle seed in the Swithland, DAP had a small hedgehog feeding countryside or in waterside Alders as I used to. on the lawn on 15 November and it appeared I never remember small birds, as a whole, being to be nesting under the garden shed. In a so scarce away from gardens and hot spots such neighbouring garden two adults were visiting as feeding stations and much of the countryside for food and had made a nest of leaves in the in the winter seems largely devoid of small undergrowth. DAP wonders if the dry summer song-birds though with no shortage of Carrion had restricted the food supply for Hedgehogs Crows, Magpies and Woodpigeons. and resulted in slow growth and small I also wonder what effect the feeding of specimens late in the year. Charnwood is an area birds throughout the breeding-season is having with a high Badger population and subsequent on the distribution and size of territories of high rates of predation on Hedgehogs so any breeding birds. Is there a greater density in Hedgehog records are good. SFW had one in his fields, hedgerows and woodland adjacent to Groby garden on 2 October. gardens or feeding stations than in the wider Many fresh molehills were noted in the countryside and, if so, is this necessarily a good Kinchley fields near Buddon on 30 December. thing? When small birds feed in a more natural way throughout the whole of our countryside it We have no shrew or bat records this is less likely that they will be predated than quarter. when attracted into the small space of our The only Brown Hares were three seen by gardens and less easy for their natural food to PHG in fields at Great Easton near Eye Brook get polluted. Again, what effect is feeding birds Reservoir on 31 December. throughout the summer having on nestlings which require an invertebrate-rich diet at the Rabbits were again plentiful at Swithland start of their lives. throughout the quarter. Moreover ¡n feeding birds in our gardens and at feeding stations we are inadvertently helping the Grey Squirrel to maintain its extremely high population levels which may well prove counter-productive in helping populations of small birds in the long run. Where domestic cats are present, gardens can be particularly dangerous for small ground-feeding birds and especially so for juveniles, fresh out of the nest, which are easily stalked and trapped against walls and fences. Grey Squirrel © Steve Woodward We all love feeding our local song-birds and Grey Squirrels were much in evidence at viewing them at close quarters but we need to Quorn through the quarter – raiding the bird be ever mindful of the constant dangers they feeders and collecting and burying the bumper face from predators and disease. Bird tables and acorn crop. Later they were digging holes all feeders are therefore best placed close to some over PHG’s garden as they tried to retrieve the cover and should always be kept clean and acorn cache. Squirrels were also noted at disinfected. Ulverscroft NR and Grace Dieu. Peter Gamble Both Bank Vole and Field Vole were caught in the Longworth Traps set at Grace Dieu. The LNC Heritage Edition 204 Page 2 two Bank Voles weighed 15 g and 17 g and the Field Vole 19 g. Five Wood Mice were also trapped and weighed between 14 and 18 g. A Red Fox regularly visited DAP’s Swithland garden and was watched stalking Rabbits. Foxes were seen by GP in Mill Close, Birstall and in Birstall Meadows. One Stoat was seen crossing a road in Swithland at 11 am on 5 October and, on the same date, a Weasel was seen briefly as it crossed Barrow Road in Quorn near the Shoveler © Jim Graham allotments . reports were scarce with 53 at Cropston Reservoir on 21 December the only significant Dead Badgers were seen beside roads in count. A few Shoveler frequented the local Cropston and Swithland and evidence of their waters but Watermead Park had 40 on 16 presence throughout the quarter was noted in November increasing to 60 by the end of the the gardens and paddocks of Swithland village year. There were 87 at Swithland Reservoir on and at Ulverscroft NR and Grace Dieu. 23 October. Four Red-crested Pochard were at Helen Ikin Thornton Reservoir on 17 October, one at Swithland Reservoir on 23 October and one at BIRDS Sence Valley Forest Park on 30 November. The only Pochard records of note were 27 at Mute Swans at Swithland Reservoir peaked Swithland Reservoir on 30 October and a count at 95 at the end of the year. Two Bewick’s of 41 at Albert Village on 24 November. Double Swans were at Swithland Reservoir in figure counts of Tufted Ducks came from Dishley November. What must have been the largest Pool and Cropston Reservoir but Swithland number of Greylag Geese ever locally were at Reservoir recorded 208 in late December. Swithland Reservoir on 16 November when 610 Goldeneye were regularly at Cropston Reservoir were counted. Groby Pool and Dishley Pool with a maximum of seven, all females on 18 produced the only reports of Canada Geese with November. The maximum count at Swithland a quantity (unstated) at Groby on 15 December Reservoir was 68 on the last day of the year. The and 23 at Dishley Pool on 20 November. The only other site was the new lake at Longmoor number of records of Egyptian Geese near Ravenstone with one on 22 November. outnumbered the previous species as a pair was Eight Goosander were at Watermead Park at seen with some regularity at Cropston Reservoir the end of the year and three at Willesley Flash and Bradgate Park throughout the quarter. on 24 November. Three Shelduck were found at Cropston There were only a few Partridge records, Reservoir on 28 December. A pair of Mandarin these were 30 Red-legged Partridges at South Ducks was at Cropston Reservoir early in Kilworth on 29 October and twelve at Dean’s October and a male at the same site at the end Lane the following day. Two Grey Partridges of the quarter. In December the numbers at were at Shenton on 15 October and five at Blackbrook Reservoir rose to 27. Wigeon in Edmondthorpe in late December. Pheasants single figures were at Cropston Reservoir but again were grossly under-recorded but there the maximum count was at Swithland Reservoir were 80 at Kegworth on 3 November.